You’re Gonna Need a Warrant for That: The Path to Digital Privacy Reform

Policy Forum

July 8, 2014 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM EDT

Hayek Auditorium

Featuring Congressman Ted Poe (R‑TX); Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel and Director, Center for Democracy & Technology, Project on Freedom, Security and Technology; Katie McAuliffe, Executive Director for Digital Liberty, Americans for Tax Reform; David Lieber, Privacy Counsel, Google; and Nate Jones, Attorney, Microsoft Corporation; moderated by Julian Sanchez, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute.

A unanimous Supreme Court recently declared that that our networked mobile devices merit the highest level of Fourth Amendment protection against government searches, since these devices often contain more sensitive information than even “the most exhaustive search of a house” would reveal. Yet increasingly, the vast troves of personal data they contain are synched to “the cloud,” where the outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 allows many types of information to be accessed without a warrant. The need to bring the law up to date has been recognized not only by privacy advocates, but major technology companies, more than half of the House of Representatives, and even federal law enforcement officials. Join us for a lively discussion of how and why to drag federal privacy law into the 21st century, with keynote remarks by Rep. Ted Poe (R‑TX) and a panel discussion featuring both policy experts and representatives of the tech firms we increasingly entrust with our most private data.