Jim Dempsey and Kevin Bankston will participate in the USF Law Review Symposium “Big Brother in the 21st Century? Reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act”

Has modern technology turned law enforcement into Big Brother, able to monitor our every move? How can reform ensure that law enforcement has the constitutionally permissible tools they need? Technology has advanced dramatically since the Electronic Communications Privacy Act was passed in 1986, yet the law remains largely unchanged. What reforms are needed to modernize the ECPA so that it effectively protects citizens in their electronic lives, from social networks, email, and cell phones, to search histories, cloud computing and more?

On Feb. 24, 2012 the University of San Francisco Law Review symposium “Big Brother in the 21st Century?: Reforming the Electronic Communications Privacy Act” will bring together leading practitioners, government officials, activists, journalists, and law professors to discuss the state of electronic communications privacy in the United States today and needed legal reforms. The symposium will feature a keynote address by Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy at the Center for Democracy and Technology, and coordinator of the Digital Due Process Coalition. It will also feature three panels on government access to content in the digital cloud, use and misuse of location data, and law enforcement needs for electronic communications data.