A discussion with Robert Scheer, Helen Nissenbaum, Edward W. Felten, Jen Lowe, and moderator Matthathias Schwartz.

In the first week of June 2013, the American people discovered that for a decade their individual privacy had been compromised in the name of national security. The revelation that the federal government has full access to all phone records and the vast trove of presumably private personal data posted on the Internet has brought the threat of a surveillance society to the fore. From wiretapping to lax social media security, from domestic spy drones to sophisticated biometrics, both the United States government and private corporate interests have dangerously undermined the delicate balance between national security and individual sovereignty. To what end may consumer convenience be subverting democratic freedoms? Is data collecting a threat to democracy?

A panel of journalists, computer and data scientists, and leading experts on technology, law, and policy will explore the intersection of privacy and democracy in the modern era.  Read about the stellar line-up here.

This discussion, co-sponsored by the Nation Institute, is inspired by the publication of political journalist and Truthdig editor Robert Scheer's new book, They Know Everything About You: How Data-Collecting Corporations and Snooping Government Agencies Are Destroying Democracy. 

External Link »