Democracy in the Digital Age

The Program on Democracy in the Digital Age, led by IDI Senior Fellow Dr. Tehilla Shwartz-Altshuler, is a leading source of knowledge and expertise at the crossroads of technology, policy and the law. The program:

  • Promotes digital literacy among decision makers and the general public
  • Identifies threats and opportunities that emerging technologies pose to Israel’s society and democracy
  • Develops innovative policy responses to those challenges along with proposed regulatory frameworks for traditional and social media, artificial intelligence and the cyber sphere.

By focusing on the four big tech revolutions of our time, the program seeks to harness the power of technology to transform democratic governance and make it more transparent, accountable and effective.

THE AI REVOLUTION

Fosters literacy and a deep understanding of the new challenges and possibilities associated with AI, while engaging with a variety of stakeholders and global though-leaders to lay the foundations for AI policy in Israel.

THE INFORMATION AND SOCIAL MEDIA REVOLUTION

Provides innovative policy solutions to challenges resulting from disinformation campaigns and online hate speech, while contributing to reforms in Israeli public broadcast services and writing a code of ethics for leading journalistic outlets.

THE SURVEILLANCE REVOLUTION

Designs a conceptual regulator legislative, and judicial toolbox that safeguards national security while protecting privacy - including a privacy law for the digital age - developing non-invasive digital tracing methods, and providing regulatory recommendations for secondary uses of medical health data.   

THE CYBER REVOLUTION

Develops smart responses to emerging cyber threats and fosters cyber literacy among policymakers and the general public. Our research has played a role in safeguarding critical information systems for government and the business sector, and contributed to cyber regulation, cyberspace, and cyber defense in Israel.

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    Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler

    Head; Senior Fellow

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    Dr. Tehilla Shwartz Altshuler is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and head of the institute’s Media Reform Program and Democracy in the Digital Age Program.

    She holds a doctorate in law (LLD) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and completed her post-doctoral studies at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. 

    She is a board member of the Israel National Press Council, a board member of the Israeli Digital Rights Movement, a board member of the Center for Ethics in Jerusalem and a member of the Supreme Council of Archives of the State of Israel.

    In recent years, Dr. Shwartz Altshuler has composed the journalistic code of ethics for Israel’s public broadcasting corporation (“Kan”) and for the Globes business newspaper; drafted a bill for a new privacy law in Israel; and appeared regularly in the Israeli and international media on issues relating to media, technology, democracy, and human rights. She has also published a number of books, articles, policy studies, and expert opinions on these subjects.

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    Dr. Rachel Aridor-Hershkovitz

    Senior Researcher

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    Senior Researcher in the Democracy in the Digital Age program at the Center for Democratic Values and Institutions at IDI. Holds a Master’s degree in Intellectual Property and Antitrust Law from the NYU School of Law, and a PhD from the Faculty of Law at the University of Haifa. Her doctoral dissertation examined the most suitable regulatory tools for cybersecurity protection, based on a comparison of regulations in the United States and England, and an in-depth study of the need for public-private sector cooperation and how to achieve it.

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    Adv. Yael Mittelman

    Research Assistant

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    Yael Mittelman earned her Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2020. She clerked for the Parliamentary Solicitor General, where she assisted in representing the Knesset in constitutional petitions before the Supreme Court. In 2021, she was admitted to the Israeli Bar. Subsequently, she worked under the head of litigation at a leading law firm. Prior to her legal career, Yael served in the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, working with leading media outlets in Israel and worldwide.

    Yael is a research assistant at the Center for Democracy in the Digital Age, specializing in communications and technology regulation, freedom of expression, and journalistic ethics.