The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Daily: How Technologists Can Help Regulators with Erie Meyer and Laura Edelson
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Oct 14, 2025 Laura Edelson, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and former DOJ chief technologist, joins Erie Meyer, a Senior Fellow at Georgetown Law, to discuss the vital role of technologists in regulatory agencies. They explore how technical expertise can uncover insights within regulatory frameworks and improve casework. The duo emphasizes effective communication between tech and legal teams and addresses the challenges of recruiting tech talent. They also highlight the urgent need for regulators to adapt to AI developments and suggest actionable strategies for better tech integration in government.
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Regulation Requires Looking Inside Systems
- Many regulatory answers live inside technical systems like source code or ML models and require specific expertise to extract.
- Regulators must test models and read code to answer legally relevant questions about how systems behave.
Developer Tools Revealed Hidden Evidence
- Erie opened Chrome developer tools to reveal website analytics and surprised attorneys who thought the data was unknowable.
- She demonstrated tracking pixels on a local newspaper site to show where user data flows actually occur.
Embed Technologists Across Agency Workflows
- Do embed technologists in enforcement teams to aid investigations, data acquisition, program implementation, and policy design.
- Technologists help craft clear, implementable rules and build public-facing intake and remediation systems.