Timothy Edgar

Achieving Security, Privacy and Internet Freedom in the Golden Age of Hacking, Cyberwar and Surveillance

Timothy Edgar is a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies, Brown University, and an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. His work focuses on the unique challenges posed by growing global cyber conflict, particularly in reconciling security interests with fundamental values including privacy and Internet freedom.

Edgar served under President Obama as the first ever director of privacy and civil liberties for the White House National Security Staff, focusing on cybersecurity, open government and data privacy initiatives. From 2006 to 2009, he was the first deputy for civil liberties for the director of national intelligence, reviewing new surveillance authorities, the terrorist watchlist, and other sensitive programs. He has also been counsel for the national Information Sharing Environment (ISE), which facilitates the secure sharing of terrorism-related information among government agencies responsible for national security. Prior to his government service, Edgar was the national security and immigration counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.

About this Lecture

Cyber conflict poses unique challenges for governments, citizens, and the future of the Internet. In 2013, extensive revelations of NSA spying and cyber exploitation put into new perspective consistent complaints by the United States about escalating attacks on its networks. At the same time, a growing list of countries, including China, Russia and Iran have adopted a variety of more or less restrictive Internet filtering practices. Filtering is being seriously proposed and debated even in democratic countries such as Australia. This talk will examine the problems confronting the United States and its international partners in addressing network and computer insecurity while upholding privacy, civil liberties and other fundamental values.

Helpful Links

Balancing Protection and Privacy
Edgar speaks at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society
14 May 2013