Jason D. MacLeod — Lawyer, Technologist & DJ in Seattle

Jason D. MacLeod is a cybersecurity and privacy professional and attorney based in Seattle, Washington. He holds a JD from Seattle University School of Law, an MSc from the University of Oxford, an LL.M from UC Berkeley School of Law, and a BA from the University of Washington (magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP/US), and a Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH). He currently serves as Cybersecurity Compliance Program Manager for the City of Bellevue, and previously practiced as a data privacy and cybersecurity attorney at an AmLaw 100 firm, specializing in incident response and regulatory compliance.

About

Jason D. MacLeod works at the intersection of law and technology, with a focus on cybersecurity compliance, privacy law, AI governance, and human rights technology. He currently serves as Cybersecurity Compliance Program Manager for the City of Bellevue, Washington, where he leads enterprise cybersecurity, privacy, and AI governance compliance for a municipal government supporting more than 160,000 residents, developing policy aligned to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework 2.0, including third-party risk management and AI and large language model governance frameworks.

Much of his career has been spent in public-interest and human-rights work: the Digital Threat Solutions team at Internews, where he built and operated an information security program protecting journalists, activists, and civil society organizations in high-risk and authoritarian jurisdictions, alongside public-sector, NGO, and academic roles. He has also worked inside major industry: senior cyber risk consulting at Deloitte & Touche LLP advising Fortune 500 clients across the pharmaceutical, medical device, financial services, and technology sectors, and an associate position in data privacy and cybersecurity at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP focused on incident response and regulatory compliance under HIPAA, FCRA, GLBA, COPPA, state privacy regimes, GDPR, PIPL, and BDSG. It's experience he now turns toward the public good.

Earlier work includes Security Risk Analyst at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Human Rights Center at UC Berkeley School of Law, Research Associate at Seattle University School of Law working with Professors Richard Delgado, Jean Stefancic, and Henry W. McGee, Jr. on Critical Race Theory and civil rights scholarship, and a multi-year fellowship at the Films For Justice Institute under Professor Marilyn Berger.

Professional Experience

Cybersecurity Compliance Program Manager—City of Bellevue, Washington

– Present. Lead enterprise cybersecurity, privacy, and AI governance compliance for a municipal government supporting 160,000+ residents. Develop and maintain policy aligned to NIST CSF 2.0, including third-party risk management and AI/LLM governance frameworks. Standardize vendor contract review across departments.

Digital Threat Solutions Specialist—Internews

– . Built and operated an information security program supporting journalists, activists, and civil society organizations in high-risk and authoritarian jurisdictions. Advised on digital threat modeling, secure communications, and incident response for at-risk users globally.

Associate, Data Privacy & Cybersecurity—Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP

– . Specialized in incident response and regulatory compliance for clients across regulated industries. Coordinated forensic investigations under attorney-client privilege; advised on breach notification under HIPAA, FCRA, GLBA, COPPA, state privacy regimes, GDPR, PIPL, and BDSG.

Senior Consultant, Cyber Risk—Deloitte & Touche LLP

– . Advised Fortune 500 clients across pharmaceutical, medical device, financial services, and technology sectors on cyber risk strategy and security program maturity, including program design, control assessment, and governance for organizations securing intellectual property in highly regulated environments.

Security Risk Analyst—Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

– . Member of a four-person information security team supporting a 12,000-employee academic medical center, with work spanning threat intelligence, user behavior analytics, malware analysis, forensics, and security operations.

Visiting Scholar—Department of Geography, Dartmouth College

– . Concurrent academic affiliation supporting research in the Department of Geography.

Technology and Human Rights Fellow—Human Rights Center, UC Berkeley School of Law

Researched applications of digital forensics, open-source intelligence, and information security to human rights investigations.

Education

LL.M., Master of Laws—UC Berkeley School of Law

Concentrations: environmental law, intellectual property, computer crime, and human rights law.

MSc, Master of Science—University of Oxford

Department of Geography and the Environment.

