Surveillance in the Modern Age: Law, Technology, and the New Boundaries of Privacy

Surveillance is not just confined to government wiretaps: it is embedded in consumer devices, retail environments, and everyday digital interactions. If most surveillance is lawful, invisible, and normalized, what does “privacy protection” actually mean? From smart home ecosystems to biometric tracking in pharmacies, modern surveillance raises urgent legal, constitutional, and compliance questions. This program equips attorneys to understand how evolving technologies intersect with fragmented and complex U.S. privacy and surveillance laws, with a particular focus on California as the national regulatory driver.

Attendees will gain a working understanding of U.S. surveillance authorities, constitutional limitations, and state-level privacy frameworks. This course connects doctrine to real-world applications involving privacy, including smart devices (e.g., Ring), biometric data collection, and commercial and financial surveillance practices, while identifying emerging regulatory risks and enforcement trends.

This course is designed for attorneys and legal professionals of any experience level interested in how privacy protection has evolved with technological advances. The program is especially encouraged for attorneys practicing in privacy, technology, compliance, healthcare, consumer protection, and litigation; in-house counsel; regulators; and professionals advising on data governance, AI, or surveillance technologies.

Learning Objectives:

1. Analyze how the Fourth Amendment and evolving doctrines (e.g., third-party doctrine, Carpenter) apply to modern digital surveillance.
2. Identify key U.S. surveillance authorities, including FISA, ECPA, and Executive Order 12333, and their practical implications.
3. Evaluate how California’s constitutional right to privacy and statutory frameworks reshape surveillance regulation.
4. Assess legal risks arising from commercial surveillance technologies, including biometrics and smart devices.
5. Apply principles of surveillance and privacy law to real-world scenarios involving corporate and consumer data practices.