This is a placeholder for the original course. Please see the archived version on the Internet Archive HERE
Welcome to the Honors Think Tank on Transparency and Privacy, a collaboration between the University of Utah Honors College, the College of Law and the Marriott Library. Twelve honors students will spend a year taking a critical look at the rapidly evolving and often clashing paradigms of privacy and transparency, particularly as they impact government and individuals. By the end of the year students will have designed and completed both a privacy related and a transparency related project which will contribute to the ongoing policy discourse on these important societal issues and have a utility beyond the life of the course. Please follow the student’s progress on this web site and join in the conversation by posting your comments either here or on the project specific web sites.
HTT in the News:
Salt Lake City Endorses Transparency, OK's Guidelines -- Click to View the Resolution
Government technology: 5 Best Practices for Open Local Government
Sunlight Foundation: University Students launch Local Government Transparency Initiative
Salt Lake Tribune Editor’s Column: Government Transparency vs. Privacy — U. Students Have Some Ideas
Instructors
Randy Dryer, J.D.
Presidential Honors Professor
Professor of Law (Lecturer)
(801) 213-4106
rdryer@honors.utah.edu
Corper James, J.D.
Mabey Wright & James, PLLC
(801) 359-3663
cjames@mwjlaw.com
Libguide/Research Librarian
Valeri Craigle, MLS
Assistant Librarian
(801) 585-5475
valeri.craigle@law.utah.edu
By the end of the Think Tank, the students will have:
THIS WEEK
Week Fourteen: December 8, 2011 Individual Privacy & Transparency: Government Surveillance
Topics:
Readings/Viewings:
Guest Presenter(s):
Student Presenter(s)
Student Scribe
 Randy Dryer |
On July 1, 2011 I began a new career as a professor at the University of Utah with a joint appointment in the Honors College and SJ Quinney College of Law. This career change comes after a successful and rewarding 32 year legal career as a litigator and media lawyer with Parsons Behle & Latimer, Utah’s largest law firm. Over the years, I periodically taught at both colleges as an adjunct, but I am now a full time academic. I am 62 years young, which may seem ancient to most college students, (and too old to be starting a new career according to some) but I can assure you (as my wife and three children continually remind me in a disapproving tone) I do not act my age! But enough about my present situation. How did I arrive at this point in my life? A very abbreviated history follows. More... |
 Corper James |
I practice in the areas of general business and employment law with an emphasis on employment discrimination and litigation. I have always been heavily interested if not always involved in local and national politics. I am one of nine Democrats in the state of Utah, and when the state legislature is in session I purposely avoid all news outlets because the news makes me angry. I am currently serving as the President of the Board of Trustees of a $9 million a year organization called Centro de la Familia de Utah. The organization serves mostly migrant worker families with headstart educational programs. It keeps me involved with populations I really care about, and allows me to make a small contribution to the ongoing problem this state and country have with marginalizing undocumented families. |
 Valeri Craigle |
When I was little, I didn't fantasize about being a librarian when I grew up. I wanted to be the girl version of Indiana Jones. When I tell people I'm a librarian, I can almost assuredly count on responses like, "that must be so relaxing!" or "it must be nice to get to read all day". As I was working at the desk in the reference room at the law library last week, some guy came in and asked how much they paid me to look bored. |
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Allie Tripp |
I tend to believe that people generally prefer to think of themselves as intelligent people. I know that I do. As a (self-perceived) intelligent person and a student of History, it is probably unsurprising that I often question my past, seeking answers to my own life in much the way I have been taught to seek them from the life of a country or a civilization or a long-dead old guy. Where did I come from? What did I do? What made me do it? How does it effect today? Tomorrow? Could anyone have done anything to change where I am now? More... |
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Isabelle Ghabash |
The story of my life is actually two stories. Don’t worry, the first one is short and isn’t really about me because I don’t show up until the end. It goes a little like this: Sometime in the early 1980s, a shy Lebanese farm boy-turned-engineer, at the urging of his friends, reluctantly walked up to the front desk of the hotel he was staying at to ask the German farm girl-turned-concierge out. Their first date was probably awkward because one of the boy’s loudmouth friends tagged along to make sure it wouldn’t be awkward. The couple kept going on dates, fell in love slowly, and got married. A year later, they had their first child: a girl they would come to call Monster #1. More... |
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Tianna Tu |
I was born to a Vietnamese Father and an All-American Mother. As a product of a family that consists of two very different cultures, I can assure you that having a diverse background is a rich and exuberant experience, but it is also often one that is difficult to understand and even more difficult for others to understand. More... |
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Theresa Krause |
“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose…there is no reason not to follow your heart.” Steve Jobs said this in one of his commencement addresses and ever since I heard it, it’s been hard not to think about it (no matter how cheesy it sounds); it always reminds me to give everything my all. I realize that Steve Jobs is not who most people would quote when writing a “personal portrait”—but something about his story really inspires me. I guess you could say that I’m a geek. I might as well get it out in the open now. But no matter the labels that society might put on me, I always remember that, in truth, there is no reason not to follow my heart. More... |
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Marianne Rose Carpenter |
I am currently a student at the University of Utah, double-majoring in Accounting and Information Systems. My experience with the U of U began just over two years ago, while I was a senior in high school. Considering that I was born and raised in California, Utah was the last place I would have freely chosen to live in when the time came to choose. Consequently, I only applied to one school in Utah, never imagining how much I would love going to school and living here in Salt Lake City. |
