The rate of technological innovation accelerates at an exponential pace every year, and yet it seems the laws we pass to regulate these new technologies struggle to keep up, leaving our rights and the smooth functioning of our society at risk. From the abolition of net neutrality and demands for encryption backdoors in our secure communications to such outlandish and ill-advised proposals as link taxes and impossible-to-implement copyright filters, we see our politicians proposing policies that leave experts in their respective fields shaking their heads in dismay. The lack of elected officials with professional backgrounds and experience in the technology sector leaves our legislators woefully unprepared to fully understand the implications of the laws they are passing, forcing them to defer to well-funded industry groups who may not always have the public’s best interest in mind. To ensure that our laws around emerging technologies are written with the expertise necessary to enshrine and preserve our rights, it is vital that industry leaders in these fields answer the call to civic service.
Join EFF-Austin for a tech policy panel discussion on October 12th from 3:30pm-4:30pm at B.D.Riley’s on 6th with the Steven Kling for Texas Senate and Joseph Kopser for Congress campaigns, where we will discuss over beers how their backgrounds in the technology sector give them the knowledge and expertise to craft the laws that the 21st century will require.
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Smart Tech Policy Panel With Joseph Kopser and Steve Kling
Friday, Oct 12, 2018, 3:00 PM
BD Riley’s 206 E 6th St Austin, TX
7 Activists Attending
The rate of technological innovation accelerates at an exponential pace every year, and yet it seems the laws we pass to regulate these new technologies struggle to keep up, leaving our rights and the smooth functioning of our society at risk. From the abolition of net neutrality and demands for encryption backdoors in our secure communications to …
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 …
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
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 F…
