On October 18, 2024, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University will convene scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and activists for a symposium about surveillance and censorship and the changing role of the international border.

Today, the U.S. government uses its authority over the border to justify the surveillance of social media, the interrogation of travelers about their political and religious views, the warrantless search of travelers’ laptops and cellphones, the imposition of limits on Americans’ right to engage with foreign speakers and to access foreign communications platforms, and the suspension of the constitutional rules that would ordinarily apply to the surveillance of Americans’ emails and telephone calls. Panelists will consider these practices and their implications from a range of perspectives, including theoretical, doctrinal, historical, and empirical.

“Regardless of Frontiers” will also feature a photo exhibition entitled “Infrastructures of Control,” by Colter Thomas and Dugan Meyer. Through a series of photographs, the exhibit aims to create a visual archive of security and surveillance infrastructure in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. An opening reception will be held on the evening of October 17 at Columbia University.

The symposium will take place at Columbia University and online. More information and RSVP here.