Patrick Ball

Patrick Ball (born June 26, 1965) is a scientist who has spent more than twenty years conducting quantitative analysis for truth commissions, non-governmental organizations, international criminal tribunals, and United Nations missions in El Salvador, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, South Africa, Chad, Sri Lanka, East Timor, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Kosovo, Liberia, Peru, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Syria. As executive director of Human Rights Data Analysis Group, he assists human rights defenders by conducting rigorous scientific and statistical analysis of large-scale human rights abuses. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Columbia University, and his doctorate from the University of Michigan. Human rights and cryptography export controls During the 1990s-era controversies over the export of strong cryptography by United States software developers, Ball's technical background and expertise in human rights conflicts led him to advocate for the widespread availability of cryptographic technology. In 1993, he began working with the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, initially as a consultant and eventually as deputy director. His work with the AAAS included traveling to countries such as El Salvador and Ethiopia to train local human rights organizations on the use of cryptography and the Internet to protect their communications. The Science and Human Rights Program also organized or co-organized numerous symposiums, including a congressional briefing at which Ball presented alongside Matt Blaze, Ian Goldberg, and Dinah PoKempner. In 1997, Ball provided expert testimony in ACLU v. Miller, a case from the civil liberties group challenging a Georgia law barring online pseudonymity as unconstitutionally vague and overbroad.