From the Web site:

On Monday, July 12, 2010 ACS will host an evening reception with a welcome by ACS Executive Director Caroline Fredrickson, an introduction from AFL-CIO General Counsel Lynn Rhinehart, and featured remarks from Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas E. Perez. AAG Perez will discuss policy issues important to the Division and will highlight efforts to strengthen civil rights enforcement around the country.

Following the program, The American Constitution Society invites you to join law students from across the nation and Washington lawyers from diverse practice areas for a reception in one of Washington’s truly special rooms. Make worthwhile new connections in the ACS network. See old friends and make new ones. Admire the historic mosaics in the Gompers Room. And enjoy a reception featuring tasty union-made refreshments. Read more »

The Cato Institute will hold a briefing on electronic privacy on Capitol Hill on Friday, May 21. From the Web site:

In 1986, Congress passed the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, a broad framework detailing how law enforcement could conduct surveillance on burgeoning digital communications networks. But the dawn of the Internet as a mass medium, the increasing ubiquity of location-sensitive mobile devices, and the explosive growth of cloud computing have radically changed the technological landscape since then. Yet the law remains largely stuck in the 80s, a 20th century legal operating system for 21st century communications — leaving courts unclear on questions as basic how much privacy protection e-mail enjoys. A broad coalition of technology firms and civil liberties groups is now seeking to update the law for the internet age and to lay out clear rules that reflect modern expectations of online privacy. With Congress slated to hold a series of hearings on ECPA reform in coming months, our panel will examine the problems with current law and the changes needed to provide effective surveillance tools for law enforcement without eroding user privacy or stifling technological innovation.

Featuring Julian Sanchez, Research Fellow, Cato Institute; Will DeVries, Policy Counsel, Google; and Greg Nojeim, Senior Counsel and Director of the Project on Freedom, Security and Technology, Center for Democracy and Technology. Register here.

Date: Friday, May 21, 2010 at noon ET
Location: 226 Dirksen Senate Office Building; Washington, D.C.
For more information: http://www.cato.org/events/

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 [email protected], 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