D-kriptik Blog

There are two panel discussions upcoming in New York City (Manhattan) that involve technology and its uses/impacts in one form or another, and these talks have the potential for provocative subject matter. I plan on attending both.

1. This discussion occurs on Thursday.

   The World Policy Institute at The New School
   presents

   THE SECRET WORLD OF GLOBAL EAVESDROPPING

   a panel discussion with

   ROBERT WINDREM, Producer, NBC News

   and

   JOHN YOUNG, Editor, Cryptome.org

   Moderated by

   PATRICK RADDEN KEEFE, Project Leader, The World Policy Institute

   The human spy is a thing of the past: today, the United States devotes far more resources to high-tech electronic intelligence gathering than to more traditional forms of espionage. A hundred military and intelligence satellites circle the earth and secret American “listening stations” are scattered around the planet, intercepting billions of phone conversations and emails every day. How effective is this kind of spying by remote control? Can intelligence agencies successfully sort through the volumes of communications they intercept to locate and identify the proverbial ticking bomb? How does eavesdropping compare to on the ground intelligence operations? And from the point of view of individual privacy and civil liberties, should American citizens trust the government to operate such a colossal surveillance apparatus without effective congressional oversight or public scrutiny? Join two experts on “communications intelligence” for an eye-opening discussion of these important issues.

   Thursday, November 17, 2005, 6:00-7:30 p.m. Swayduck Auditorium, first
   floor, 65 Fifth Avenue (between East 13-14th sts.). Admission is $5.00. Visit www.dialnsa.edu for a live webcast and online discussion.

   (The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson just popped into my head. To the friend that turned me on to this series, I hope you are doing better.)

2. This debate occurs next Monday.

   Porn in the Age of Instant Access: What are the social effects of fast, cheap & stigma-free viewing?

   Featuring Nick Gillespie, Editor, Reason Magazine; Rachel Kramer Bussel, Columnist, Village Voice & Penthouse; Pamela Paul, author, Pornified & The Starter Marriage; and Ben Shapiro, author, Porn Generation

   Moderator: Brooke Gladstone, NPR’s On The Media

   The Internet and digital cable have allowed the purchasing and viewing of pornography to become easier than ever. While porn consumers can now easily keep their interests private, the porn producers has become more public and corporate. The U.S. porn industry now generates $12 billion annually: more than the combined revenues of the major television networks. What are the culture effects of this mainstreaming? Can and should there be a political response to these trends?

   Monday, November 21st 2005
   6:30 P.M. Prompt
   (Free and open to the public – Reception to follow)

   The Graduate Center
   The City University of New York
   365 Fifth Avenue, New York
   (Corner of 34th Street & 5th Avenue)

   (This post just came to mind.)

See you there.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 16th, 2005 at 1:25 am and is filed under Conferences. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.