Press?
I'm happy to do interviews with members of the media, big or small, about any project I'm involved in. 1
Please email press@s.ai (preferred) or phone +1 510 394 4724 (if <24 hour deadline) and let me know your deadline and organization, and a pointer to your previous work. I will try to get in contact quickly. For secure communications, see my contact page.
My full legal name is just "Sai"; I'm mononymous. It's pronounced the same as "sigh". "saizai" is my handle, not my name.
Please do not use any title (e.g. "Mr.") and don't include "saizai" unless it's part of a reference (e.g. to my YouTube channel). If you need to clarify that I only have one name — though I don't think you do — please don't say I "go by" Sai or put quotes around my name. That's insulting, since that implies it's somehow not my "real" name.
Unless you're writing about something I've done in an official capacity, please leave my affiliations out. Journalists usually refer to me as a "privacy advocate", "security researcher", or the like (depending on what is relevant to the story), which suits me fine. ("Activist" makes me cringe.)
I appreciate having an opportunity to review any quotes, citations, or descriptions for accuracy, especially when they may require technical or legal precision. I have no interest in review of your opinion — just ensuring the facts are right.
Here's a high res photo you can use, so long as you give photo attribution:
- Head-in-hands, no beard: Credit Julia Wolf (@juliavixen, flickr). Taken at 27C3.
- At table, with beard: Credit Sappho Hansen Smythe (@SapphoandAll, tumblr, instagram).
- However, I do not want to be a public figure. Please don't go into my personal life.
Previous press
Stuff related to my work @ MYL has its own page. Please don't mix my personal & MYL roles; I keep them strictly separated.
- 2016-05-06 "The Battle for the Klingon Language" — Jason Koebler, VICE / MOTHERBOARD
- 2016-05-03 "Conlangery #119: Paramount v Axanar" — George Corley, Conlangery Podcast
- 2016-01-14 26-organization coalition (including ACLU, CAIR, EFF, EPIC, NCTE) sent Congress a letter opposing TSA's new mandatory-AIT rule, triggered in part by my lawsuit
- 2016-01-29 "Travelers are less certain about the airport screening experience than they’ve been in years" — Christopher Elliot, Washington Post / Travel (print: 2016-01-31 Sunday edition, travel section, "New airlines policies have fliers in a holding pattern"; syndicated: elliot.org)
- 2016-01-14 "Growing List Of Privacy Advocates Condemns TSA's New Body Scan Policy" — Lisa Brownlee, Forbes / Tech
- 2016-01-11 "TSA screener insists that full-body screening is mandatory" — Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
- 2016-01-09 "A troubling update to the TSA story" — Christopher Elliot
- 2016-01-07 "Sai tests legality of TSA’s new scanner policy" — Lisa Simeone, TSA News
- 2016-01-06 "TSA screener insists that full-body screening is mandatory" — Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
- 2016-01-04 "REAL ID, Rumor Control, and You" — Jim Harper, Cato Institute
- 2016-01-04 "TSA Tries to Force Wheelchair Passenger to Stand for Body Scanner" — Jonathan Corbett
- 2015-12-30 "No pat-down option: TSA wants body scanners" — RT America News
- 2015-12-30 "1st Circuit Injunction Re: TSA's New Mandatory AIT Search Rule Fully Briefed" — Slashdot
- 2015-12-29 "TSA Challenges Airport Body Scan Lawsuit" — Lisa Brownlee, Forbes / Tech
- 2015-12-29 "TSA: You Should Have Known We Were Going to Make it Mandatory!" — Jonathan Corbett
- 2015-12-28 "TSA may require virtual strip-searches for flyers" — Edward Hasbrouck, PapersPlease
- 2015-12-24 "TSA transparency activist seeks injunction against mandatory full-body scanners" — Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
- 2015-12-24 "Motion Filed In 1st Circuit To Enjoin TSA's New Mandatory "AIT" Screening" — Slashdot
- 2015-12-18 "Are TSA actions subject to judicial review?" — Edward Hasbrouck, PapersPlease
- 2015-08-20 "Sai receives TSA documents through FOIA" — Lisa Simeone, TSA News
- 2015-08-13 "Copy of Postal Service Audit Shows Extent of Mail Surveillance" — Ron Nixon, New York Times (print: 2015-08-14 "Extent of Mail Surveillance Is Revealed", p. A16, New York edition, national section)
- 2015-08-17 "US Postal Service managed extensive ‘mail surveillance’ program – internal audit" — Anya Parampil, RT America News
- 2015-08-18 "More on Mail Cover" — Bruce Schneier
- 2015-04-01 "This is what happens when the government thinks you’re dead" — Rob Wile, ABC News/Fusion
- 2013-04-08: "UPDATE: TSA Accused of Violating Disabled Travelers' Rights" — RightThisMinute (after TSA's written statement admitting fault)
- 2013-04-04: "TSA Accused of Violating Disabled Travelers' Rights" — RightThisMinute
- 2013-04-01: "TSA too far?" — Meghan Lopez, RT America News
- 2013-03-31: "TSA routinely violates own rules and the law to discriminate against people w/disabilities" — Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
- 2011-02-19: "TSA cheat sheet: know your rights!" — Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing
- 2010-12-17: "How To Protect Your Dignity From The TSA" — Andy Greenberg, Forbes
- 2010-06-24: "Between Russian and Dothraki — an interview with Sai Emrys and David J. Peterson"2 — mary, westeros.ru
- 2010-06-03: "The Dothraki response to a call for science in a created language", responding to "Fantasy TV in the service of science: An open letter to HBO about 'Dothraki'" — Joshua Hartshorne, Scientific American
- 2010-05: "Dothraki and Esperanto" (unabridged version) — Jim Henry, Usona Esperanto
- 2010-04-22: "Creating Dothraki: An Interview with David J. Peterson and Sai Emrys"2 — Ellen B. Wright, tor.com
- 2010-03-31: "privacy-related changes coming to CSS :visited" — Christopher Blizzard, Mozilla Hacks
- 2010-03-31: "Plugging the CSS History Leak" — Sid Stamm, Mozilla Security
- 2010-03-09: "Preventing attacks on a user's history through CSS :visited selectors L. David Baron, Mozilla Corporation" — L. David Baron
- 2015-04-08: "Sursursursurreply briefs" — Eugene Volokh, Volokh Conspiracy / Washington Post
re. the Language Creation Society's amicus brief opposing Paramount's claim to own copyright to Klingon language (see LCS press page for more):
re. USPS special mail cover program
re. SSN security:
re. my TSA incidents:
re. my TSA rights cheat sheet:
re. the Language Creation Society's creation of Dothraki for HBO's Game of Thrones:
re. the CSS History Hack:
miscellaneous:
- Note: "Emrys" is a surname that I used occasionally, pre 2011. Please do not use it currently; my full legal name is just "Sai".