JD, Juris Doctor—Seattle University School of Law

Concentrations: international law, intellectual property, human rights law, environmental law, Critical Race Theory.

BA, Political Science—University of Washington

Magna cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa.

Bar Admissions and Certifications

Bar admissions: District of Columbia (Inactive), Vermont (Inactive), New Hampshire (Inactive).

Professional certifications: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP); Certified Information Privacy Professional, United States (CIPP/US); Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH).

Areas of Practice and Expertise

Privacy and information security law. Cybersecurity compliance. AI governance. Third-party risk management. Incident response. International law. Human rights law. Intellectual property. NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Threat intelligence. Forensics. User behavior analytics. Malware analysis. Penetration testing. Data loss prevention. Security operations.

Contact

For secure contact, please use the secure contact form.

⌂ JASON.EXE
12:40
JASONMACLEOD
✷ law · technology · sound ✷
THE DECLINE OF BEING INTO HAVING, AND HAVING INTO MERELY APPEARING1 THE TRIUMPH OF ADVERTISING: CONSUMERS COMPELLED TO BUY WHAT THEY SEE THROUGH2 THERE IS NO RIGHT LIFE INSIDE THE WRONG ONE3 NO TRACKERS · NO ADS · NO METRICS · NO MASTERS THE PURPOSE OF A SYSTEM IS WHAT IT DOES12 THE OLD IS DYING AND THE NEW CANNOT BE BORN: IN THIS INTERREGNUM, MORBID SYMPTOMS5 WHERE LIFE IS PRECIOUS, LIFE IS PRECIOUS13 THE BEGINNING OF REVOLT IS THE REFUSAL TO BE GOVERNED THUS4 SURVEILLANCE IS NOTHING NEW TO BLACK FOLKS15 ONE-DIMENSIONAL THOUGHT IS SYSTEMATICALLY PROMOTED BY THE MAKERS OF POLITICS6 WE LIVE IN CAPITALISM. ITS POWER SEEMS INESCAPABLE. SO DID THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS17 OUR MEDIA MATTER MOST WHEN THEY SEEM NOT TO MATTER AT ALL16 DO ARTIFACTS HAVE POLITICS?24 IT IS EASIER TO IMAGINE THE END OF THE WORLD THAN THE END OF CAPITALISM14 THE DECLINE OF BEING INTO HAVING, AND HAVING INTO MERELY APPEARING1 THE TRIUMPH OF ADVERTISING: CONSUMERS COMPELLED TO BUY WHAT THEY SEE THROUGH2 THERE IS NO RIGHT LIFE INSIDE THE WRONG ONE3 NO TRACKERS · NO ADS · NO METRICS · NO MASTERS THE PURPOSE OF A SYSTEM IS WHAT IT DOES12 THE OLD IS DYING AND THE NEW CANNOT BE BORN: IN THIS INTERREGNUM, MORBID SYMPTOMS5 WHERE LIFE IS PRECIOUS, LIFE IS PRECIOUS13 THE BEGINNING OF REVOLT IS THE REFUSAL TO BE GOVERNED THUS4 SURVEILLANCE IS NOTHING NEW TO BLACK FOLKS15 ONE-DIMENSIONAL THOUGHT IS SYSTEMATICALLY PROMOTED BY THE MAKERS OF POLITICS6 WE LIVE IN CAPITALISM. ITS POWER SEEMS INESCAPABLE. SO DID THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS17 OUR MEDIA MATTER MOST WHEN THEY SEEM NOT TO MATTER AT ALL16 DO ARTIFACTS HAVE POLITICS?24 IT IS EASIER TO IMAGINE THE END OF THE WORLD THAN THE END OF CAPITALISM14
screensaver.exe
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resume.docx
writing/
not-a-virus.exe
panic.exe
your_file.exe
links.htm
passwords.txt
clippy.dll
mixes.zip
secure-contact
repos.git
jasondmacleod.exe — running...
FileEditViewHelp
"THE SOUL IS PUT TO WORK" SURVEILLANCE IS THE BUSINESS MODEL "SLEEP HAS NO MARKET SO THEY CAME FOR IT TOO" "YOU ARE NOT THE CUSTOMER, YOU ARE THE INVENTORY" "THE SOUL IS PUT TO WORK" SURVEILLANCE IS THE BUSINESS MODEL REFUSE REFUSE REFUSE LOG OFF LOG OFF LOG OFF who profits from your insomnia? SYNCING — DO NOT SLEEP 99+ UNREAD IN — NEVER OUT OVERDUE · FINAL NOTICE · due yesterday ON BURNOUT the old is dying. the new can't be born. (he wrote “morbid symptoms,” not monsters) the terms changed. you already agreed. the screen does not close. neither do you. UNPLUG

