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2023 Technology, Media, & Privacy Law Conference

2023 Technology, Media, & Privacy Law: Surveillance, Transparency, and Safety

Friday, February 10, 2023 8:45 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET

About the Technology, Media, & Privacy Law Conference

The Technology, Media, & Privacy Law Conference addresses how technological advancements are reshaping privacy and free speech issues in the fields of law, journalism, and public policy. The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence across government and commerce raises a host of urgent legal and ethical policy choices. The evolution of technology has forever altered the reach of governmental surveillance, and the need to balance public safety with individual rights raises critical legal and ethical policy considerations. This conference brings together leading scholars and practitioners to explore the opportunities and risks of entrusting crucial decisions to automation.

The TMPL conference is hosted by the Center for Governmental Responsibility (CGR) at the University of Florida Levin College of Law and the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications.

The 2023 Technology, Media & Privacy Conference will be held in-person in Gainesville and virtually via Zoom. The Conference is being held at the University of Florida Levin College of Law in the Chesterfield Smith Ceremonial Classroom in Holland Hall 180. Green Parking restrictions will be lifted for the event.

Registration is free; please register here.  CLE credits: 8.5 General credits and 8.5 Technology credits have been approved by The Florida Bar.

Speaker Biographies can be found here.

2023 Conference Schedule:

Friday, February 10, 2023
  • 8:45 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. ET | Welcome Address and Introductions
    • Peter Molk, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Associate Dean for Research and Faculty Development
    • Jon Mills, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Professor and Director, Center for Governmental Responsibility
  • 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. ET | Session 1: Predictive Policing  Police have always hoped to prevent crime. Predictive policing is a term that is now applied to programs that predict where crimes may occur. That concept has gone as far as seeking to identify individuals who may commit a crime in the future and endeavor to  prevent them from doing it. Is this concept merely modernized police work or a dangerous step towards a dystopian surveillance state?  
    • Amy Stein, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Cone, Wagner, Nugent, Hazouri & Roth Professor of Law (Moderator)
    • Andrew Ferguson, American University Washington College of Law, Professor of Law
    • Daniel Marshall, Southern Legal Council, Pro Bono Director and Attorney
    • Katherine McGrory, ProPublica, Reporter
    • Jonathan Barry-Blocker, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Visiting Legal Skills Professor
  • 10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. ET | Session 2: Data Privacy and Individual Rights  In the era of Big Data, there are massive troves of information on individuals. Those data profiles are facilitated by voluntary participation in the digital society. Online purchases, social media and the value of information have collectively driven the collection of data. The use of that data may be by private companies or by governments. The data gathered may be used to sell products or to identify criminal suspects. How does the use of new technologies affect individual privacy and fourth amendment rights? How does the harvesting data through social media or from the multiple devices from the internet of things have an impact on individual privacy rights? Where is data privacy law – in Washington, in the states, and overseas – heading?     
    • Jasmine McNealy, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications, Associate Professor and Associate Director, Marion B. Brechner First Amendment Project (Moderator)
    • Jolynn Dellinger, Duke Law School, Stephen and Janet Bear Visiting Lecturer and Kenan Senior Fellow,  The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University
    • Amy Gajda, Tulane University School of Law, Class of 1937 Professor of Law
    • Margaret Hu, William & Mary Law School, Professor of Law
    • Ron Krotoszynski, University of Alabama School of Law, John S. Stone Chair, Director of Faculty Research, and Professor of Law
  • 12:30 p.m.– 1:30 p.m. ET | Keynote Luncheon Address
    • Julia Angwin, The Markup, Founder
  • 1:45 p.m. – 3:15 p.m. ET | Session 3: Transparency and the Press  The press has always played a role in holding government accountable. With technological advances such as body-cams and chat apps, government agencies are creating and storing more data than ever before. Yet journalists say it has never been harder to get information out of agencies from the Pentagon down to the smallest local police department, which increasingly greet requests with “so-sue-me” defiance. Mass school shootings in Parkland and Uvalde have resulted in legal battles between journalists and law enforcement, illustrating how privacy law can be weaponized to conceal official misconduct or incompetence. 
    • Frank LoMonte CNN, Counsel (Moderator)
    • Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Chair in U.S. Constitutional Law
    • Dana McElroy, Thomas & LoCicero, Managing Partner, Fort Lauderdale
    • Ayan Mittra, Texas Tribune, Senior Managing Editor
    • Russell Weaver, University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law, Professor of Law and Distinguished University Scholar
  • 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET | Session 4: Artificial Intelligence and Surveillance  Artificial Intelligence can empower police and prosecutors to aggregate and analyze disparate pieces of data, and machine learning can improve that capacity. Artificial Intelligence is providing an important law enforcement tool. When combined with various information gathering technologies, such as CCTV, facial recognition, and social media research it appears that universal profiling is a possibility. What should the government disclose about its use of surveillance technologies, and what are the constitutional guardrails against government intrusion?
    • Jonathan Barry-Blocker, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Visiting Legal Skills Professor (Moderator)
    • AJ Alvero, University of Florida Department of Sociology, Criminology & Law, Computational Social Scientist
    • David Aronberg, 15th Judicial Circuit, State Attorney
    • Tracey Maclin, University of Florida Levin College of Law, Raymond & Miriam Ehrlich Chair in U.S. Constitutional Law
    • Mark Puente, The Marshall Project – Cleveland, Staff Writer
The speaker lineup is subject to change.

