Get the latest information about how the law is racing to catch up with technological change from staffers at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, the nation's premiere digital civil liberties group fighting for freedom and privacy in the computer age. This session will include updates on current EFF issues such as NSA wiretapping (with newly released technical information), using the Freedom of Information Act to dumpster dive with the law, tips and tricks for hacking evoting machines legally, how censorship, surveillance and privacy invasions are spreading throughout the world - and how hackers' can defend civil liberties at home and abroad, threats to freedom from digital TV, and much more. Half the session will be given over to question-and-answer, so it's your chance to ask EFF questions about the law and technology issues that are important to you. "KEVIN BANKSTON, an EFF Staff Attorney specializing in free speech and privacy law, was EFF's Equal Justice Works/Bruce J. Ennis Fellow for 2003-05. His fellowship project focused on the impact of post-9/11 anti-terrorism laws and surveillance initiatives on online privacy and free expression. Before joining EFF, Kevin was the Justice William J. Brennan First Amendment Fellow for the American Civil Liberties Union in New York City. At the ACLU, Kevin litigated Internet-related free speech cases, including First Amendment challenges to both the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Edelman v. N2H2, Inc.) and a federal statute regulating Internet speech in public libraries (American Library Association v. U.S.). Kevin received his J.D. in 2001 from the University of Southern California Law Center, and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas in Austin.
MARCIA HOFMANN is an EFF Staff Attorney based in Washington, DC, where she focuses on government transparency and civil liberties issues. Along with her colleague David Sobel, she established EFF's FOIA Litigation for Accountable Government (FLAG) Project. Prior to joining EFF, Marcia was Director of the Open Government Project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), where she spearheaded EPIC's efforts to learn about emerging policies in the post-9/11 era and was lead counsel in several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuits. Documents made public though her work have been reported by the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, Fox News, and CNN, among others. She is a graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law and Mount Holyoke College.
MATT ZIMMERMAN is a Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, specializing in electronic voting issues. For the 2004 and 2006 elections, he coordinated a team of nationwide legal volunteers who responded to election-day problems with e-voting technology for the non-partisan Election Protection Coalition. He currently heads EFF's efforts to coordinate nationwide e-voting litigation and amicus support and evaluate emerging voting technology. He is also actively involved in e-voting-related grassroots development and public education efforts. His practice further includes ongoing work in areas such as online privacy, anonymity, and intellectual property. Prior to joining EFF, Matt was Privacy Fellow at the public interest law firm The First Amendment Project where he specialized in privacy and open government issues. Previously, Matt worked at the international law firm Morrison & Foerster LLP, where he focused on technology and commercial litigation matters, and the nonprofit advocacy organization The First Amendment Project, where he specialized in privacy and free speech issues.
DANNY O'BRIEN is the International Outreach Coordinator for the EFF. He works to help us collaborate with organizations and individuals fighting for liberties across the world. Danny has documented and fought for digital rights in the UK for over a decade, where he also assisted in building tools of open democracy like Fax Your MP. He co-edits the award-winning NTK newsletter, has written and presented science and travel shows for the BBC, performed a solo show about the Net in the London's West End, and once successfully lobbied a cockney London pub to join Richard M. Stallman in a spontaneous demonstration of Bulgarian folk dance.
SETH SCHOEN created the position of EFF Staff Technologist, helping other technologists understand the civil liberties implications of their work, EFF staff better understand the underlying technology related to EFF's legal work, and the public understand what the technology products they use really do. Schoen comes to EFF from Linuxcare, where he worked for two years as a senior consultant. While at Linuxcare, Schoen helped create the Linuxcare Bootable Business Card CD-ROM. Prior to Linuxcare, Schoen worked at AtreNet, the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Toronto Dominion Bank. Schoen attended the University of California at Berkeley with a Chancellor's Scholarship.
KURT OPSAHL is a Senior Staff Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation focusing on civil liberties, free speech and privacy law. Before joining EFF, Opsahl worked at Perkins Coie, where he represented technology clients with respect to intellectual property, privacy, defamation, and other online liability matters, including working on Kelly v. Arribasoft, MGM v. Grokster and CoStar v. LoopNet. For his work responding to government subpoenas, Opsahl is proud to have been called a "rabid dog" by the Department of Justice. Prior to Perkins, Opsahl was a research fellow to Professor Pamela Samuelson at the U.C. Berkeley School of Information Management & Systems. Opsahl received his law degree from Boalt Hall, and undergraduate degree from U.C. Santa Cruz. Opsahl co-authored "Electronic Media and Privacy Law Handbook. In 2007, Opsahl was named as one of the "Attorneys of the Year" by California Lawyer magazine for his work on the O'Grady v. Superior Court appeal, which established the reporter's privilege for online journalists.