Send the ACLU to SXSW!

FunctionalOlfactio

FunctionalOlfactio

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Send the ACLU to SXSW!
08/13/2014


What kind of content do YOU think should be featured at one of the biggest technology events of the year?

SXSW Interactive gives the public a substantial say in its programming. This past March, our panel with Edward Snowden was the festival's most talked-about, and we're eager to get back to Austin in March 2015 to discuss the cutting edge intersections of privacy and technology.

Check out our panel submissions below and throw a few votes our way.

Beyond Privacy: Surveillance's Threat To Liberty
With Ben Wizner (ACLU) and Bruce Schneier (Cryptographer and Privacy Specialist)

Once we could live lives of practical obscurity. No longer. Conveniences of modern life – from smartphones to smoke detectors – have become digital informants, giving governments and corporations detailed information about us.

The problem is often framed as one of privacy. But that doesn't come close to capturing what's threatened by the explosion of data and the zeal with which it's collected, stored, and analyzed. Free speech, security, and equality are just a few of the values imperiled by mass surveillance.

But the situation isn't hopeless. There's nothing inevitable about technology overpowering liberty, and there are solutions – legal, regulatory, and technological – to help us regain control over our data and our lives.

Join Ben Wizner, director of the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology project and legal advisor to Edward Snowden, for a conversation with Bruce Schneier, the country's leading public interest technologist, about the world we're creating and how we can fight back.

Vote here. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/37185

Fighting surveillance can be good for business
With Chris Soghoian (ACLU) and Matthew Prince (CloudFlare)

The Snowden disclosures have been bad news for many U.S. tech companies. As foreign customers seek to protect themselves and their data from the NSA, the losses to U.S. companies may run into the billions. In particular, the cloud computing sector and ad-supported companies whose business models depend upon data collection are most at risk.

It doesn't have to be this way. The Snowden stories don't have to be bad news. A handful of U.S. tech companies have realized that privacy can be a competitive advantage, that building secure products designed to resist surveillance and government coercion can be good for business. For such companies, the combination of paranoid engineering and a brave legal team have enabled them to offer products that protect user data from many threats, including those hand-delivered by men and women in dark suits.

Vote here. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/40270

Facebook, Twitter, & The Future of Free Speech
With Nicole Ozer (ACLU of California), Monika Bickart (Facebook), Jeffrey Rosen (National Constitution Center), Matthew Zimmerman (Twitter)

Online platforms are now the town square for creativity and social and political connection. This means that many of the most important decisions about content, access, and speech are now concentrated in the hands of a few private actors. When does art cross the line and get flagged on Facebook? Which tweets are staying up or coming down? How much censorship is just too much or not enough? Who should be the deciders? And how do you get your voice heard when you think content should be taken down or put back up? Join policy experts from the top platforms, the ACLU's Nicole Ozer, and Professor Jeffrey Rosen from the National Constitution Center to discuss what's happening now and the future of free speech.

Vote here. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/39414

Making Devices "Smart" About Privacy
With Matt Cagle (ACLU of California), Nicole Ozer (ACLU of California), Jules Cohen (Microsoft Corporation), Laura Berger (Federal Trade Commission)

It's not just smartphones anymore. Smart fridges tell us when our eggs have gone bad. Smart thermostats track our energy use. Smart monitors allow us to keep track of our children. As the devices we use every day become smarter, they become far more useful. But they also collect new kinds of information – about our most intimate habits and interactions – multiplying the risks to privacy. Hackers, data brokers, and even the government may gain new kinds of keys to our homes and personal lives. So how can companies building the Internet of Things protect privacy in this new data frontier?

This panel will discuss how companies, policymakers, and consumers can be smart about privacy in the Internet of Things.

Vote here. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/40658

Tiny Budget, Big Outreach: How ACLU Activated Youth
With Roy Rodenstein (SocMetrics) and Rob Fishman (The Niche Project, Inc.)

