Friend,
Say hello to S.T.O.P.’s fall interns! We’re thrilled to welcome our newest class of interns, reflecting S.T.O.P.’s expansion as an organization and the growing movement to end mass surveillance in New York and beyond.
Our Fall 2024 Intern Class
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Allyson Ganster
Advocacy Intern
Allyson Ganster is a Fall 2024 Advocacy Intern at the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P.). Allyson is a fourth-year PhD student in Cultural Anthropology at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her research explores the psychological and material impacts of surveillance on Black communities in the United States and Brazil. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology and International Relations and Global Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
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Ana Sofia Harrison
Civil Rights Intern
Ana Sofia is currently a senior at Barnard College. She is majoring in Human rights and women, gender, sexuality studies and minoring in art history. She is passionate about issues regarding mass surveillance and reproductive justice. She aspires to research public policy and AI ethics. She is also interested in peer-led harm reduction which she learned a bit about while studying in Amsterdam this past spring.
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Andrew Rizko
Civil Rights Intern
Andrew is a junior at Claremont McKenna College, studying Economics and Government. He is interested in the legal answers to mass surveillance, both public and private, and exploring solutions to security concerns that don't sacrifice individual privacy. Andrew's research on how authorities disproportionately targeted marginalized communities in the War on Drugs motivated him to work to combat surveillance technology overreach.
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Ashwin Prabu
Civil Rights Intern
Ashwin is a senior at Stanford University studying Data Science and Social Systems with a minor in Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity. He is interested in protecting the digital rights of immigrants, communities of color, and other marginalized groups. He has previously interned at the European Center for Not-For-Profit Law, where he co-authored a report on global strategies to push back against biometric surveillance, as well as Innovation Law Lab, where he managed immigration legal logistics and supported clients at Portland's asylum welcome center. He is currently working on an honors thesis about surveillance technology and immigration enforcement. In his free time, he enjoys playing tennis, meditating, and making vegan food.
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Cayla Joftus
Research & Advocacy Intern
Cayla is a senior at Wesleyan University studying sociology, French, and critical theory. She is currently working on her senior thesis about pediatric care robots employed in autism therapy, which ties in her interests in surveillance capitalism, crip theory, and social reproduction. In addition to being passionate about protecting civil rights, Cayla enjoys reading sci-fi/fantasy and literary fiction, cooking, and hiking.
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Elsa Perakis
Development Intern
Elsa is a volunteer associate at S.T.O.P., primarily supporting research and development work. Elsa’s background is in computer science and public policy, with a particular interest in algorithmic justice and LGBTQ+ rights. Most recently, Elsa was a program lead at Schmidt Futures where she focused on ways to get more tech workers in the social justice space. Previously, Elsa was a product manager at Apple where she worked on a variety of software features, including child safety. In her free time she enjoys powerlifting, watching WNBA games and drumming.
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Imaan Chaudhry
Communications Intern
Imaan Chaudhry is a junior at Columbia University studying history and American studies. At STOP, she is excited to learn more about the conflicts between big government and personal freedoms in our digital age.
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Karen Zhan
Legal Intern
Karen is a 2L at NYU School of Law interested in the intersection of technology, the law, and civil rights. She studied information science at Cornell University where she concentrated in User Experience Design. Between undergrad and law school, she was a user experience designer at a digital consulting firm. At S.T.O.P., she is looking forward to working both in litigation and on the policy side.
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Kevin Pham
Communications and Research Intern
Kevin Pham, a senior at Tufts University, is a Communications and Research intern. He hopes to understand the human factors that drive security and privacy. Kevin’s digital advocacy journey began as a summer fellow with the Viet Fact Check project, where he conducted oppositional research against disinformation campaigns. He also contributed to technology abuse research at the Clinic to End Tech Abuse, working directly with domestic violence victims in New York City. Last summer, Kevin also interned with Freedom of the Press Foundation's Digital Security Team. When he is not reading technical documentation (or writing it), Kevin loves cooking up new recipes and furthering his caffeine addiction.
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Lauren Karpinski
Legal Intern
Lauren is a 2L at Georgetown Law with an interest in immigration law, public health law, and surveillance. Prior to law school, Lauren worked on several political campaigns across the country and served as a political director for a pro-democracy nonprofit in Washington, DC focused on reforming campaign finance laws and protecting voting rights. She was also a case manager for the DC Abortion Fund. Lauren earned her bachelor's degree in Biology from Brown University in 2018.
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Maggie McCarroll
Research Intern
Maggie is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, holding a degree in Anthropology and a minor in Government. While attending UT Austin, Maggie assisted in researching and publishing a report for the Anti-Eviction Mapping Project detailing the adverse impacts of surveillance technology on tenants. Maggie currently works at a civil litigation firm based in Texas. At STOP, she aims to expand her research interests from housing to broader applications of surveillance technology and regulation efforts. In her free time, she enjoys playing chess, rock climbing, and reading!
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Sam Shaffery
Legal Intern
Sam Shaffery has been engaged in public interest activism for over a decade, arguably beginning in 2014 by co-founding a public pressure initiative to effect the installation of accessible bus shelters along a rural bus route. As an undergraduate, Sam studied environmental science and public policy, with a focus on civil and constitutional rights. Prior to coming to CUNY Law, Sam worked in various political organizing positions on eastern Long Island. Sam has published several pieces of writing on issues of rural gentrification and free speech suppression. Beyond the legal world, Sam is a professional mandolin player, performing modern Americana music with a psychedelic twist, both in the city and on Long Island.
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Shruti Das
Research Intern
Shruti is currently pursuing her MPA in Development Policy & Practice at Columbia's School of International & Public Affairs. Her focus is internet governance and digital regulation. Most recently, Shruti was a software engineer at Apple working on features for iOS and macOS. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. In her free time, Shruti enjoys making ceramics, creating plant-based recipes, and promoting the Indian classical arts.
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Taylor Skorpen
Legal Intern
Taylor Skorpen is a 2L at Stanford Law School with an interest in the preservation of civil liberties in a digital world. Taylor recently interned at Public Knowledge, an organization that promotes freedom of expression, an open internet, and access to affordable communication tools and creative works. She had the opportunity to draft NTIA comments regarding future 6G deployment, collaborate on FCC comments regarding phone unlocking and video marketplace competition, and post an article addressing why a disparate impact standard is essential in combatting digital discrimination. Since graduating from UCLA with a BA in philosophy, she has been especially drawn to privacy rights and the implications of evolving surveillance technologies. She is excited to join the Juelsgaard Intellectual Property and Innovation Clinic during this upcoming spring quarter and participate in projects fighting to secure the privacy rights of all communities.
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Thej Khanna
Advocacy Intern
Thej Khanna is a junior at Cornell University studying English Literature with minors in Law & Society and Information Science. He is passionate about technology and civil rights law with a focus on surveillance, digital privacy, and emerging technology. Combining these interests, he hopes to attend law school and pursue a career at the intersections of legal advocacy and tech policy.
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As we close out 2024, keep an eye out for their amazing work!
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In Solidarity,
Team S.T.O.P.
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