Potential for state, federal conflict
Murphy, who heads the dispute resolution practice Silverman, highlighted the potential for a growing conflict between state and federal law in the coming years as state lawmakers craft ways to protect privacy.
"State legislators are often very interested in the area of privacy and want to do something to protect their citizens from overreaching intrusion," Murphy said. "Not necessarily over-reaching governmental intrusion but over-reaching intrusion by other private parties."
McKenna said at one point that "there is no privacy unless there's going to be legislation." She detailed efforts in Europe to restrict private companies' use of consumer data.
Fishman, who teaches criminal law and has written about surveillance in the Internet age, said he doesn't use a smartphone. And he's declined to register his subway card because he doesn't want Washington's public transportation system to have a record of every station he's visited.
Fishman also had this advice. "I tell my students don't put anything in an e-mail you wouldn't be willing to see on the front page of the Metro section," he said. "If you become caught up in a scandal, however innocently, everything about you becomes public."
Mike Scarcella writes for The Blog of Legal Times, a Daily Report affiliate.