Jason D. MacLeod

lawyerresearcherdjdesignerhacker

I work where law meets technology, and where both meet power. At the City of Bellevue, my work covers artificial intelligence governance, data privacy, and cybersecurity. Most of my career has been spent on the public's side: as a visiting scholar at Dartmouth, a human rights defender at Internews, and a builder of security programs for the activists and journalists most exposed to state power. I also spent time inside the machine. I was a cyber-risk consultant at Deloitte and a data-privacy attorney at an AmLaw 100 firm, working alongside Big Tech and pharmaceutical giants. I watched, up close, how power teaches itself to stay safe. I don't regret those years; they taught me exactly how the machine holds itself together. But I'd rather hand that knowledge to the people it was built to outlast.

The interesting question about any system, legal, technical, or economic, is never whether it works. It is who it works for. Most of them were built to concentrate power, and they are very good at it. But systems are built, which means they can be read, broken, and built again, and that work is already underway.

credentials JD · LL.M Berkeley Law · MSc Oxford
certifications CISSP · CIPP/US · CEH
located Seattle, Washington
repos github.com/jasondmacleod
profile linkedin.com/in/jason-macleod
412 WORDSHUMAN-DIRECTEDUNREAD: 4,201NUMCAPSSCRL
NOW SPINNING
DJ ADVENT
ON AIR
★ DJ ADVENT ● LIVE ★
!! WARNING !!
CAPITALISM
DETECTED
an unauthorized process is attempting
to commodify your free time.
!! PRE-ORDER !!
100%OFF
REALITY AWAITSBUY NOTHING
$999.99 $0.00 · OFFER ENDS: NEVER
Large_Language_Model.exe
// AI HAS DECIDED YOUR FUTURE //
confidence: 97.3% · hallucination risk: NORMAL
attention_heads.exe
$ neural_net --inspect
analyzing 1,247,000,000 params...
Now Generating...
RUNAWAY E-COMMERCE
►► STILL SHOPPING ►► STILL SHOPPING ►► STILL SHOPPING ►►
your_phone.exe
3:47
tuesday — 41 notifications
now
data broker
Your location history is on sale. You earn $0.
2m
a shopping app
We noticed you paused. Here is a dopamine coupon.
9m
terms of service
We changed everything. Tap "I Agree" to keep breathing.
14m
social
7 people you don't like are doing better than you.
the panopticon fits in your pocket and you pay monthly for it
surveillance.exe — live
YOU, BROADCAST TODAY0
DAILY AVERAGE, U.S.747×
COMPANIES RECEIVING4,698
YOUR PRICE, PER RECORD$0.12
CONSENT ON FILENONE
▓ YOU AGREED TO THIS ▓
real numbers: ad-auction broadcasts 26 · broker price 27
your_file.exe — subject #unknown
BROWSER— SYSTEM— SCREEN— BATTERYnot disclosed LOCAL TIME— TAB ESCAPES0 IDLE0s CURSOR TRAVELED0.0 m BIO READ0% OPEN INSTANCES1
collected without asking. sent nowhere. view source. now imagine the ones who don't show you the file.
terminal.exe — guest@jasondmacleod
ADVENT SH v1.0 — type 'help'
guest@jasondmacleod:~$
links.htm — geocities never died
NOTRACKERS ✓ HUMANDIRECTED BEST VIEWEDWITH EYES Y2KREADY VALIDHTML 3.2 POWERED BYREFUSAL FREETHE WEB 28.8KBPS OK
visitor № 0083921
EFF Surveillance Self-Defense Tor Project Signal Citizen Lab Access Now S.T.O.P. EPIC ICCL Deceptive Patterns The Markup Tech Workers Coalition Internews Low-tech Magazine Mutual Aid Hub
« prev anti-surveillance blogroll next »
Secure_Contact.txt — sign the guestbook

