The Asian American Studies Program and South Asia Center of the University of Pennsylvania are hosting a panel discussion: Nine Years Later: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in Post-9/11 America. “This forum will address the state of civil rights and civil liberties in the United States in the post-9/11 context, focusing especially on the impact of the law on Muslims domestically and the battle for hearts and minds abroad.” It is free and open to the public.

Panelists include:

• Baher Azmy, Professor of Law, Seton Hall Law School
• Hope Metcalf, Clinical Lecturer in Law, Yale Law School
• Kermit Roosevelt, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania
• Steve Vladeck, Professor of Law, Washington College of Law, American University
• Sarah Paoletti (moderator), Practice Associate Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania

Date: Thursday, September 28, 2010 at 6 p.m.
Location: Class of 1949 Auditorium, Houston Hall, University of Pennsylvania; 3417 Spruce Street; Philadelphia, PA 19104.
For more information: Contact Dawinder “Dave” S. Sidhu at sidhu [at] alumni.upenn.edu.

The Cato Institute is holding a policy forum, “Recording the Police: Is Citizen Journalism against the Law?” From the Web site: Should it be illegal to record the police? Several high-profile cases of police brutality have been exposed by citizens who recorded police actions with cell phones. Yet some state wiretapping laws, written before the age of ubiquitous recording devices, prohibit recording these events and then further criminalize the publication of the recordings on the Internet. Does the First Amendment protect citizen journalism, or do police agents have a right to privacy while performing public duties?

Featuring Neill Franklin, Executive Director, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; Joseph I. Cassilly, State’s Attorney, Harford County, Maryland; and David Rittgers, Legal Policy Analyst, Cato Institute; moderated by Tim Lynch, Director, Project on Criminal Justice, Cato Institute.

Cato events, unless otherwise noted, are free of charge. To register for this event, please fill out the form here and click submit or email events [at] cato.org, fax (202) 371-0841, or call (202) 789-5229 by noon, Tuesday, September 21, 2010. Please arrive early. Seating is limited and not guaranteed. News media inquiries only (no registrations), please call (202) 789-5200. If you can’t make it to the Cato Institute, watch this forum live online.

Date: Wednesday, September 22, 2010 at Noon (Luncheon to Follow)
Location: The Cato Institute; 1000 Massachusetts Avenue, NW; Washington, DC 20001
For more information: http://www.cato.org/event.php?eventid=7427

The Bay Area Lawyer Chapter of the American Constitution Society presents: “Privacy Law 2.0- Modernizing the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.”

In 1986 The Bangles were all the rage, mobile phones were bigger than your head, and the World Wide Web didn’t even exist. A lot has changed since then — but not electronic privacy law. Since its drafting in 1986, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) has become a patchwork of inadequate and confusing standards. This panel of attorneys from major technology companies, civil liberties organizations, and academia will discuss recent case law, the impact of an outdated ECPA on clients, business, the public, and government, and the broad-based coalition effort currently underway to modernize ECPA and better protect privacy and innovation in the 21st century.

The panelists are: Read more »

The Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing on “Consumer Online Privacy” on Tuesday, July 27, 2010. The witnesses are:

• Dr. Guy “Bud” Tribble, Vice President, Software Technology, Apple
• Mr. Bret Taylor, Chief Technology Officer, Facebook
• Dr. Alma Whitten, Privacy Engineering Lead, Google
• Mr. Jim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies, The Cato Institute
• Ms. Dorothy Atwood, Senior Vice President, Public Policy and Chief Privacy Officer, AT&T
• Professor Joe Turow, Annenberg School of Communications, University of Pennsylvania

Date: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 2:30 p.m.
Location: Room 253, Russell Senate Office Building; Washington, D.C.
For more information: http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings

Congressman Bobby Rush (D-Illinois) has introduced a privacy bill (pdf) called the Best Practices Act of 2010. Rush is the Chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce. This bill comes a couple months after Congressman Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) — who are Chairman and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce — released a discussion draft of a new privacy bill.

Last month, Privacy Lives joined nine leading privacy and consumer organizations in calling for changes to the Boucher-Stearns bill, urging much stronger provisions to protect consumer privacy both online and off.

On Thursday, the Subcommittee on Commerce, Trade, and Consumer Protection will hold a hearing on consumer privacy. “The hearing will examine H.R. ___, the BEST PRACTICES Act, introduced by Rep. Bobby Rush, and a discussion draft, released by Reps. Boucher and Stearns, to require notice to and consent of an individual prior to the collection and disclosure of certain personal information relating to that individual.” Also, congressional staff has released a briefing memo (pdf) on the Rush bill.

Invited Witnesses: Read more »

From the Web site on “The Future of Speech on the Borderless Internet”:

A panel of leading cyberlawyers will discuss trans-national regulation and litigation of defamation, hate speech, indecency and political dissent.

Confirmed Speakers:

Danielle Citron, University of Maryland School of Law
Steve Sheinberg, Associate Director of Legal Affairs, Anti-Defamation League
Christopher Wolf, Partner, Hogan Lovells US LLP
Chuck Cosson, Senior Policy Counsel, Microsoft
Mark MacCarthy, Communications, Culture & Technology department, Georgetown University
Adam Thierer, President, The Progress & Freedom Foundation (moderator)

Space is limited, so an RSVP is required to attend.

Date: Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at noon ET
Location: Hogan Lovells; 555 13th Street NW; Washington, DC 20004
For more information: http://www.pff.org/events/Future_of_Speech/