Daniel Castro

Daniel Castro
Vice President
Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
Phone: 
202-626-5742

Daniel Castro is the Vice President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and Director of the Center for Data Innovation. Mr. Castro writes and speaks on a variety of issues related to information technology and internet policy, including privacy, security, intellectual property, internet governance, e-government, and accessibility for people with disabilities. His work has been quoted and cited in numerous media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, USA Today, Bloomberg News, and Businessweek. In 2013, Mr. Castro was named to FedScoop’s list of “Top 25 most influential people under 40 in government and tech.” In 2015, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker appointed Mr. Castro to the Commerce Data Advisory Council.

Before joining ITIF, Mr. Castro worked as an IT analyst at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) where he audited IT security and management controls at various government agencies. He contributed to GAO reports on the state of information security at a variety of federal agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In addition, Mr. Castro was a Visiting Scientist at the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he developed virtual training simulations to provide clients with hands-on training of the latest information security tools.

He has a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and an M.S. in Information Security Technology and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Recent Events

November 10, 2015

Please join Arent Fox LLP, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), and George Washington University’s Center for Cyber and Homeland Security (CCHS) for an engaging policy forum where cyber security leaders from industry, government, and academia will discuss the ever-changing landscape of cyber security threats.

October 27, 2015

Join the Center for Data Innovation for a panel discussion about how technology experts and government leaders are marshaling open data to improve food safety and how civic tech applications can help address more of these types of public health concerns in the future.

September 10, 2015

While most people are conditioned to see through the marketing hype surrounding “revolutionary!” and “game-changing!” new technologies, few have the same healthy skepticism when it comes to outsized claims about allegedly dire privacy risks that now routinely accompany many of the very same innovations. Taken at face value, these supposed privacy risks suggest that government should intervene to protect society. A closer look, however, reveals that privacy concerns are often misplaced or unnecessary, and they rapidly dissipate as people come to better understand and appreciate the products and services in question.

June 30, 2015

Join ITIF for a spirited discussion about the state of artificial intelligence, whether super intelligent computers will someday pose a threat to the human race, and how policymakers should respond to these ideas.

March 12, 2015

Recent reports suggest the U.S. government wants to ban strong encryption, a policy that could spell disaster for both U.S. competitiveness and civil liberties. Can policymakers reconcile the needs of law enforcement with good cybersecurity practices? Join ITIF for a lively panel discussion.

Recent Publications

December 16, 2015

Just as the public sector was instrumental in enabling the development and deployment of the Internet, it must play a similar role to ensure the success of the Internet of Things.

December 11, 2015

The Federal Trade Commission should rebuke a privacy advocacy organization that falsely claimed Google is spying on U.S. school children, says Daniel Castro in The Hill.

December 11, 2015

Annual reports—relics of a paper-based world—are no longer the best option for an increasingly digital government, writes Daniel Castro in Government Technology.

December 4, 2015

U.S. and EU privacy advocates are using the invalidation of the Safe Harbor framework as an excuse to push for the dismantling of the FTC’s oversight of U.S. companies so it can be replaced with European-style privacy laws, writes Daniel Castro in The Hill.

November 24, 2015

In a satirical post on Innovation Files, Daniel Castro points out the flaws of expecting ad-supported free services to not push back on users employing ad blockers.

November 13, 2015

Efforts to establish a global ban on offensive autonomous weapons have stigmatized much-needed research that will be central to increasing economic productivity and quality of life over the next half century—but only if the technology is able to be developed, writes Daniel Castro in Computerworld.

Recent Presentations

January 27, 2015

Daniel Castro will be participating in a panel on consumer privacy at State of the Net 2015.

December 3, 2014

Daniel Castro spoke on a panel at the seventh China U.S. Internet Industry Forum in Washington D.C.

September 17, 2014

Daniel Castro will present on the panel “Data and Privacy: Identification, De-Identification, and Re-Identification” at the 2014 Global Identity Summit.

September 16, 2014

Daniel Castro will speak at the Association of Public Data Users 2014 Annual Conference.

September 11, 2014

Daniel Castro will participate in the American Bar Association webinar “Big Data and Privacy Frameworks: Perspectives from Government, Industry and Policy Experts.”

June 20, 2014

The EAC and NIST are hosting the “Highlights of EAC Accessible Voting Research and the Impact on Elections” webinar.