Program to address cybersecurity, privacy and national security

LAWRENCE — The Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas will present its 2015 Innovations Series program, “Privacy vs. Cyber Security for Nation, Corporation and Citizen.” For the program, a moderated panel of experts will include Chris Isaacson of BATS Global Market Inc., as well as KU faculty members Jonathan Peters and Bill Staples. The discussion will focus on the balance among civil liberties, cybersecurity and national security.

The event will take place at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 29, at the Dole Institute of Politics. It is free, open to the public and presented in partnership with the School of Engineering’s SELF Fellowship Program.   

The Innovations Series is an ongoing series at the Dole Institute that investigates the crossroads among science, technology and public policy with an emphasis on creativity and innovation.

“Privacy, civil liberties and national security will continue to be hot-button issues as the digital age grows and evolves,” said Dole Institute Director Bill Lacy. “I think the general public, young and old, is now joining the engineers and information specialists out there in their concern for where the balance and future lies with these issues.”

This year’s panelists will discuss the balance between civil liberties and national security with respect to cybersecurity and key issues such as privacy rights, policy and legislation, private and public sector partnerships, technical innovations and more. Particular emphasis will be placed on how these issues affect individuals’ everyday lives and, from personal banking to global trade to terrorist threats, where and what the next tech security challenges will be. Discussion on information gathering and best practices will also be included.

Isaacson is executive vice president and global chief information officer at BATS Global Markets. A founding employee of BATS in 2005, Isaacson is responsible for ensuring BATS remains an innovative, world-class leader in technology, and his leadership has helped BATS grow quickly. He oversees all technology and market operations for the company, including technology strategy, software development and quality, as well as IT infrastructure and security. He was instrumental in the architecture and implementation of the BATS trading platform and speaks frequently on panels at key industry events. Isaacson began his career as a software engineer at Cerner Corp., the publicly traded, Kansas City-based health care information systems supplier. He was a software developer at Tradebot Systems from 2003 to 2005.

Peters is an assistant professor of journalism at KU, where he specializes in First Amendment and media studies. He has an affiliate research position exploring big data and Internet governance in the KU Information & Telecommunication Technology Center. Peters is also an attorney, the press freedom correspondent for the Columbia Journalism Review, and he has blogged about free speech for the Harvard Law & Policy Review. As a journalist, he has written on legal issues for Esquire, The Atlantic, Slate.com, The Nation and Wired. Peters is the First Amendment chair of the American Bar Association's Civil Rights Litigation Committee, and he practices law during his time off-campus as a volunteer attorney for the ACLU and the Online Media Legal Network at Harvard University. 

Staples is professor of sociology and founding director of the Surveillance Studies Research Center. He has interests in surveillance, social control and historical sociology. His books include “Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life,” the two-volume reference work “The Encyclopedia of Privacy” (a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title), “Power, Profits, and Patriarchy: The Social Organization of Work at a British Metal Trades Firm, 1791–1922” (an American Sociological Association Book Award winner), and “Castles of Our Conscience: Social Control and the American State, 1800–1985” (a CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title). Staples is also the recipient of the 2011 Balfour Jeffrey Research Award in Humanities and Social Sciences, one of four Higuchi-KU Endowment Achievement Awards, the most prestigious statewide research honors presented by the Kansas Board of Regents.

The bipartisan Dole Institute of Politics is dedicated to promoting public service, civic engagement and politics. It is located on KU’s west campus and includes the Robert J. Dole Archive & Special Collections. The Institute offers free public programming with world-renowned guest speakers on a variety of topics that intersect politics, as well as education and research opportunities for all ages. For more information on all Dole Institute programs and efforts, visit www.doleinstitute.org or call (785) 864-4900.