Peter Swire writes:
A few days after Sept. 11, 2001, I entered the Mott House on Maryland Avenue, not far from the Senate. The national D.C. office of the ACLU was hosting a somber meeting of privacy and civil liberties experts from across the political spectrum. We all recognized that everything on our agenda had changed drastically. We were in a new era, where security was paramount, and privacy a policy afterthought at best.
This week, nearly 20 years later, Greg Nojeim of the Center for Democracy and Technology convened and ably led a similar meeting—online, of course—to consider surveillance in the context of the coronavirus. The world is once again at a moment where myriad practices must change, especially for the public health system, and many new laws will be considered. The Justice Department has already asked Congress for new powers, including the ability to ask a judge to detain people indefinitely during emergencies.
In this moment of true national emergency, how does the public know whether new surveillance programs are necessary?
Read more on Lawfare Blog.