>> LEAVE A NOTE :: a sysadmin will eventually read this

Encrypt SEND
★ this form is for show. real contact: jasondmacleod.com/secure-contact ★
dj_advent.amp — [DJ ADVENT]
00:42
★ DJ ADVENT — The Jihadist · 320 kbps · arabic electronica · orientalism · sophisticated music for intelligent people ★
320 kbps44 khzSTEREO
VOL
BAL
playlist.m3u — DJ ADVENT (22)
▶ click any mix to play
Play DJ Advent
▶01The Jihadistarabic electronica · orientalism
▶02The Desertambient · orientalism
▶03The Mysticambient · orientalism
▶04The Haremtrip hop · orientalism
▶05The Corpse Pose (Savasana)ambient · orientalism
▶06The Ashramdrum & bass · orientalism
▶07The Templedrum & bass · orientalism
▶08The Cityworld · orientalism
▶09The Multiculturalistworld · orientalism
▶10Outernational Soundslive warehouse set · orientalism
▶11Audiobookdowntempo · favorite
▶12For Someonedowntempo · favorite
▶13Old Time Jukeboxtrip hop · favorite
▶14Rough Drafttrip hop · vintage samples
▶15Heden St. Loungedowntempo · lounge
▶16Cabaret Le Coeurdowntempo · tango
▶17City Soleildowntempo · flamenco
▶18Sea Swallow Medowntempo · ambient
▶19A Slight Case of Melancholytrip hop · jazz
▶20The Out of Body Experiencebrainwave · headphones only
▶21The Sleep Projectbrainwave · headphones only
▶22Skinny Puppy: Macabre Massesindustrial · favorite
▶+All mixes & descriptions → /mixes/full archive
!! Click Here !!
FREE MIX · NO CREDIT CARD · NO SIGN-UP · NO SOUL ATTACHMENT · FREE MIX · NO CREDIT CARD
CONGRATULATIONS
YOU ARE FINE
you owe them nothing. not your data, not your attention, not your consent. take it all back.
office_workers.scr — a tragedy in 4 acts
EXIT
OW
REPORT.docx
line 1: TODO
line 2: TODO
line 3: TODO
line 4: DUE
SHEETS
=SUM(souls)
=#ERR
=#REF!
=RETRY()
EMAIL
4,201 UNREAD
RE: RE: RE:
per my last
— sent
SALES_Q3
line 1: cope
line 2: cope
line 3: cope
line 4: cope
i was supposed to be a painter
THE WORK
WAS NEVER
THE POINT
my landlord raised the rent again
i trained my replacement. it was a dashboard.
FLOOR :: 03 — ACCOUNTING PRODUCTIVITY :: 8.4% ▼ Q3 OKRS PENDING ▼ UNION :: WHEN
citations.txt — receipts for the slogans
Table of authorities

Every borrowed line on this desktop, with its source. Lines with no number are mine. Cites run to the section or chapter; page pins are pending a check against my own editions.

