The 2014 Cato Institute Surveillance Conference

Last Friday, the Cato Institute held an all-day conference to explore the questions raised by the growth of government surveillance, the revelations of NSA activities by Edward Snowden, and how these newly disclosed technologies should be regulated by the Fourth Amendment and federal law. Ben took part in the conversation on the second panel, which included Charlie Savage, John Napier Tye, Marcy Wheeler, Laura Donohue, and Alex Joel. Later, in the final session of the conference, Edward Snowden responded directly to some of the arguments raised earlier by Ben. You can find the full remarks from each panel below and at the Cato website. Introduction and Opening Remarks by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) Panel 1: INTERNATIONAL SURVEILLANCE: FISA §702 & Executive Order 12333 Moderator: Charlie Savage, Washington Correspondent, New York Times John Napier Tye, Former Section Chief for Internet Freedom, State Department Marcy Wheeler, Writer, Emptywheel.net Laura Donohue, Director, Georgetown University Center on National Security & the Law Alex Joel, Civil Liberties Officer, Office of the Director of National Intelligence Benjamin Wittes, Senior Fellow in Governance Studies, Brookings Institution Panel 2: DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE: Law Enforcement in the Digital Age Moderator: Jack Gillum, Associated Press Faisal Gill, Attorney & Surveillance Target Orin Kerr, Professor of Law, George Washington University Harley Geiger, Advocacy Director and Senior Counsel, Center for Democracy & Technology Chris Soghoian, Principal Technologist and Senior Policy Analyst, American Civil Liberties Union Patrick G. Eddington, Policy Analyst, Homeland Security and Civil Liberties, Cato Institute Eric E. Schmidt, Executive Chairman, Google in conversation with Craig Timberg, National Technology Reporter, Washington Post Panel 3: OVERSEEING SURVEILLANCE: Secrecy, Transparency, and Accountability Moderator: Siobhan Gorman, Wall Street Journal Robert S. Litt, General Counsel, Office of the Director of National Intelligence Katherine Hawkins, National Security Fellow, Open the Government Steve Aftergood, Director, Project on Government Secrecy, Federation of American Scientists Sharon Bradford Franklin, Executive Director, Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board J. Kirk Wiebe, Former Senior Analyst, National Security Agency Panel 4: LIMITING SURVEILLANCE: Congress, the Courts, and Technology Moderator: Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post Elizabeth “Liza” Goitein, Co-Director, Liberty and National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice Matthew Green, Research Professor of Computer Science, Johns Hopkins University Kurt Opsahl, Deputy General Counsel, Electronic Frontier Foundation Lara M. Flint, Chief Counsel for National Security, Senate Judiciary Committee Richard Salgado, Legal Director, Law Enforcement and Information Security, Google Closing Session: Edward Snowden, Julian Sanchez, and Julia Angwin.