Leeds Salon events

Ahead of the next Leeds Salon on 12 July, when we have Manjit Kumar discussing his book Quantum: Einstein Bohr and the Great Debate about the Nature of Reality, you may be interested in the following 'Question Time' style debate being held at Leeds University on 18 June being organised by the Inter-Disciplinary Ethics Applied – A Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Paul Thomas
Leeds Salon

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Public Event on Privacy and Public Policy
Friday 18 June 2010 from 5:00 pm to 6:50 pm, followed by a drinks reception, in Rupert Beckett Lecture Theatre, University of Leeds, LS2 9JT.
“How much importance should be given to Privacy considerations when making Public Policy?”
Main webpage for the Public Event
Speakers
· Matthew Taylor Chief Executive, RSA; formerly Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and head of the 10 Downing Street Policy Unit
· David Leigh Journalist and Investigations Executive Editor, The Guardian; famously exposed Jonathan Aitken
· Pauline Neville-Jones Security Minister; former Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee
· Onora O’Neill Professor of Philosophy, University of Cambridge; 2002 Reith Lecturer (’A Question of Trust’); 2001 Gifford Lecturer (’Autonomy and Trust in Bioethics’)
About the event
Privacy is central to some of the most important issues facing our parliamentary democracy today. And yet the public response to these issues seems inconsistent. Attempts to defend the privacy interests of MPs over their expenses claims are met with suspicion. But there is also great resistance to sacrificing individuals’ privacy for the sake of security. We are hostile to journalistic intrusion, and yet place a high value placed on investigative journalism which arguably would be undermined by stringent privacy laws.
What is needed is greater public engagement with issues of privacy, and with the complexity of forming consistent, principled public policy. This public event seeks to address this need. To this end, we have engaged high-profile speakers with relevant expertise, for an event of speeches and panel questions. This event is part of a conference on the ethics of Privacy and Confidentiality, hosted by the IDEA CETL, University of Leeds, 17-19 June, 2010. For more information, contact Jim Baxter at the IDEA CETL on j.d.baxter@leeds.ac.uk , or Jamie Dow j.dow@leeds.ac.uk.
This is not a ticketed event , all are welcome, but it will help our organisation and catering plans if you could let us know if you are planning to attend, by registering your interest at http://www.idea.leeds.ac.uk/privacy (click on “Public Event”), including any special dietary or other requirements you may have.
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Mind Association, the Society for Applied Philosophy and software company Temenos.