Guest Speaker Marc Rotenberg

At the request of Professor Hunter Heyck, Executive Director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center Marc Rotenberg speaks at Gaylord Auditorium about the threat to privacy now and in the future of America.

(PHOTO: Matthew Shaffer)

Rotenberg begins by referencing the famous book, 1984, and how it "warned" America about the future of privacy invasion. Rotenberg touches on many methods the government uses to spy and attain information such as the 360 CCTV surveillance camera, biometric identification, wiretapping, the FAST program, RFID tracking, body scanners, and gps tracking. All of these methods have their uses, but according to Rotenberg, the technology could be used beyond its original purpose.

Throughout the lecture, Rotenberg occassionaly shows his audience various clips from movies, trailers, and advertisements to give a different view of his opinion. At the end of the lecture, he gives a list of references he had used. This method allows for further study of privacy through movies. "Tonight...we [will] talk about how the movies project the concern about surveillance, what we see in the world around us, and also how we respond in a political/thoughtful sense to these new challenges."

Rotenberg also talked about how internet social networks have the capability to store indefinitely the information of users who use facebook, twitter, and myspace, and the government has the permission, thanks to the Patriot Act, to use that information if necessary for any investigation.

Rotenberg teaches information privacy law at Georgetown University Law Center about various privacy related subjects. He has also created a website, epic.org, as a site to promote the protection of privacy, the First Amendment, and constitutional values.

Heyck previously had speakers Professor Starr and Professor Douglas speak in his class, the History of Media. Heyck promises more lectures before the end of the semester and welcomes any outside of his class to come.

Marc Rotenberg talks briefly about the airport full body scanner that allows security to see through clothing. VIDEO: Matthew Shaffer/Kelsey Hightower runs 1:47