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The Second Annual Cato Surveillance Conference

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1st floor/Wintergarden
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It has been a dizzying year in the world of surveillance: In June, nearly two years after Edward Snowden shocked the world with unprecedented leaks revealing the scope of National Security Agency spying, Congress moved to limit the bulk collection of domestic communications data via the USA FREEDOM Act — first introduced at a Cato conference in 2013 — but how much privacy protection will the law’s reforms truly provide?

Meanwhile, courts and policymakers struggle to keep up with a rapidly evolving array of high-tech threats to privacy, each posing difficult policy questions. Should encryption technologies be engineered to include back doors for government, as some law enforcement officials have proposed? How should companies respond to ever-growing demands for user data on a borderless Internet — and what consequences will the answer hold for America’s technology sector and global freedom? What tools can individuals rely on to protect themselves from intrusive states and malicious hackers? Does cybersecurity require sharing ever more information with government? Are new laws required to regulate the increasing use of cell phone location tracking by police?

The Cato Institute’s Second Annual Surveillance Conference will explore these questions and more with the top scholars, litigators, intelligence officials, activists, and technologists working at the intersection of privacy, technology, and national security.

9:00 – 9:05AM Welcome and Introduction

Julian Sanchez, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute
9:05 – 10:05AM



After FREEDOM: A Dialogue on NSA in the Post-Snowden Era

Kurt Opsahl, General Counsel & Deputy Executive Director, Electronic Frontier Foundation
Rebecca Richards, Civil Liberties & Privacy Officer, National Security Agency
Moderated by Charlie Savage, National Reporter, New York Times

10:05 – 10:15AM Economic Benefits of Encryption

Ryan Hagemann, Policy Analyst, Niskanen Center
10:15 – 10:25AM Ciphertext Rots: Towards Guidelines for Retention & Analysis of Encrypted Data

Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Chief Technologist, Center for Democracy and Technology
10:25 – 10:45AM



IP-Based Communications & the Content/​Metadata Distinction

Steve Bellovin, Professor, Columbia University
Stephanie Pell, Professor, West Point Military Academy

10:45 – 11:00AM Break
11:00AM – 12:00PM



Watching the Watchmen: The Privacy & Civil Liberties Oversight Board

David Medine, Chairman, PCLOB
Judge Patricia Wald, Member, PCLOB
Moderated by Jenna McLaughlin, Reporter, The Intercept

12:00 – 12:30PM



Luncheon Keynote

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D‑Vermont

12:30 – 1:30PM Lunch
1:30 – 2:30PM



National Surveillance Laws on a Borderless Network

Jennifer Daskal, Professor, American University Washington College of Law
Christopher Hopfensperger, Technology Policy Counsel, Business Software Alliance
Orin Kerr, Professor, George Washington University
Matthew Perault, Head of Global Policy Development, Facebook
Moderated by Patrick Eddington, Policy Analyst, Cato Institute

2:30 – 2:50PM The State of Global Surveillance

Amie Stepanovich, U.S. Policy Manager, Access
2:50 – 3:10PM Return of the General Warrant

Laura Donohue, Director, Center on National Security and the Law, Georgetown University Law School
3:10 – 3:30PM Surveilling Terrorists: Assessing the Costs and Benefits

John Mueller, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute and Senior Research Scientist, Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Ohio State University
3:30 – 3:45PM



Smartening up Congress About National Security

Daniel Schuman, Policy Director, Demand Progress

3:45 – 4:00PM Break
4:00–5:00PM



The Feeling of Being Watched

Assia Boundaoui, Documentary Filmmaker
Faisal Gill, Attorney
Jumana Musa, Privacy and National Security Counsel, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Moderated by Julian Sanchez, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

5:00 – 5:30PM



Closing Keynote

Bruce Schneier, Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School

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