Published: December 16th, 2022

Category: Events

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The Florida Constitutional Law Endowment in memory of Justice Ben F. Overton was created by Judge Karen Miller in 2013. This fund supports lectures and presentations by Justices of the Florida Supreme Court at the Fredric G. Levin College of Law.

HISTORY

Justice Overton, who earned his B.S. in 1951 and his Juris Doctor in 1952 from the University of Florida, was the first merit appointment to the Florida Supreme Court. Throughout his career he was active in legal education and served as an Adjunct Professor at the Levin College of Law through December 2012, the month of his death. Although he resided at Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, a continuing care retirement community developed in cooperation with UF, he also considered the Florida Supreme Court “home.” Among the high points of his later years was hosting Justices of the Florida Supreme Court in Gainesville and taking his class to Tallahassee to hear oral arguments at the Florida Supreme Court.
Judge Miller, who earned her B.S. cum laude from New York University in 1974 and her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1977, served as Chief Administrative Law Judge of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, New York City’s business regulatory agency, before she retired to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida. Having accompanied Justice Overton on his excursions to Tallahassee and joined him in welcoming guests to Oak Hammock at the University of Florida, she created the endowment in memory of Justice Overton to ensure that the Levin College of Law continues to have the funding necessary to continue and enhance the interaction between its students and the Florida Supreme Court.

 

Judge Miller remembered the event that motivated the endowment.

 

Prior to a dinner at the home of Dean Robert Jerry and Lisa Jerry shortly after Justice Overton’s death, Justice Barbara Pariente and I were discussing a suitable memorial. Justice Pariente, who had been Justice Overton’s colleague on the Florida Supreme Court and who understood the importance to him of the interaction between his students and the Court, suggested the outline of what has become the Overton lectures. Dean Jerry, who has since retired, as has Dean Emeritus Jon Mills, who assumed responsibility for implementing the Overton lectures, were very supportive from the beginning. Since Dean Mills’ retirement, Professor Timothy McClendon, who assisted both Justice Overton and Dean Mills teaching Florida Constitutional Law and who co-authored the recent Florida Constitutional Law casebook, has continued the Overton lectures with the support of Interim Dean Merritt McAlister and CGR director, Professor Danaya Wright.

Justice Overton was a devoted jurist, educator, and ethical leader of the Florida legal profession. The Overton Lecture Series brings Florida Supreme Court Justices to the University of Florida, Levin College of Law, and serves to introduce students to the inner workings of the Court. CGR and the students of the College of Law extend our deepest gratitude to Judge Karen Miller for making the Overton Lectures possible in perpetuity.

You can watch an interview for the Florida Historical Society by Mary Adkins, professor emeritus of the UF Levin College of Law, with Justice Overton here.

Justice Overton was also interviewed for the Samuel Proctor Oral History Project and a transcript of his interview is available at the Smathers Library, and here.
Justice Overton sat on the Constitution Revision Commission of 1977-78 that proposed a right to privacy in the Florida Constitution. Although it failed as part of the Constitution Revision Commission recommendations, it passed in 1980 when proposed by the legislature. The bill was co-sponsored by our very own Jon Mills. The privacy provision prevailed by greater than 60%. Justice Overton then wrote a concurrence in a critical reproductive rights case in 1989 affirming that the privacy provision of the Florida Constitution included the right to obtain an abortion. That decision was overruled in Planned Parenthood of SW and Central Florida v. Florida. You can read about the role of Justice Overton, Jon Mills – director emeritus of CGR, and the history of the 1989 case here.