Live Online Policy Forum 

# Surveillance Reform Prospects 

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Date and Time 

June 6, 2023 1 - 2 PM EDT 

Location 

Live Online 

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##### Featuring 

![Rep. Goodlatte picture](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-05/bob-goodlatte.jpeg?itok=Gy-EQf6N) 

Rep. Bob Goodlatte 

Former House Judiciary Chair and Senior Policy Advisor, Project on Privacy and Surveillance Accountability

[ 

](https://twitter.com/savingprivacy) 

![Liza Goitein](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-09/liza-gotein-circle.jpeg?itok=1Qe5Ndgs) 

Liza Goitein 

Senior Director of the Liberty and National Security Program, Brennan Center for Justice

[ 

](https://twitter.com/LizaGoitein) 

![Jake Laperruque](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2026-07/Jake%20Laperruque.jpg?itok=aFRSv9D5) 

Jake Laperruque 

Deputy Director, Security and Surveillance Project, Center for Democracy and Technology

[ 

](https://twitter.com/JakeLaperruque) 

[![Patrick G. Eddington](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Patrick%20Eddington.jpg?itok=ddIWrIm5)](/people/patrick-g-eddington) 

[Patrick G. Eddington](/people/patrick-g-eddington)

Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/pgeddington) [ 

](mailto:peddington@cato.org) 

On New Year’s Eve 2023, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will expire absent congressional action to renew it. This controversial surveillance power was enacted in 2008 following over two years of debate in Congress after its secret, illegal predecessor—the National Security Agency’s Stellar Wind mass electronic surveillance program—was exposed by the *New York Times* in December 2005. Since that time, Section 702 has been renewed twice—once under President Obama and again under President Trump. And it has been renewed despite repeated, serious violations of the law by the FBI via so-called “back door” searches—literally millions of Section 702 database queries by FBI personnel for information on U.S. persons not necessarily wanted for a crime.

What do we actually know about the alleged effectiveness of this sweeping surveillance power? What is the scope of the legal and compliance problems with Section 702? Should it be renewed unchanged, retained in modified form, or allowed to expire? Does the narrow focus on Section 702’s fate obscure the larger surveillance reform problems we face? The panel will tackle all these questions.

#### This event is part of the 2023 Cato Surveillance Week series:

[![Surveillance Week image](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2023-05/Surveillance-Week.jpg?itok=oZ2aZalH)](https://www.cato.org/events/pernicious-surveillance-legacy-9-11) 

##### Session 1 • June 5, 2023

### [The Pernicious Surveillance Legacy of 9/11](https://www.cato.org/events/pernicious-surveillance-legacy-9-11)

Have officials in the executive branch and Congress learned anything from surveillance mistakes and overreaches?

[![Surveillance Week image](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2023-05/Surveillance-Week.jpg?itok=oZ2aZalH)](https://www.cato.org/events/surveillance-reform-prospects) 

##### Session 2 • June 6, 2023

### [Surveillance Reform Prospects](https://www.cato.org/events/surveillance-reform-prospects)

What do we actually know about the alleged effectiveness of the controversial FISA Section 702 electronic mass surveillance program?

[![Surveillance Week image](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2023-05/Surveillance-Week.jpg?itok=oZ2aZalH)](https://www.cato.org/events/domestic-terrorism-versus-constitutional-speech) 

##### Session 3 • June 7, 2023

### [Domestic Terrorism versus Constitutional Speech](https://www.cato.org/events/domestic-terrorism-versus-constitutional-speech)

Extreme political views and speech have been a feature of American political and social life virtually since the founding of the republic.

[![Surveillance Week image](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/aside_mobile/public/2023-05/Surveillance-Week.jpg?itok=oZ2aZalH)](https://www.cato.org/events/biometrics-privacy-versus-public-safety) 

##### Session 4 • June 8, 2023

### [Biometrics: Privacy versus Public Safety](https://www.cato.org/events/biometrics-privacy-versus-public-safety)

The explosion in the use of facial recognition and other biometric technologies by government and private‐​sector entities has sparked a national debate about such systems.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).