Call to Action Archives

EFF-Austin Presents The Cypherpunks Strike Back – Tomorrow’s Tech Activism Today

The Cypherpunks Strike Back – Tomorrow’s Tech Activism Today – Sunday, March 11th, 7:00pm-11:00pm, The High Road on Dawson

The annual EFF-Austin Cyberpunk Party is upon us! Check back at this space for additional details as they are confirmed.

In the ongoing crises of our present moment, it is easy to succumb to apathy. Our personal information stolen and compromised, our rights eroded and our privacy erased, our own technological tools weaponized by state and private actors to sow disinformation and distrust. In the midst of all this paranoid confusion, it is tempting to hunker down and hope this futureshock storm will pass us by. We wonder, what can we do to make a difference, to make sure that our rights are protected in a world in desperate need of great cognitive security.

At EFF-Austin’s beloved annual party, we will meet and engage with a variety of modern activists who are showing us how we can fight for a better world where our technology works for and empowers us. Our keynote speakers are Caroline Old Coyote and Michael Running Wolf, Native American VR/AR activists who are using technology to preserve their cultures and heritage. Additional speakers include EFF Investigative Researcher David Maass discussing police surveillance, government transparency, and legislation in California, former EFF-Austin president Jon Lebkowsky, Carly Rose Jackson with Texans For Voter Choice, and Vikki Goodwin, Democratic candidate for Texas House District 47.

In addition to this inspiring group of activists, musical acts will include Michael Garfield, Pilgrimess, and UBA. There will also be custom video game consoles, lockpicking, and cosplay. Finally, leading up to the party will be the world’s first cyborg pride parade. As the electronic frontier moves into our bodies, it is important that we cyber-libertarians march as allies alongside the cyborgs among us and the cyborgs we will all someday become. What do we want? cyborg rights! When do we want them? Now! We hope to see you all there!

Schedule
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7:00pm-7:30pm – Michael Garfield

Michael Garfield writes music for which new words must be invented. Simultaneously tender and apocalyptic, chill and energetic, intensely technical yet vulnerable tunes that re-imagine folk and psychedelic rock alike, updating “solo artist with guitar” to suit our age of planetary renaissance.
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7:30pm-7:40pm – Opening remarks from Kevin Welch, Jon Lebkowsky, Owen McNally

Remarks on the passage of John Perry Barlow (1947-2018)
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7:40pm-8:10pm – Caroline Old Coyote and Michael Running Wolf

Presentation: “Standing Rock is Everywhere – Protect the Sacred”

Connecting the water protector camps on the Standing Rock Sioux reservation with a movement sweeping the nation and addressing the needs of the world – to protest the exploitation of non-renewable energy sources, to protect our water and environment, and to resist the attacks on our humanity and sovereignty.
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8:20pm-8:50pm – Dave Maass

Across the country, battles over free expression and privacy are playing out in statehouses and city council chambers. The Electronic Frontier Foundation–along with local Electronic Frontier Alliance members like EFF Austin–is fighting against police surveillance, overbroad hacking laws, and mandatory porn filters. At the same time, we’re also advancing our rights through transparency ordinances and legislation that would ensure greater access to the Internet. EFF Senior Investigative Researcher will provide an overview of EFF’s activism work, including his quest to file 1,000 public records requests regarding one of the most pernicious forms of police technology, automated license plate readers.
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9:00pm-9:30pm – Pilgrimess

Pilgrimess presides over the religious rituals of the future, playing darkwave jams that are equally soothing and menacing while accompanied by her coterie of masked, dancing spirit animals.
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9:40pm-10:00pm – Vikki Goodwin and Rob Matney

We will hear from two political campaigns, Vicki Goodwin, Democratic candidate for State House District 47, and Rob Matney speaking on behalf of Steve Kling, Democratic candidate for State Senate District 25.
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10:00pm-10:20pm – Carly Rose Jackson

Carly Rose Jackson will be speaking to us on behalf of Texans For Voter Choice, an advocacy group attempting to use technology to allow for more third party participation in the Democratic process.

10:30pm-11:00pm – UBA

UBA (pronounced Ooo Bah) is the electro mind-meld of Mickey Delp (Delptronics) and Ricardo Acevedo (Lost Cat Magnet). This union creates music that throbs of the raw early electronica of Chris and Cosy, Suicide, while blurring the art edge with the cinematic vision of the likes of Tangerine Dream, Brian Eno, and Coil.

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EFF-Austin Presents The Cypherpunks Strike Back – Tomorrow’s Tech Activism Today

Sunday, Mar 11, 2018, 7:00 PM

The High Road
700 Dawson Road Austin, TX

48 Activists Went

The annual EFF-Austin Cyberpunk Party is upon us! Check back at this space for additional details as they are confirmed. In the ongoing crises of our present moment, it is easy to succumb to apathy. Our personal information stolen and compromised, our rights eroded and our privacy erased, our own technological tools weaponized by state and private …

Check out this Meetup →

https://www.facebook.com/events/147639109263268/
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February 6th – Unwarranted Surveillance – A JOLTT panel featuring EFF’s Shahid Buttar

The Journal Of Law And Technology At Texas (JOLTT – http://jolttx.com) is proud to present the panel Unwarranted Surveillance, featuring Shahid Buttar of EFF and Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck of The UT School of Law. Shahid will be visiting Austin as a guest of EFF-Austin, a long-time local affinity group of EFF and a member of their Electronic Frontier Alliance (EFA).