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Candace Oman |
My name is Candace Leigh Oman. I was born on November 3, 1991 and I’m the youngest of five daughters—I have no brothers. My four older sisters are named Merrianne, Natalie and Valerie (who are twins) and Jennifer. Just as some general information about me, I enjoy reading far too much. Typically, most of my novels are fantasy or young adult in genre. However, given the explosion of the adolescent books following Twilight, the pickings are indeed slim. More... |
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Niki Harris |
I like coloring books and coffee morning noon and night. The water is my second home. I'm competitive and I don't take no for an answer. I draw hearts on the windows of airplanes. I dislike religion and what happens because of it. I love driving with the windows down on the highway. More... |
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Alex Boren |
There is something evasive about the knowledge of one’s self. I have contemplated my actions, my reasons for taking those actions, and the effects that the outside world has on me; but it seems that all of these do not lead to who I really am. What I do and what interests me only make up my role in society, a mask covering up my underlying self. However, my mask is still an integral part of who I am; there must be an outside for the inside to exist. As this is a personal portrait, I shall paint the outside of my self. Or rather, it will be a picture of my persona, which originally meant “mask” in Greek. I will be brief because I do not wish to shape my portrait to fit any opinion I have of myself. Everyone has his or her personal opinion, and the opinion I have of myself is not what is most important to you. However, some basis for judgment is always helpful, so here we go. More... |
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Mariah Lohse |
As the first child of two born to my parents, I will testify to Adler’s theory of birth order. I have always been independent, studious, and a perfectionist. Even in early years of elementary school I felt compelled to achieve straights A’s, although back then, I counted an A- as an A. I had a natural inclination towards leadership and often felt responsible for others. My Mother always recounts the story of when I was fours years old and opened a playmate’s fruit snack package for him as he struggled and could not do it as quickly as I had done. More... |
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Tanner Gould |
I have never known what I want to do when I “grow up.” This is not to say I don't have dreams and aspirations, but to me the concept of growing up is repugnant. I never want to lose my love of sandboxes, crayons, and hot-wheels cars. In this day and age, the world could greatly benefit from childlike non-linear thinking. After graduating from Bountiful High with the class of 2010, I was fortunate enough to be awarded the Eccles Early-Assurance Scholarship, for which I am profoundly grateful. At the time, the scholarship was the final factor which kept me in this beautiful state and, over the last year, the experiences it has provided have been invaluable. More... |
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Lindsai Gren |
Lindsai Sasha Higham Gren (born Lindsay Higham Gren) came into this world determined to make an entrance, a fact that has often been stated by her parents and brother, Steve. As the years passed, Lindsay developed into a child that could optimistically be called precocious, and realistically called obnoxious, though in a rather clever sort of way. At age three, she informed her mother that the culprit responsible for ruining the Lemon Meringue Pie destined for the Thanksgiving table was in fact, a little red hen with an affinity for dancing on top of pies. This was the beginning of a long career of creative fibbing, which, when matched with an eclectic wardrobe composed of tutus and hiking boots, made for an unstoppable force. More... |
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Sam Totten |
As someone who strives to consciously experience life in a manner reminiscent of 'living in the moment', it is only fitting that I begin my portrait with a recent experience. This summer I participated in a volunteer organization called Amigos de las Americas. Amigos aims to strengthen youth leadership, encourages multicultural understanding between the Americas, and fosters creative problem solving skills of Latin American counterparts by sending high school and college students to developing communities in over 6 Latin American countries. For my project, I went to Peru. For two months I lived in a small, rural community named Ccochapata. Roughly 120 people lived in the area without electricity or running water. More... |
Week One Topics
This Week's Readings and Multimedia
Week Two Topics
This Week's Readings and Multimedia
Week Three:
Topics This Week:
Required Readings:
Books
Journal Articles
Popular Media
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Required Readings:
Books
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Student Presenter(s)
Student Scribe
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Intro to the Courts
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Required Readings/Viewings:
Research Service Report (December 10, 2010)
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Topics This Week:
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Student Scribe
Books
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| Week One | Randy Dryer, Corper James, Valeri Craigle |
| Week Two | Randy Dryer, Valeri Craigle |
| Week Three | None |
| Week Four | Charles Tobin, Holland and Knight, Washington D.C. |
| Week Five | Rich Olsen, Utah General Manager, NIC |
| Week Six | Daniel Schuman, The Sunlight Foundation, Washington, DC |
| Week Seven | Lillie Coney, Associate Director, Electronic Privacy Information Center, Washington D.C. and Justin Brookman, Center for Digital Technology, Washington, D.C. |
| Week Eight | Alice Siempelkemp, RATB, Washington, D.C. |
| Week Nine | David Symes, Esq., Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart, Portland, Oregon and Utah Senator Wayne Niederhauser, Salt Lake City, Utah |
| Week Ten | Tim Shea, Utah Administrative Office of the Courts |
| Week Eleven | Tom Clarke, Vice President for Research &Technology, National Center for State Courts, Washington, D.C. and Linda Peterson, Utah Foundation for Open Government |
| Week Twelve | None |
| Week Thirteen | None |
| Week Fourteen | Ryan Radia, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C. |
Justin Brookman
Lillie Coney
Daniel Schuman
Charles Tobin
