This Saturday, March 22 I'll be speaking at the Libre Planet conference, hosted by the Free Software Foundation. Josh Levy of Free Press and I will discuss how to fight back against the creeping techno-surveillance state. Neither of us are computer experts, but we are both steeped in policy debates at the intersection of technology and liberty. It should be a fun discussion. If you're in Cambridge and attending the conference, come check it out. The conference is happening at the Stata Center at MIT (map). Our session begins at 2:45 PM. If you can't make it in person, the session will stream live here.

Here's the full description of our talk, from the Libre Planet site:

The creeping techno-surveillance state: how can we fight back?

Kade Crockford, Josh Levy
Room 32-123 | Thread: Surveillance
The government is tracking who you call and when. Snoops are reading your emails. Internet companies like Facebook, Google, and Yahoo are working with companies you've never heard of to compile deep, secret profiles of millions of us, sell the data, and make billions. We're being surveilled from all sides. This panel will address practical responses to the creeping techno-surveillance state. How are individuals and communities responding when so many of our private details are being hoovered up, in secret and for secret purposes? What are the best practices for navigating the spy-infested waters of the Internet? We've reached a point in which opting-out is no longer an option. Instead, we must arm ourselves with new digital habits, policy solutions and grassroots pressure to protect our digital rights. The NSA, the defense establishment, and Silicon Valley are incredibly powerful. How can we possibly fight back? What are the policy solutions that will roll back the laws that enable government spying and hold companies accountable when they collude in these programs or go too far with their own corporate surveillance practices? How can individuals work with others to pressure Congress, governmental agencies, and Internet companies to do the right thing and protect our privacy?