Congress recently reauthorized, extended, and expanded NSA surveillance without a judicial warrant requirement to restrain documented (and potentially recurring) abuses. Why does domestic surveillance prompt concerns from across the political spectrum? How does it relate to constitutional norms and principles? And how does it connect a recurring debate in the federal policy arena to local policing—and policy opportunities available to grassroots networks and local policymakers in cities across the country? All this and more will be discussed at this panel.

Shahid Buttar is an artist, writer, organizer, and lawyer. He works at the Electronic Frontier Foundation as the organization’s Director of Grassroots Advocacy, offering him opportunities to work with organizations and affinity groups around the country fighting mass surveillance and corporate control over science and culture. Shahid also serves on the boards of Defending Rights and Dissent and the Fund for Constitutional Government, served as the Executive Director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee from 2009-2016, and graduated from Stanford Law School in 2003, where he served as Lawrence Lessig’s teaching assistant for Constitutional Law.

Robert M. (“Bobby”) Chesney is an American lawyer and the Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at The University of Texas School of Law, where he serves as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and teaches courses relating to U.S. national security and constitutional law. In addition, he is the Director of the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law, a University-wide research unit bridging across disciplines to improve understanding of international security issues, as well as cyber-security and AI-related issues. Chesney addresses issues involving national security and law, including matters relating to military detention, the use of force, terrorism-related prosecutions, the role of the courts in national security affairs, and the relationship between military and intelligence community activities. He is a co-founder and contributor along with Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith to the Lawfare Blog.

Stephen Vladeck is a Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law, where he specializes in national security law, especially with relation to the prosecution of war crimes. Vladeck has commented on the legality of the United States’ use of extrajudicial detention and torture.

Open to the public.

Location Details: UT School of Law is located off of Dean Keeton St & Robert Deadman Dr. The meeting will be held in Townes Hall (TNH) Room 2.140 which is on the Ground Floor near the North Patio and Courtyard.

Unwarranted Surveillance – A JOLTT panel featuring EFF’s Shahid Buttar

Tuesday, Feb 6, 2018, 3:30 PM

Townes Hall (TNH) 2.140
727 E Dean Keeton St Austin, TX

14 Activists Went

Check out this Meetup →

https://www.facebook.com/events/1271828116250767/ ———————————————————–

December 9th – 2017 Holiday Party at Capital Factory

Cyber Santa by Jim Leftwich, from 1993’s edition of Beyond Cyberpunk!

It’s that time of year again! Join us for the EFF-Austin Holiday party on Saturday, December 9th, from 5:00pm-9:00pm in the ground-floor classrooms of Capital Factory at The Omni Hotel at 701 Brazos Street. We will have free beers for our guests (suggested 2 drinks per person), as well as free pizza.

This year we are partnering with IndieWebCamp Austin 2017 for the presentation of our party. IndieWebCamp Austin 2017 will be at Capital Factory from 9:00am-5:00pm on Saturday, December 9th, and Sunday, December 10th. We encourage you to attend both days and then join us for the EFF-Austin Holiday party from 5:00pm-9:00pm after the conclusion of the first day of the camp. The IndieWeb project is part of a growing movement that says you should own your own web data, not 3rd-party content silos. It aims to create a decentralized social web where you publish your own content on your own server and syndicate it out to those entities you care about, removing the need for middlemen like Facebook. With cherished web principles like Net Neutrality under attack, projects like the IndieWeb are more vital than ever. EFF-Austin is proud to partner with IndieWebCamp Austin, and hopes that some of you will be inspired to get involved and join the movement. More info here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/indiewebcamp-austin-2017-tickets-39918084064

EFF-Austin (Electronic Frontier Foundation of Austin) is a local advocacy, educational, and community-organizational group that promotes bringing together those interested in learning about the myriad ways in which our ever evolving digital culture affects our communities and our societies. We host monthly meetups featuring speakers on a variety of topics – recent discussions have included dynamic agreements, the history of tech startups and their relationship to the counterculture, the difference between physical and electronic identity, and the IndieWeb project. We have also had various members of our board speak to various groups around town about a variety of topics related to digital civil liberties. In addition to this learning, EFF-Austin hopes to provide a resource whereby those interested in creating change in our digital world can meet like-minded minds and have a community to collaborate with and support them in their endeavors.

In addition to the party serving as a chance to get to know our fellow digital citizens in a more relaxed setting, the party is a great opportunity to learn about what’s planned for EFF-Austin in the coming year. We have accomplished a lot over the last year with several major events like our Cyberpunk 2017 party at SXSW, our support of the P3M5 Privacy Plays at The Vortex theater, as well as legislative advocacy during the 2017 Texas Legislative Session. We continue to extend the reach of our activities and look to assistance and volunteers from the community to further broaden our ability to effectively carry out our mission.

No RSVP required, but we encourage you to get there early to insure we aren’t at capacity and to make sure you get some food and refreshments.

Parking for the Omni Garage can be validated at the Capital Factory front desk, reducing the cost from $16 to $5. Details: https://capitalfactory.com/parking/