No Place to Hide: Our Lives After 9/11 | Technology and Society Forum

Robert O'Harrow, Jr.
Investigative Reporter, The Washington Post

NJIT Campus Center Ballroom
September 17, 2008, 3:00 - 4:30 pm

The collection of wide-ranging data about American citizens was already a serious challenge to personal privacy when the terrorists struck on September 11, 2001. After the attack, organizations such as data brokers, banks and retailers willingly teamed up with the government to use this vast store of information to prevent further terrorism.We were told that it was for our own safety.Yet the potential misuse of this data poses a grave danger to values we have long esteemed, including fundamental civil liberties.

In the first session of the 2008-2009 Technology and Society Forum series, investigative reporter Robert O’Harrow, Jr. will share his insights into this disturbing situation.He is the author of the book No Place to Hide, a critical commentary on surveillance and national security in the post-9/11 world.

As a reporter at The Washington Post, O’Harrow has focused on government contracting, waste and abuse.He is now exploring the interaction between the intelligence community and the commercial world. O’Harrow previously scrutinized the data revolution, uncovering stories about the use of personal information that spurred changes in state and federal law.

A 1999 finalist for the Gerald Loeb business-reporting award, he was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2000 for articles about privacy and technology, and the recipient of the 2003 Carnegie Mellon Cybersecurity Award.

Co-sponsored by the NJIT Technology and Society Forum Committee, Albert Dorman Honors College and Sigma Xi