The Lawfare Podcast Lawfare Archive: Big Tech and Law Enforcement, with Lukas Bundonis
14 snips
Nov 16, 2025 
Lukas Bundonis, a Senior Privacy Engineer formerly at Netflix and an ex-Army Reserve intelligence officer, dives into the complex relationship between big tech and law enforcement. He discusses how tech companies balance user privacy with legal demands, the challenges posed by foreign government requests, and the potential implications of international negotiations on cybercrime. Lukas also highlights the risks of child safety bills and predicts the future of AI regulation, emphasizing the need for practical data protection solutions amid political pressures.
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Accidental Path Into Privacy Engineering
- Lukas Bundonis described his accidental path into privacy engineering from military intelligence and policy work.
- He spun storage-systems experience into a law enforcement response project at Google that launched his career.
Products Balance User Control And Legal Demands
- Tech companies build products to give users control while also meeting lawful government requests within rule-of-law constraints.
- Companies push back on vague or overbroad requests and reject ones that don't map to available data.
Trust Assessment Shapes Global Responses
- Companies commonly refuse or avoid complying with requests from governments they deem likely to misuse data, like China or Russia.
- Deciding which governments to trust involves assessing corruption, fraud risk, and how leaders use data.
