3 to Debate Security, Safety, Personal Privacy at UA
Noam Chomsky, Glenn Greenwald and Edward Snowden will discuss the balance between individual liberties and national security at March 25 event at Centennial Hall.

UA College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
March 3, 2016


The competing stresses posed by balancing government intrusion and individual rights in pursuit of a safe society will be the topic of "A Conversation on Privacy," a panel discussion featuring MIT professor Noam Chomsky, journalist Glenn Greenwald and former NSA subcontractor Edward Snowden presented by the University of Arizona College of Social and Behavioral Sciences on March 25.

Chomsky and Greenwald will appear in person, while Snowden will videoconference from Russia.

Snowden and Greenwald sparked an international conversation about government overreach and individuals' right to privacy when Greenwald published top-secret documents in the British newspaper The Guardian that Snowden stole while he was employed as a subcontractor for the National Security Agency. Chomsky is one of the leading public intellectuals in the United States and has argued that mass surveillance sacrifices civil liberties yet does not make the country safer. The panel will address some of the most serious challenges to individual freedom, including these:

  • How do we balance individual liberties while trying to protect our security? Who are we trying to protect and who gets hurt?
  • Where do we draw the line between individual freedom and the needs of the government? Should we allow warrantless information-gathering on Americans if it means protection from attacks? Who makes sure the line is defended?

Nuala O'Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, will act as moderator for the discussion. She is an expert in both technology and national security. She was the first statutorily appointed chief privacy officer in federal service when she joined the Department of Homeland Security in 2003.

"Concerns about individual liberties and government overreach are at the center of a national conversation on privacy that was ignited when Edward Snowden began leaking NSA documents in 2013," said John Paul Jones III, dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. "Whether you think Snowden is a patriot or a traitor, he has brought attention to one of the biggest unresolved questions of the new digital society: How, in a democratic society, can we balance privacy and security?"

Academic sponsors for the event include the UA Center for Philosophy of Freedom, UA School of Journalism, UA Center for Digital Society and Data Studies, UA School of Information and UA Department of Linguistics.

"A right to privacy is part of living in a free country. In an era of unprecedented data-collecting about all aspects of our lives, government overreach cannot be ignored," said David Schmidtz, director of the UA Freedom Center.

David Cuillier, director of the School of Journalism and past president of the Society of Professional Journalists, helped put together the panel.

"The genesis of the event was all about journalists exposing government shenanigans and engaging Arizonans in a live discussion about our freedoms vis-a-vis our security," Cuillier said. "Journalists have a duty to hold government accountable, as our Founding Fathers insisted. Without the Greenwalds of the world, questioning and challenging, how are we going to get better and remain grounded in what is right and principled?"

The college's Downtown Lecture Series in the fall will broaden the conversation on privacy and include topics such as physical surveillance (for example, drones and Google Glass) and explore how we can balance people's concerns over privacy with the power of big data to advance precision health and economic growth.

"A Conversation on Privacy" will be held from 5-7 p.m. on March 25 in UA Centennial Hall, 1020 E. University Blvd. Tickets (assigned seating) will be $15 for the public and $5 for UA students with a CatCard. Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. on March 11 at the Centennial Hall box office, online or by phone (those buying by phone will incur a $10 charge). For more information: sbs.arizona.edu/privacy.

The event is made possible by the Don Bennett Moon Foundation, with additional support from the Center for Democracy and Technology. It is presented in collaboration with the UA Center for Digital Society and Data Studies, UA Center for the Philosophy of Freedom, UA Department of Linguistics, UA School of Information and UA School of Journalism.

The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences will arrange several overflow sites at the UA where the event will be streamed live. Tickets for the overflow locations are free and will be given out at the door. There will be no live Q&A at the event, but the public can submit questions and vote for its favorite before the event at 2Shoesapp.com/privacy.

Extra info

On March 24 at 7:30 p.m., the School of Journalism is hosting a screening of "Citizenfour" at The Loft Cinema, followed by a conversation with Glenn Greenwald.

"Citizenfour," which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary last year, details how Snowden, a former contractor for the National Security Agency, revealed classified documents to "Citizenfour" director Laura Poitras and Greenwald.

The movie is the fifth in the "Journalism on Screen" series, sponsored by the School of Journalism in conjunction with the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The New York Times, the Arizona Inn and The Loft.

For more information: http://journalism.arizona.edu/citizenfour

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