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SSP Forum: Vionna Atefi (M.S. Candidate) + Community Social

Monday, November 18, 2024
Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg. 460)
Room 126
(See description for Notes on Entry)

Vionna Atefi

The
Symbolic Systems Forum
(community sessions of SYMSYS 280 - Symbolic Systems Research Seminar)
presents

The Ethics and Efficacy of Mass Surveillance: Evaluating the degree to which post-9/11 programs of mass electronic surveillance as leveraged by law enforcement have achieved purported counterterrorism objectives

Vionna Atefi (M.S. Candidate)
Symbolic Systems Program

followed by

A Community Social with Dessert for All

Monday, November 18, 2024 
12;30-1:20 pm PT
Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg. 460), Room 126
In-person event, not recorded
(see below for entry instructions if you are not an active Stanford affiliate)

Note: Lunch is provided, if pre-ordered, only for members of SYMSYS 280, but others are welcome to bring a lunch and eat during the presentation.

ABSTRACT:

The post 9/11 era has witnessed an explosion in the use of state surveillance for the purposes of law enforcement. In the past few decades, the means and methods of state surveillance have become increasingly pervasive, effective, and cheap, thanks (i) to advancements in technology, (ii) the broadened post-9/11 statutory authority for the US intelligence community (“IC”) to leverage surveillance methods against both domestic and foreign targets, and (iii) increasingly routinized law enforcement data access requests from major technology and telecommunications companies.

The expansive post-9/11 surveillance regime was explicitly built out of the pragmatic purpose of identifying unknown terrorist operatives and preventing terrorist attacks. These programs have raised constitutional objections related to the Fourth Amendment as well as having raised ethical concerns related to Panopticism and digital authoritarianism. A key defense of warrantless surveillance provided within this argument is that 1) mass surveillance programs effectively mitigate the threat of international terrorism within the domestic United States, and 2) the government does not possess comparably effective alternatives to mass surveillance in mitigating the threat of international terrorism within the domestic United States. This thesis aims to provide quantitative evidence to investigate the following claims at the center of this debate: 1) Does evidence exist to support the claim that the government's expanded surveillance authorities post-9/11 have been integral in mitigating the threat of Islamic terrorism within the domestic United States? 2) Does the government arguably possess reasonable alternatives to mass surveillance that mitigate the threat of terrorism within the domestic United States with comparable efficacy? 3) What controversial uses of the law enforcement's expanded post-9/11 powers have emerged in the 20 years since 9/11?

NOTES ON ENTRY TO THE MEETING ROOM:

Entry to the building is open to anyone with an active Stanford ID via the card readers next to each door. If you do not have a Stanford ID, you can gain entry between 12:15 and 12:30pm ONLY by knocking on the exterior windows of room 126. These windows are to the left of the west side exterior door on the first floor of Margaret Jacks Hall, which faces the back east side of Building 420. Please do not knock on these windows after 12:30pm when the talk has started. We will not be able to come out and open the door for you at that point.