The Nexus of 2024

Computers, Freedom, and Privacy 2010: why should people care?

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by

jon
in

CFP logoOne of our goals for the 2010 Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference is to reach out to a broader and more diverse community.  Our upcoming “save the date” announcement is the first good opportunity for this.  Getting some attention on Twitter, blogs, and email lists can help raise awareness of “the best computer conference you’ve never heard of”, as Elizabeth Weise so memorably described it a decade ago.   But why should people care?

The intro from the 2006 conference says it well:

Now, more than ever, the lines of technology, freedom, and privacy are colliding.  Governments continue their surveillance of citizens in the name of security, huge databases of information on every aspect of individuals’ lives are created, and debates are underway about controlling content.  Yet, while technology is at the epicenter of these profound developments, technology also has the potential to advance the civil society…. CFP will explore issues that impact us all, wherever we are, around the world.

Indeed.  And for the last two decades, the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference has been at the heart of this discussion, with a mix of technologists, lawyers, policy experts, academics, corporate executives, politicians, and activists.  This year, we’ll be having it in Silicon Valley for the first time ever (yes, really!), and so it’s a unique chance to engage deeply and reframe the discussions that too often treat privacy and online rights as an afterthought.

Or so it seems to me.  Then again, I’m a regular at the conference (1, 2), and spend a lot of my time hanging out with privacy and free speech advocates … so perhaps I’m not the best judge of what’s a good hook for everybody else.

So, it’d be great to hear some other perspectives.  Last year’s program gives an idea of the wide range of topics that are covered at a typical CFP, and Lorrie Cranor’s Ten Years of Computers, Freedom and Privacy (from 2000) gives some historical perspective; I’ve included last year’s suggested topics in the first comment.  Given all that …

Why do you care?

How would you convince others who aren’t “the usual suspects” that they should care?

jon

Comments

12 responses to “Computers, Freedom, and Privacy 2010: why should people care?”

  1. jon Avatar
    jon

    Last year’s topics, from the call for participation:

    Information Privacy, Anonymity Online, Government Transparency, Voting Technology, Online Campaigning, Social Networks, Citizen Journalism, Cybercrime & Cyberterrorism, Digital Education, Copyright and Fair Use, Patent Reform, Open Access, P2P Networks, Information Policy and Free Trade, Media Concentration, Genes & Bioethics, Electronic Medical Records, Web Accessibility, Open Standards, Network Neutrality, High-Speed Internet Access Policy, Freedom of Information, Technology Policy Administration

    Reply
  2. Dorothy Glancy Avatar
    Dorothy Glancy

    This looks like a good start.
    Don’t we need to provide the dates early on in what we send?
    Silicon Valley is enough of a place designator at this stage.
    I also think that a title for this particular conference – or its theme – would make the appeal stronger. After two decades, it is always important to make clear that we have something new to say, new angles, new ideas, new synergies. Not to mention a new place, plus some new people. To my mind, it is the multitude of synergies in Computers Freedom and Privacy that seems to have most salience.
    I still like “Good/Evil 2.0” as a theme. The logo could be based on a lovely yin/yang.

    Reply
    1. jon Avatar
      jon

      Dorothy, agreed on both counts: we’ll want to lead with the dates in the announcement, and we’ll want to come up with a compelling theme for this year’s conference. Here’s some of our Initial ideas — includng “Good/Evil 2.0” and “rebooting computers, freedom, and privacy”.

      Reply
  3. Deborah Avatar
    Deborah

    One thing that I don’t see in the blurb from 2006 is anything to do with social networks. A lot of people who use them aren’t the usual suspects, and many of those folks should think about coming to CFP.

    The blurb for 2006 focuses on what the government (and many corporations) do *to* us – they extract information from us about ourselves for a variety of reasons and then put that information into databases. Privacy and other issues abound.

    Today, with the use of social networks, we’re voluntarily giving out huge amounts of information about ourselves to whomever we’ve allowed into our network of ‘friends’. There are a lot of upsides to this, but there many negative consequences as well. Getting these ‘not the usual suspects’ folks to CFP where they can get a crash course in computers, freedom, and privacy will give them more confidence when they’re online.

