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For July’s Privacy Lab, guest speaker Gautam Hans from CDT will be joined by one or more technologists from EFF to talk about the current federal proposals for backdoors and how and why the crypto wars are unfolding (again) in Washington, as well as what we can affirmatively do to stop any weakening of security measures.

Privacy Lab is a meeting for people who are interested in digital privacy in the Bay Area, and is a follow-up to previous events held at Mozilla and other spaces over the last six months. The aim of this event is to bring together privacy professionals and privacy community members at non-profits, for-profits, and NGOs alike to foster communication and collaboration.

For more information and to register for the event, please click here.

On Tuesday, July 21st, please join Google DC and Coin Center for a conversation about one of the most talked about technological innovations in recent years. New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper’s new book Digital Gold: Bitcoin and the Inside Story of the Misfits and Millionaires Trying to Reinvent Money takes a look at the history of Bitcoin and the eccentric characters behind the the technology. He will be joined by Carter Dougherty, Bloomberg News reporter, as they discuss the history of Bitcoin.

On Thursday, July 23, The European Institute will hold a special discussion with The Honorable Claude Moraes, Chairman of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and The Honorable Jim Sensenbrenner, Chairman, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives. This event is being organized in cooperation with the European Parliament Liaison Office and the Transatlantic Policy Network (TPN) as part of the 2015 Transatlantic Week, which includes discussion fora on a wide range of issues in US-EU relations.

RSVP to [email protected].

In this era of ubiquitous smart phones and billions of internet-enabled devices, the reality of data privacy and security is too often over-simplified — more data equals less privacy, which demands more regulation. This narrow view not only ignores reality, it may be putting innovation at risk.

With this lunch event, SIIA will lead a discussion that reconsiders the meaning of privacy, and examines the benefits — and costs — of restricting data collection and use. Speakers will look at how Big Data and the Internet of Things have spurred both increasing privacy concerns and a healthy debate about the public policy response. In exploring the intersection of innovation and privacy, the event will address technology’s individual and social benefits, and the ways in which it can enhance our ability to be both more public and more private. Speakers will also explore the ways in which misguided regulation could inhibit innovation and economic progress. Click here to RSVP.

Governments are finding it harder and harder to keep secrets. In a new paper, New America Cybersecurity Fellow and ex-OMB privacy chief, Peter Swire argues that the “half-life of secrets” is declining and that government agencies, especially those engaged in intelligence and national security, need to do a better job of adapting. But how best to do that? And what should Wikileaks and the Snowden revelations tell us about how the US Government is doing as it grapples with this in the real world? A government, like any organization, needs some secrets to operate. But where should they draw the line and how should that line by drawn?

Professor Swire will be joined by Stewart Baker and Siobhan Gorman for a conversation moderated by the Co-Director of New America’s Cybersecurity Initiative, Ian Wallace.

Do warrants allow law enforcement to reach into data centers across borders? Can 19th-century international legal processes keep up with 21st-century speed and innovation? Join the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee for a briefing on the law and policy that determines the reach of law enforcement into data stored outside of the United States and the important questions and issues the debate has raised.

This webinar will highlight Nymity’s latest accountability research, the Nymity Data Privacy Accountability Scorecard™ (Scorecard) – an evidence-based, free, and scalable framework. The Scorecard is designed for the Privacy Office within responsible organizations to demonstrate accountability by 1) monitoring 2) measuring, and 3) reporting ongoing privacy management activities.

Join this webinar to learn how the Scorecard works. This webinar will explore how privacy professionals can use the free Scorecard toolkit to monitor, measure, and report on the status of their privacy program.

While most people are conditioned to see through the marketing hype surrounding “revolutionary!” and “game-changing!” new technologies, few have the same healthy skepticism when it comes to outsized claims about allegedly dire privacy risks that now routinely accompany many of the very same innovations. Taken at face value, these supposed privacy risks suggest that government should intervene to protect society. A closer look, however, reveals that privacy concerns are often misplaced or unnecessary, and they rapidly dissipate as people come to better understand and appreciate the products and services in question.

At this event, ITIF will release a new report examining this recurring “privacy panic cycle”—a common trajectory of overwrought privacy claims and hysterical fears that often follow the introduction of a new technology, only to dissipate as cooler heads prevail.  Following a presentation on the report, panelists will discuss how policymakers can look beyond the cycle of fear and put in place policies that create consumer protections while also supporting the adoption and deployment of technologies.  

The event is free, open to the public, and complies with ethics rules. It will be webcast live on this page and a recording will be available afterward.