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Surveillance, Privacy, and Police Powers

Government agencies have broad police power to act for the public good. This includes the ability to conduct extensive surveillance and gather substantial information about individuals and organizations. But the ability to conduct surveillance is delimited by various laws that protect privacy. Further, many people argue that we have moral claims to privacy, regardless of legal protections. As a result, the interface between surveillance and privacy is deeply contested. That interface is the subject of this course. In examining it, we will pursue a number of lines of inquiry. These include: What is privacy? Do we have moral rights or claims to privacy, and if so on what basis? For what reasons can we override privacy rights? What evidence do we have about the efficacy of privacy protections and surveillance initiatives? How do laws fostering surveillance and protecting privacy function in theory and in practice? Are our surveillance practices fair (and how might we make such a determination)?