Maria Paz Canales

co-Head of Policy and Advocacy

Maria Paz oversees the development of insight and expertise to support GPD’s team and projects. Her particular focus areas are data protection, artificial intelligence, freedom of expression, competition and intellectual property. 

Previously, she co-founded and served as Executive Director at Derechos Digitales. She holds a Master’s Degree with specialisation in Law and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley.

Explore their work

10 Oct 2024
Blog post

What’s at stake for human rights and the Internet at WTSA-24?

Over the next few weeks (15-25 October), we’ll be in New Delhi for the 2024 World Telecommunications Standardization Assembly (WTSA-24), the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T)’s quadrennial conference for the development of technical standards.  As we explain in our recent Guide…
02 Sep 2024
Blog post

The UN Cybercrime Convention: where do we go from here?

On 8 August 2024, amidst widespread concern by many observers, including GPD, the text of the draft United Nations Convention against combating cybercrime was agreed to by governments in New York, marking the conclusion of a fractious three year negotiation process. …
02 Sep 2024
Blog post

Is the Online Safety Act “fit for purpose”? Thoughts on its application in the recent UK riots

In July, the United Kingdom experienced a wave of racially charged riots following a mass stabbing in the town of Southport. Among multiple contributing social and political factors, one clear driver was disinformation spread via social media.  In the aftermath, several British politicians have called for…