The Federal Trade Commission will hold the last of its three roundtables on privacy on March 17 in Washington, D.C. The agency has released its agenda. Panels include:

Panel 1: Internet Architecture and Privacy
Moderators: Loretta Garrison and Naomi Lefkovitz, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, FTC
Panelists:
John Henry Clippinger, Co-Director, The Law Lab, Harvard University Berkman Center for Internet & Society
Jules Cohen, Director, Trustworthy Computing Group, Microsoft
Peter Eckersley, Staff Technologist, Electronic Freedom Foundation
Lucy Lynch, Director, Trust and Identity Initiatives, Internet Society
Ari Schwartz, Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Center for Democracy and Technology
Edward W. Felten, Director, Center for Information Technology Policy, Princeton University
Drummond Reed, Executive Director, Information Card Foundation

Panel 2: Health Information
Moderators: Loretta Garrison and Manas Mohapatra, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, FTC
Panelists:
Linda Avey, Founder & President, Brainstorm Research Foundation
Stanley W. Crosley, Co-Director, Indiana University Center for Strategic Health Information Provisioning
Kimberly S. Gray, Chief Privacy Officer, Americas Regions, IMS Health
Deven McGraw, Director, Health Privacy Project, Center for Democracy and Technology
Marc M. Boutin, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, National Health Council
Jodi Daniel, Director, Office of Policy and Planning, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Department of Health and Human Services
James Heywood, Co-founder & Chairman, PatientsLikeMe
Deborah Peel, Founder, Patient Privacy Rights

Panel 3: Addressing Sensitive Information
Moderators: Catherine Harrington-McBride and Michelle Rosenthal, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, FTC Read more »

There will be two privacy panels at SXSWWeek 2010 in Austin, Texas.

Core Conversation: Big Brother on the Big Screen: Fact/Fiction?
Saturday, March 13 at 5:00 PM / Location: 8A
Can the NSA really do that? Um, yes. Join Nicole Ozer and Kevin Bankston at the movies to take a close look at how government surveillance has caught up with the fables dreamed up for Hollywood flicks like Enemy of the State, Minority Report, The Bourne Ultimatum, and The Dark Knight
Presenters: Nicole Ozer, ACLU of Northern California; Kevin Bankston, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Panel: My Life, Take Two: The Right to Delete
Sunday, March 14 at 11:00 AM / Location: Hilton K
Most of us have incidents in our past that we’d rather leave there–but that’s getting harder to do in a world teeming with tools and devices that capture our actions and record them forever. Do we have a “right to delete” records and data about ourselves? Can we? Should we?
Panelists: Chris Conley, ACLU of Northern California; Annalee Newitz (moderator), tech journalist/blogger and editor of io9.com; Marc Davis, Chief Scientist and co-founder of Invention Arts; Andrew McLaughlin, Deputy US Chief Technology Officer at Executive Office of the President and former Head of Global Public Policy for Google; Elly Jonez, Drupal developer and lifeblogger

A joint hearing will be held by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection and the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology. “The Collection and Use of Location Information for Commercial Purposes.” The hearing will be held on Feb. 24 at 10 a.m. ET. The witness list (which may change) is:

Lorrie Cranor
Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering & Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon University

Mike Altschul
Senior Vice President and General Counsel
CTIA – The Wireless Association Read more »

Cato will host a screening of a movie called, “10 Rules for Dealing with Police.” NOTE: The event can be watched live here.

If a free society depends upon an informed citizenry exercising oversight of its government, then more people need to know how to handle themselves in a police encounter. Is cooperation always the best course of action? Or are there times to assert the constitutional right to refuse consent to a search of one’s home or belongings? A new documentary film answers those questions and more in an informative and entertaining series of skits narrated by Baltimore trial attorney Billy Murphy (from HBO’s The Wire). Learn how the safeguards of the Bill of Rights operate outside of the courthouse and on the street. Learn how to make smart decisions and respond effectively to police misconduct.

Cato Film Premieres are free. To register email events@cato.org, fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by noon, Thursday, February 11. Seating is limited and not guaranteed.

Date: Friday, February 12, 2010 at noon
Location: Cato Institute. 1000 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.; Washington, D.C.
For more information: http://www.cato.org/events/100212screening.html

January 28 is Data Privacy Day. Take the time to think about how privacy is important in your life and how you can protect your rights from being infringed upon. Also, please donate to any number of organizations out there trying to protect your rights generally.

Visit the official site to find events near your area. Here are a few highlights in the United States and internationally:

United States:

On January 28, 2010, the FTC will hold the second of three roundtable discussions exploring the privacy challenges posed by the vast array of 21st century technology and business practices that collect and use consumer data. The event will be held at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law, Booth Auditorium, Boalt Hall, in Berkeley, CA and will be viewable via webcast. Questions for comment in advance of the second roundtable have been posted at the Roundtable webpage. The Commission requests that comments for the second roundtable be submitted by December 21, 2009, to ensure ample time for consideration.

The American Conference Institute presents its 9th Annual Advanced Forum on Privacy and Security of Consumer & Employee Information: Protecting and Managing Sensitive Data in an Increasingly Portable and Changing Marketplace, January 26-27, 2010, at The Madison, a Loews Hotel, in Washington, D.C. The Forum will feature the following speakers from the federal government: Cora Tung Han, an attorney with the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection; William H. Henley, Jr., Director of IT Examinations for the Office of Thrift Supervision; Alain Sheer, Senior Attorney with the FTC’s Division of Privacy and Identity Protection; and John Walsh, Chief Counsel for the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Register for the event; view a complete list of excellent speakers drawn from private industry, state and federal governments, the financial sector, and law firms; and access the Agenda at the forum webpage.

Here’s a listing of state government events. Read more »

The FTC will host the second of three roundtables on privacy on January 28 in Berkeley, California. (Here’s info on the first roundtable.) From the press release:

The Commission also announced that it will convene its second privacy roundtable on January 28, 2010. The event, hosted by the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology, will take place at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law Booth Auditorium. The second roundtable will focus on how technology affects consumer privacy, including its role in both raising privacy concerns and enhancing privacy protections. The roundtable will include specific discussions on cloud computing, mobile computing, and social networking. Details regarding the third and final roundtable, which will take place on March 17, 2010, in Washington, DC, will be announced at a later date.

The Privacy Roundtables are free and open to the public. Pre-registration is not required. Members of the public and press who wish to participate but who cannot attend can view a live Webcast.

Individuals and organizations may submit requests to participate as panelists in the second roundtable and may recommend topics for inclusion on the agenda. The requests and recommendations should be submitted electronically to privacyroundtable@ftc.gov. Prospective panelists for the second roundtable should submit a statement detailing their expertise on the issues to be addressed and contact information, no later than December 9, 2009. Panelists will be selected based on expertise and the need to include a broad range of views. Please note that if you already have submitted a request to participate in the first roundtable event, you need not submit another request. All requests already submitted will be considered for all roundtable events. Read more »