Privacy vs Security

How much privacy should we trade for greater security? The recent Boston bombings and revelation about the NSA's massive phone call monitoring (http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/obama-continues-national-security-agency-monitoring-americans-phones) program have given this question renewed relevance.

More video cameras like the ones that identified the Boston bombers could help stop more terrorists, but they could also lead to government abuse.

-What is an appropriate balance between privacy and security?

-Has the government overreached the 4th amendment, which supposedly protects us from unreasonable search and seizure?

A recent poll (http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-support-nsa-tracking-phone-records-prioritize-investigations-over-privacy/2013/06/10/51e721d6-d204-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html) by the Washington Post shows that most Americans "support the blanket tracking of telephone records in an effort to uncover terrorist activity."

We are very fortunate to have Azadeh Shahshahani, National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director for ACLU of Georgia presenting at the beginning. Thanks to Mike for reaching out. Here's a link from Azadeh: http://www.aclu.org/nsa-surveillance

If you know any security or civil liberty experts who would like to participate, please let the organizer know!

Place and time are still tentative.

Schedule:

Order food (if at restaurant) from 7-7:30, also meet other people.

7:30 expert presentations (if available)

8:00 group discussion

We usually wrap up around 9:30, but people are free stay to talk as long as they want.

We're an eclectic group that meets to respectfully exchange ideas about controversial topics.

Our group is more focused on learning and hearing different view points than winning a debate. We try to keep the discussion respectful and encourage devil's advocates. It's a chance to talk with and learn from people you would never meet in your existing circles. The conversations are moderated to keep things friendly.

There's a $1 charge to help cover the yearly meetup costs, which are $144 / year. This is optional, but appreciated!

If you know of an interesting and controversial lecture, movie, author book signing, etc., let an organizer know, and we can make it a meetup event. If you'd like to volunteer to moderate a meetup about a specific topic, also let us know.