Arizona Week Friday looks at how the publication of the NSA files in 2013 changed the global conversation about security, privacy and the scope of government.
The University of Arizona hosted A Conversation on Privacy in March.
Watch a recording of the conversation online.
The panel included linguist Noam Chomsky, journalist Glenn Greenwald and former NSA subcontractor Edward Snowden. Snowden joined via Google Hangouts from Russia where he was granted temporary asylum after leaking thousands of government documents to the press.
“I saw that the public declarations of government officials were very different from the actual reality of what was happening,” Snowden said. “In fact, we were operating beyond the law in a way that many argued was unconstitutional.”
Greenwald worked with Snowden to publish the documents and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 2014.
“Everything that we’ve done in this matter and everything I try and do in my journalism is about trying to make things a lot more difficult for those who wield the greatest power,” Greenwald said.
Cyber Security at the University of Arizona.
Researchers and students at the University of Arizona are trying to shift the approach to cybersecurity from one of reaction to an analysis the people behind the attacks.
“We have the potential to do something good by understanding the intent, the motivation, the ecosystem,” said UA Artificial Intelligence Lab Director Hsinchun Chen.
The University of Arizona’s Artificial Intelligence Lab was established in 1990. Artificial Intelligence is a science that requires an understanding of human intelligence, math, data mining and algorithm development.
“In the simplest form, you are trying to teach a computer to do things humans are good at,” Chen said of artificial intelligence.
The possibility of applying this mindset to cybersecurity attracted Ph.D student Sagar Samtani to the lab. As part of the AZSecure Cybersecurity Fellowship Program he will eventually go on to work for a government service.
“The area of work that we’re in right now has a lot of potential for societal impact,” Samtani said.
On the program:
- Highlights from the University of Arizona’s Conversation of Privacy featuring Edward Snowden, Noam Chomsky and Glenn Greenwald.
- An interview with Glenn Greenwald, former lawyer who worked for The Guardian when it published thousands of secret documents from the NSA.
- A conversation with UA Artificial Intelligence Lab Director Hsinchun Chen and Ph.D student Sagar Samtani.
- The Buzz with AZPM’s Christopher Conover breaks down the Justice Department’s investigation of Arizona’s Presidential Preference Election, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling on driver’s licenses for immigrant ‘dreamers’ and a new challenge to reporters covering the State Capitol.
By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.