Listen to Policy Experts, Organizers, Community Members Discussing Ways to Fight Surveillance and Restrictions on Privacy Rights

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 Last week, at a panel discussion called “Privacy in Perspective: Implications of Government Surveillance on Human Rights and Civil Liberties,” experts who work to protect civil liberties and freedoms in the face of warrantless surveillance by the federal government discussed the problem in depth.

The panel discussion took place, Dec. 1, at the San Francisco Marriot Union Square at a convening of organizers, policy experts and community leaders entitled: “Securing Our Rights in the Information-Sharing Era,” organized by Rights Working Group.

The panel’s speakers included: Angela F. Chan, staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus; Jim Dempsey, vice president for public policy, Center for Democracy & Technology; Mike German, senior policy counsel for national security and privacy, ACLU Washington Legislative Office; Julia Shearson, executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations - Cleveland and Lillie Coney, associate director, Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Click here to listen to this great talk.

Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, discusses the “Decline of Our Democracy” in the post-911 decade during the Securing Our Rights’ keynote speech. Warren in the Dec. 2 speech talks, about how our rights were curtailed after 9/11 while Americans were kept largely in the dark. Click here to listen to this provocative speech:

George Friday, a national field organizer at the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, discusses a way to create some emotional and spiritual roundedness for activists in the struggle.  Listen here.

Community activists and policy experts discuss ways to move beyond their own silos to build alliances and relationships with diverse impacted communities. In the post 9/11 era, a multitude of federal agencies combine forces to share information and it goes without saying that community, grassroots and national organizations must also engage one another more deeply. To hear the talk click here.

Speakers included: Jim Harper, Cato Institute; Laura Rivas, National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights; Dawud Walid, Council on America-Islamic Relations – Michigan; and Linda Sarsour, National Network for Arab American Communities (Moderator).