UNITED SIKHS Presents Plenary Panel on Airport Security & its Impact on Civil Liberties

Highlights:

• UNITED SIKHS presented a plenary panel on June 15th at Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP) Conference
• A major focus of the discussion was the racial/ religious profiling against the Sikh community at airports due to current airport security policies as they relate to religious head wear.
• Congresswoman Chu, a champion for Sikh Civil Rights, amplifies the concerns over racial/ religious profiling of the Sikh community at airports and makes connections to the broader implications in society (i.e. hate crimes)
• Plenary Panel covered a diverse range of issues: racial/ religious profiling, data gathering/ storage, privacy, modesty, national security, 4th Amendment, Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), and the future of aviation security

Washington, DC: From June 14-16th, Georgetown Law Center hosted the 21st annual Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference (CFP2011).  The Conference is a multi-stakeholder structure that brings together government officials, the private sector, technologists, policymakers, activists and civil society for discussions about the information society and the future of technology, innovation, and freedom.

The Program covered:

• The role of social media-  Middle East and N. Africa and its impact on democracy;
• Technology and social media to support human rights;
• The impact of mobile personal computing technology on freedom and privacy;
• Smart grid, e-health records, consumer location-based advertising. Cybersecurity, cloud computing, net neutrality, federated ID, ubiquitous surveillance;
• Aviation security and its impact on minorities, privacy, and freedom of movement

The Plenary Panel presented by UNITED SIKHS was titled The Effect of Domestic Airport Security Policies on Minority Communities, Freedom of Movement, and Privacy.

Panel organized by: Hansdeep Singh: Staff Attorney, UNITED SIKHS.

Moderator: Daniel Mach: Director of Freedom of Religion and Belief, ACLU

Panelists:

• Congresswoman Judy Chu: 32nd District of California
• Kimberly Walton: Special Counselor to the Administrator, TSA 
• Chris Calabrese: Legal Counsel on Technology and Liberty, ACLU
• Ginger McCall: Open Government Counsel, EPIC
• Nadhira Al-Khalili, Esq.: Legal Counsel, Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR

Senior Staff Attorney, Hansdeep Singh, who participated and organized one of the panels in the CFP Conference states: “What is important in engaging in this process is not just about getting Sikh civil rights issues in front of a larger more diverse audience, but the ability to learn from the larger debate on computers, freedom, and privacy while preserving the voice of Sikhs in these debates.” 

Look forward to Part II regarding this panel, which will include videos and a discussion of each panelists contributions!

If you have interest in being part of future panels organized by UNITED SIKHS or want to take the lead in developing panels that bring Sikh civil and human rights to the forefront, please contact law-usa@unitedsikhs.org and we will add you to our team of staff and volunteers who work on these projects.

Engage and Volunteer with UNITED SIKHS, and Donate to our advocacy projects.

Issued By:

Jaspreet Singh
UNITED SIKHS
Legal Director
law-usa@unitedsikhs.org