For a nonprofit, the budget can severely restrict its ability to conduct outreach on a cause. The ACLU found a way to reach millions of people with a budget that will shock you! The Dream: collaborating with celebrities who tell their fans what you need them to do. The nonprofit fantasy is that celebrities would line up to give the nonprofit free access to millions of fans. The Reality: Tons of money and energy spent chasing a dream with little chance of success. But that doesn't mean that harnessing someone's influence is out of reach. Today, technology enables anyone to cultivate a personal brand, broadcast it worldwide, and earn influence to become powerful enough to challenge traditional paid media outlets. For little cost, your nonprofit can collaborate with an influencer whose existing brand message and audience align with your nonprofit's mission. Learn how the ACLU surpassed its outreach goals by harnessing influence to reach youth about the Constitution .

Vote here. http://panelpicker.sxsw.com/vote/39668
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Source: https://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-free-speech-national-security/send-aclu-sxsw
 
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The American Civil Liberties Union is impressive. People donate money and these guys legally pursue reforming our government in the name of their donors. They took on segregation successfully and now are pursuing topics such as prison reform and mass surveillance.

Here is an example. In early 2013 their was a group fighting the Fienstein Internet Surveillance Act. They claimed warantless spying approved in F.I.S.A. was unconstitutionaly used in targeting their defendants. Congress told them they were wrong and warantless surveillance wasn't occurring. Several months later the defense contractor Edward Snowden release thousands of documents proving warantless spying on American citizens, internet censorship, and social manipulation was constantly committed by the United States Goverment in direct violation of the first and forth amendments of the United States constitution. The group was correct and congress lied to the American people. Who was this group fighting in the name of American citizens while our government lied to us and violated our rights? The same group who ended segregation, The American Civil Liberties Union.

Lets have 'em talk to SXSW.
 
So much going on in the world and so many topics.

One from here that hit hard for me today, idea of "Facebook, Twitter, & The Future of Free Speech" . I was reading through an online article and went to comment. I was required to make an account as usual, But in order to access this particular comment section the only acceptable way to create an account was through FB. There was no other option.

The ramifications of this could be profound. By using technology like this it can require a person to identify themselves to be tracked and categorized in order to present their point of view in social media. It could lead to prohibition of an individual or group from expressing themselves at all. Data collected could be used to persecute groups or people.

Free social media is turning out to be an amazingly powerful tool, both for the consumers as well as the promoters. We Just need to glance at the worlds reaction. We just need to look at the worlds reaction in the Israel Vs. Hamas war. Mass world outcry and it pretty much got shut the hell down. Just have to look a the murder committed by the officer in mississippi and how fast people banned together in strong protest, demanding justice. There is no place to hide and no way to lie. Social media is more powerful than the press ever was. The press was so powerful that its freedom is guaranteed in the first amendment along with the freedom of speech and assembly.

The power of honest, instant, human communication is significant to say the least. We know what's going down and why. We can voice our thoughts on matters and this includes ripping into propaganda and nonsense. Because of the inherent scepticism, realted to parts of the internet, we have developed a world that is capable of organized directed advanced thought. The results will be so significant that the skills created will rival or exceed yesterday's educated non internet people, even those who studied critical thinking and argumentative writing at a university level.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances
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1st amendment US

Given the evolved nature of the press, was I was prevented my right to free press?
Given I was not going to post anything inappropriate, was I denied my right to assemble peacefully?
Given my right to free speech, was I denied my right to speak?
Do Americans rights have any bearing on the worlds web?
(american publication by the way)

Were these rights denied these denied due to the requirement to log into Facebook in order to post? I guess we shall see in the future. With social media emerging as possibly the strongest power on the planet, there are going to be allot people trying to control and influence it and these determinations will play a large part in how it plays out.

Came across this by the ACLU and its very informative. Tells the tale of the giant business of drug testing ACLU drug testing a bad investment
 
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