“Make a trap!” This is the motto of the conference that the Netzpolitik association has invited us to in Berlin on the occasion of its 20th anniversary. However, when you look at the agenda, you don’t really feel like you’re in the mood to celebrate: it’s all about digital colonialism, empty AI promises of liberation, the rise of the AfD and, again and again, surveillance by state bodies – from the secret services, the Bundeswehr or even immigration authorities.
Advertisement
there will be tribulation Build a network! Still not angry, the mood is more combative than resigned, which is reflected in the conference program. There are several points that – in line with the conference motto – clearly serve the network to build a more defensible civil society.
Additionally, many presentations promise to constructively address problems and suggest remedies. In addition to political demands, this often also comes in the form of practical suggestions for conference participants, for example when Jannik Besendorf and Leonie Ammar from Reporters Without Borders explain how states can defend themselves against Trojans.
From hackers and data traders with and without ethics
Sebastian Meinecke and Ingo Dachwitz from Netzpolitik.org opened the conference together with Katharina Brunner from Bayerischer Rundfunk on the main stage. They talked about their joint research into the Databroker files: The collaboration project had requested and received 3.6 billion location data from smartphones from an American data broker – brokered via a German startup that acts as a “data broker”.
Researcher: Bundeswehr interception force is operating on constitutionally thin iceThe trio explained how they evaluated massive amounts of data and, for example, were able to understand the movement profiles of politicians or military personnel. “ADINT” (from “Advertising Intelligence”) is the name for this form of information gathering, which is popular not only in the secret services.
Meinecke, Dachwitz and Brunner also concluded their presentation with a demand to ban such things and, above all, to enforce existing bans. They also offered practical suggestions on how users can defend themselves against tracking and challenge supervisory authorities.
In a panel discussion with Steven Levy, netzpolitik.org co-editor-in-chief Daniel Liesegang asked what has become of the principles of hacker ethics. Levy first formulated the ethics exactly 40 years ago in his book “Hackers – Heroes of the Information Revolution”. If you want to listen to English conversations with simultaneous translation into German, you have to bring your smartphone and your headphones. With which one of the various measures can be used. Build a network! We would like to reduce common convention waste such as cheap electronics, plastic junk, and lanyards.
The afternoon will continue with, among other things, an analysis of the EU’s digital policy, the “emergency digitalization” of the Berlin University of the Arts with open source software and a panel discussion on the AfD’s current election successes. For the latter, Arne Semsrott from Fragdenstatt is on the panel, which promises at least some entertaining optimism. Many of the lectures are on YouTube Live streamed And should also be available as a recording after the conference.
In the evening there will be a “big party” because – or perhaps because – of all the serious topics: Twenty years of Netzpolitik.org is a good reason to celebrate. Congratulations!
(sit)
Trial for ban on TikTok begins in US
