Government 2.0
At our meetup this past Monday, October 20th, Gregory Foster presented on the asymmetry in data flow between United States government entities and the public. Communities like MuckRock have arisen to streamline open records requests, but scaling and improving the data dialog remains difficult, and many agencies have become cautious
Privacy
Here's a video about the dangers of using ComputerCOP software, which has been distributed by hopefully unwitting law enforcement organizations: In 2011, the Travis County Sheriff's Office distributed 5,000 copies of ComputerCOP with keylogger. Sources: * EFF * MyFoxAustin Television News * KXAN Television News * KLBJ Radio
Events
Two weeks ago, Ed Cavazos led an interactive talk on the legal complexities and challenges around property, possession, and access in virtual worlds. You can watch the full video recording here thanks to our friends at Capital Factory. Ed's talk begins immediately. Discussion goes from 0:19 to
Events
Time: Monday, September 15, 7pm-9pm Location: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos Street, Suite 1601, Austin, TX. Speaker: Ed Cavazos, Managing Partner, Bracewell & Giuliani RSVP Online video game environments, and, in particular, MMOs (massively multiplayer online games), simulate real-world interaction so well that interesting questions are arising about the
Privacy
On August 7th, the Austin City Council approved a four-year study on the use of robotics by the Austin Fire Department. The draft Interlocal Agreement between the City and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES) was unanimously approved along with other items on the consent docket
Events
Last week's EFF-Austin meetup featured informative presentations and a lively discussion on cryptocurrencies. My recording of the meetup, along with links to the speakers' presentations and topics from the Q&A, is now available: EFF-Austin August Meetup Audio + Links — Soundcloud You can also listen
Events
When: Monday, August 18, 2014 7pm-9pm Where: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos Street, Suite 1601, Austin, TX RSVP: Meetup.com This month's meetup will focus on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Several speakers will introduce participants to core cryptocurrency concepts while sharing local innovations in the thriving Bitcoin economy. Several
Events
EFF-Austin had a great interactive meeting July 21, with Tom Brown presenting on "21st Century Virtual Identity" and more. Stephen Torrence agreed to record the meeting and post it at Soundcloud. He's also taken time to annotate the recording. [Link to the recording] [Link to
Events
When: Monday, July 21, 2014 7pm-9pm Where: Capital Factory, 701 Brazos Street, Suite 1601, Austin, TX RSVP: Meetup.com Speaker: Tom Brown, with an update of his June 1, 2011 talk on Internet Identity The commercialization of the web and the spread of mobile devices have increasingly changed how
Activism
"We shouldn’t waste so much breath on the idea of keeping the network completely neutral. It isn’t neutral now. What we should really be doing is looking for ways we can increase competition among ISPs — ways we can prevent the Comcasts and the AT&Ts from
Events
View it here. "What can ordinary people do? Support and promote projects that are acting at scale. WikiLeaks is my realisation of this tension, but there are a flood of others starting. The clash between diversity and global uniformity which has been created by wiring the world to itself
Privacy
EFF's Jillian C. York gave this presentation (timed for "Reset the Net") at the Personal Democracy Forum. Encryption is for everyone! from Jillian York