    Reply
  4. Dawn Avatar
    Dawn

    I like the “The Transparent Citizen” the best because I think those 3 words encapsulates the misgivings that people have about all of these technological breakthroughs, especially the social networks, that we have all availed ourselves of. I think Deborah really hit the nail on the head when she mentioned social networks and databases.

    Reply
  5. Haven't been in a while Avatar
    Haven’t been in a while

    Announce that no one who’s spoken in the last 2 years will be on stage except as an MC or to make organizational announcements. My real reason for not going is the echo chamber issue.

    Reply
  6. jon Avatar
    jon

    Thanks for the feedback, Deborah, Dawn, and Haven’t. Fascinating point on how social networks aren’t there at all in the 2006 blurb … how quickly things change; that’ll certainly be worth emphasizing.

    Haven’t, while there were a lot of new voices there last year (including plenaries and keynotes with first-time participants), there’s no question that a key goal for CFP 2010 is to get more diverse perspectives. And I think there always are going to be some repeat presenters: on some core CFP issues it’s extremely important to hear from and engage with the key people. So it’ll be a balance on this front. Still, point taken — it’s another way in which we want to get beyond “the usual suspects”.

    jon

    Reply
  7. jon Avatar
    jon

    Some feedback from a friend on Facebook, posted with permission:

    HHmmmm….. Off the top of my head…

    If your computer is like a fifth limb or second head,
    If being away from your computer makes you feel like you’re slowly suffocating to death or dying from loneliness,
    If you can no longer imagine life without your computer…

    Then you must care about this conference.

    Because your freedom in the online world — to enjoy culture, consume goods, form relationships, express yourself and just live life — is completely dependent on how well you can protect your privacy. Every violation of your online privacy is one more threat to your digital freedom.

    Reply
  8. jon Avatar
    jon

    More Facebook feedback, from a college student:

    My (completely non-techie) friend was explaining to her friends why putting so much data on facebook was not such a good idea, and she had quite a detailed explanation of how employers now check facebook, as do schools, and used it as one way to evaluate prospective employees/students. I think highlighting things like this – maybe not picking on one service in particular, but just pointing out that more and more the information we put online is coming to bear directly on our offline activities (when only a few years ago there there was not such a direct connection) and calling people’s attention to how data they put online has direct and long-lasting effects on their offline world would make a lot more people interested.

    Reply
  9. Edward Hasbrouck Avatar
    Edward Hasbrouck

    I know CFP *won’t* be in DC this year, and I wouldn’t want too much of a Washington-centric focus, but I would like to see at least some “report card” on what the Obama administration has and hasn’t done with respect to issues of computers, freedom, and privacy. I also thought the international sessions were among the most interesting last year (I heard the same from several other people), and would like to make an explicit invitation to internationalism part of this year’s invite.

    (One specific topic that would tie these two together would be a discussion with both USA and international participants on what the Obama administration has done internationally on computers, freedom, and privacy, and whether the USA has moved more into line with international norms or whether the USA is “ahead” or “behind” those norms on issues of digital freedom and privacy.)

    Just my 2 cents.

    Reply
  10. Brielle Avatar
    Brielle

    “In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” George Orwell

    “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    “I wish people were more complicated, but they’re not.” Georgia (Television series: Dead Like Me)

    Reply
  11. bill macocinher Avatar
    bill macocinher

    Oh yeah it’s not silicone “play boy” it’s saline…..I have your number (s) and I already reported you to a good friend that works for the Hillsborough Sheriff’s department. He’s coming to pick my computer up tommorrow so if you think you can out smart the po-po your wrong!!!!! So you might be screwing with me now but you won’t get away with it. I also told him as well as my cell phone provider how you are taunting and harassing me and trying to destroy my computer. And if your going to talk shit let’s get it right it’s SALINE not SILICONE and learn how to spell, silicone has an E at the end……Oh yeah your a real college graduate……You probably work for Obama and Osama and your probably the reason our economy sucks…..Anyway this computer will be turned in and I have your phone numbers and I also have a connectiion with Deputy Cook…..So I’m telling you now that you will be in trouble because they will find out who you are and what you did to my computer…..So don’t be surprised when you get a knock at your door…..Oh yeah I also have a connection in N.C that is investigating one of your numbers….So look out Greeny….

    Reply

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