Theory

  1. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle ¶ 17 (1967).
  2. Max Horkheimer & Theodor W. Adorno, Dialectic of Enlightenment, “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” (1944; rev. 1947) (closing line).
  3. Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia § 18 (1951).
  4. Paraphrasing Michel Foucault, “What Is Critique?” (lecture, Société française de philosophie, May 27, 1978), on the art of not being governed quite so much.
  5. Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks, Notebook 3, § 34 (1930); Selections from the Prison Notebooks 276 (Hoare & Nowell Smith eds. & trans., 1971). He wrote morbid symptoms. “The time of monsters” is a later, looser rendering that travels under his name.
  6. Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man ch. 1 (1964).
  7. Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle ¶ 34 (1967).
  8. After Franco “Bifo” Berardi, The Soul at Work: From Alienation to Autonomy (2009).
  9. After Jonathan Crary, 24/7: Late Capitalism and the Ends of Sleep (2013).
  10. Lineage: Richard Serra & Carlota Fay Schoolman, Television Delivers People (video, 1973).
  11. After Audre Lorde, “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” (1979), in Sister Outsider (1984).
  12. Stafford Beer, What Is Cybernetics?, 31 Kybernetes 209 (2002).
  13. Ruth Wilson Gilmore, quoted in Rachel Kushner, Is Prison Necessary?, N.Y. Times Mag. (Apr. 17, 2019).
  14. Mark Fisher, Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? ch. 1 (2009) (attributing the line to Fredric Jameson and Slavoj Žižek).
  15. Simone Browne, Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness, Introduction (2015).
  16. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New Media, Introduction (2016).
  17. Ursula K. Le Guin, acceptance speech, Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, National Book Awards (Nov. 19, 2014).
  18. After Richard Delgado, Storytelling for Oppositionists and Others: A Plea for Narrative, 87 Mich. L. Rev. 2411 (1989).
  19. Ruha Benjamin, Race After Technology: Abolitionist Tools for the New Jim Code (2019).
  20. Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism ch. 9 (1951).
  21. After Dean Spade, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) (2020).
  22. Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto (2022).
  23. Mni Wiconi — “water is life,” Lakota; Standing Rock (2016).
  24. Langdon Winner, Do Artifacts Have Politics?, 109 Daedalus 121 (1980).
  25. Bruce Schneier, remarks at SOURCE Boston (Apr. 2014).

Numbers

  1. Irish Council for Civil Liberties, The Biggest Data Breach: ICCL Report on the Scale of Real-Time Bidding Data Broadcasts in the U.S. and Europe (May 16, 2022).
  2. Justin Sherman et al., Data Brokers and the Sale of Data on U.S. Military Personnel (Duke Sanford School of Public Policy, Nov. 2023).

Law

  1. Fed. Trade Comm’n, Bringing Dark Patterns to Light (staff report, Sept. 2022).
  2. Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act, 15 U.S.C. §§ 8401–8405.
  3. FTC v. Amazon.com, Inc., No. 2:23-cv-00932 (W.D. Wash.) (settled Sept. 25, 2025: $1 billion civil penalty, $1.5 billion in refunds).
  4. Custom Communications, Inc. v. FTC (8th Cir. July 8, 2025) (vacating the amended Negative Option Rule on procedural grounds).
  5. CNIL, Délibérations SAN-2021-023 (Google) and SAN-2021-024 (Facebook) (announced Jan. 6, 2022).
  6. Case C-673/17, Planet49 (CJEU Oct. 1, 2019).
  7. Cal. Civ. Code § 1798.140(h), (l).
  8. Regulation (EU) 2022/2065 (Digital Services Act), art. 25.
  9. Harry Brignull, deceptive.design (est. 2010 as darkpatterns.org).
  10. Federal Trade Commission Act § 5, 15 U.S.C. § 45.
dark_patterns.exe — museum of consent

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names follow Harry Brignull’s taxonomy 36 · every exhibit is harmless and sends nothing · general information, not legal advice
asymmetry.exe

The mechanics of asymmetry

what they see of you
location
purchases
sleep
contacts
what you see of them
the model
the price
the buyer
the appeal

How institutions turn technology on the people they claim to serve. Writing in progress.

forthcoming
receipts.log — audit this page
REQUESTS—
THIRD-PARTY—
COOKIES SET—
PAGE WEIGHT—
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Colophon Directed by a human. Built with a machine. Six inks and black. Four typefaces, self-hosted. No analytics, no ad tech, no CDN. The numbers above are measured in your browser, right now.