While the technological power to gather citizens’ digital data is exploding — through facial recognition software, GPS tracking, cell phone data, and drones — courts and legislatures have barely woken up to the issue.

Like a ringing alarm clock, Yale Law School recently held a day-long conference highlighting the unanswered policy questions of location tracking and biometrics. Sponsored by the Information Society Project at Yale Law School, it featured many of today’s top thinkers in the field.