WELCOME TO PRIVACY IN A DIGITAL AGE

Are we hearing the death rattle of personal privacy? Will drones, ubiquitous video cameras, automatic license plate readers, GPS enabled mobile devices, and the collection of massive amounts of data by the NSA, data brokers and others usher in a new era of around the clock surveillance where our everyday movements and activities are tracked by the NSA, law enforcement and our neighbors alike?  Will facial recognition, DNA databases and other biometric technologies render anonymity a thing of the past?  Will data aggregators become so proficient at mining personal information that our lives become an open book for anyone to peruse with 15 minutes of online research or $4.99 to buy a personal profile?   Has our infatuation with sharing, as embodied by Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Foursquare and other social networking sites, fundamentally altered our definition of privacy? 

Are we willing to trade off some of our privacy in exchange for safety, convenience, discounts or free services? Are the constitutional  underpinnings of privacy, painstakingly developed over decades through a case by case judicial process, no longer suitable for the fast moving information age?   Or is privacy simply being redefined to reflect the realities of our modern digital world?   Will technology develop new ways to block internet use tracking, encrypt our personal information, thwart facial recognition technology and enable us to employ anti-spy countermeasures to safeguard our personal privacy?  Has the public's outrage arising from the revelations of Edward Snowden already dimmed with time?  Will the courts fundamentally reshape the contours of privacy in light of new technologies? Will the recent terrorist acts in Paris and California usher in a new era of government surveillance? Will Congress or the states weigh in on what promises over the next few years to be an epic clash between the values of privacy and transparency?

        These and other questions are becoming front and center in our national debate and will be our focus in class as we address the challenges of protecting privacy in an age of information abundance.