About Brittan

Brittan is a lawyer and technologist dedicated to bridging the gap between emerging technology, human rights, and communities. With extensive interdisciplinary expertise, she address technology’s social impact through a blend of academic insight, professional experience, and community engagement. She uses her expertise to advise the private and public sector on creating impactful solutions and socially responsible technology.

Currently a Lecturer at Stanford Law School and the Political Science Department, she teaches International Human Rights Law and leads the Science, Law, and Technology LLM Program. Her work also includes running seminars on Artificial Intelligence Policy and organizing research symposia on extended reality.

Previously, Brittan served as Counsel at Foley Hoag LLC, where she established a practice focused on global business, human rights, and privacy. She also directed the Center on Technology and Society at the Anti-Defamation League, addressing online harms and civil rights in the context of new technologies.

A graduate of Yale Law School, Heller’s experience includes roles at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she prosecuted human rights and computer hacking cases, and international work with the Korean Public Interest Lawyers Group and the International Criminal Court. Her career is marked by a commitment to bridging technology and human rights and a passion to drive meaningful progress by creating innovative technological solutions for both governments and businesses.

Present + Past Affiliations

Affiliate, Yale Information Society Project, Yale Law School

Member of the Steering Committee for Metaverse Governance, World

Economic Forum

Senior Fellow in Democracy and Technology, Digital Forensics Research Lab, The Atlantic Council

Technology and AI Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School

Senior Associate, Business and Human Rights, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Affiliate, Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University

Term Member, Council on Foreign Relations

Recognitions + Honors

2024 Bellagio Residency award, The Rockefeller Foundation

(project on AI and human rights)

2022 Ombudsperson of the Year, The WebXR Association
2021 Privacy Papers for Policymakers Award, The Future on Privacy Forum
2021 100 Top Thinkers in AR/VR Award; only lawyer in cohort

2019 Mandela Young African Leader Reciprocal Exchange Program: Uganda
2018 Guest of Honor and Keynote Speaker, (Re)volution Conference, J.P. Morgan
2018 Nextant Medal for Humanitarian Service, The Virtual World Society
2017 World Changing Idea finalist, “The Online Hate Index” (creating AI to study

online hate speech with U.C. Berkeley’s D-Lab), Fast Company
2011 Department of Justice Honors Program, Criminal Division
2009 Luce Scholarship
1999 Teen Jeopardy! Champion

Lectures & Speaking Engagements

● World Economic Forum Global Technology Retreat 2024: The Future Internet
● SXSW 2024: The Future of Content Moderation
● Davos 2024: Next Steps for Digital Worlds
● Sciences Po, Interview with Chair of Digital Governance and Sovereignty, 2023: The Legal and Social Challenges of Extended Reality Worlds
● Universidad Externado de Colombia, 2023: Keynote on AI Generativa and Chat GPT: Opportunidades y Retos para América Latina
● Meeting of the Christchurch Call, 2022: facilitator
● Universidad de San Andreas, Center for Studies on Technology and Society, 15th Anniversary Conference on Internet Development and Digital Governance in Latin America 2022: Keynote on Human Rights and the Metaverse
● The National Academies of Science, Committee on the Impact of Social Media on the Health and Wellbeing of Children and Adolescents, 2022: Content Moderation
● 2022 lectures on privacy law, content moderation and AI for: The World Economic Forum, Yale Information Society Project, University of Georgia Law School, the Future of Privacy Forum
● Privacy Law Scholars’ Conference presentations, 2021 & 2022
● 2020 lecturers on online harms and content moderation for: Harvard University, Stanford University, University of Colorado Boulder, U.C. Berkeley, University of Wisconsin
● Atlantic Council, 360/OS: Augmented Reality, Augmented Harm (2022); Biometrics and Virtual Reality (2021); The Digital Authoritarians’ Toolbox (2018)
● U.S. Safer Internet Day, 2019: Keynote on Building a Better Internet
● International Red Cross, 2018: Digital Risks in Armed Conflict
● U.S. Department of Justice, Cybercrime Symposium, 2018: Free Speech and Public Safety
● European Union/United Nations Symposium: 2017 Online Targeting of Migrants and Refugees

Academic & Teaching Experience

Stanford University | 2022 – Present
Lecturer, Political Science Department & Stanford Law School

École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (HEC Paris) | Fall 2023
Faculty Consultant

University of Maine Law School | Summer 2021
Adjunct Faculty

Stanford Internet Observatory, Stanford University | 2019 – 2020
Consultant

University of Maryland Law School | 2011
Adjunct Faculty

Afghanistan Legal Education Project | 2010 – 2011
Stanford Law School, Postdoctoral Fellow

Recent Publications

Revisiting Code as Law: Regulation and Extended Reality, 26 VAND. J. ENT. & TECH. L. 655 (2024)
Coca Cola Curses: Online Hate Speech in a Postcolonial Context, 9 MICH. TECH. L. REV. 259 (2023)
Enlisting Useful Idiots: The Ties Between Online Harassment and Disinformation, 19.1 COLO. TECH. L. J. 19 (2021)
The Problems with Immersive Advertising: In VR/AR, Nobody Knows You’re an Ad, 1 STAN. J. ONLINE TRUST &SAFETY (2021)
Watching Androids Dream of Electric Sheep: Immersive Technology, Biometric Psychography, and theLaw, 3 VAND. J. ENT. & TECH. L. 1 (2020)
Of Legal Rights and Moral Wrongs, 19 YALE J.L. & FEMINISM 279 (2007).
Reimagining Reality: Human Rights and Immersive Technology, 2020-008, HARVARD CARR CENTER DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES (2020)
Combatting Terrorism-Related Content Through AI and Information Sharing, TRANSATLANTIC HIGH-LEVEL WORKING GROUP (2019)
Freedom of Expression: A Comparative Summary of American and European Law, TRANSATLANTIC HIGH-LEVEL WORKING GROUP (2019)