Nurturing the Cybercommons: 1981 - 2021
25/08/2001
CPSR's 20th Anniversary Conference and Wiener Award Dinner
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility presents
Nurturing the Cybercommons: 1981 - 2021
October 19 - 21, 2001, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
In 2001, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility celebrates its 20th anniversary by looking backwards and forwards two decades at the history and future of the global cybercommons. Panels and presentations will examine the key historical events that shaped today's Internet, and the prospects for its future evolution.
FEATURED SPEAKERS:
Howard Besser
UCLA School of Education & Information Studies
Jessica Litman
Wayne State University
Steve Mann
Toronto University
David Parnas
McMaster University
NORBERT WIENER AWARD WINNERS:
Theodore Postol
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Nira Schwartz
Citizen Who Cares About our Nation
CONFERENCE AGENDA
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2:00 - 5:00
(Friday seminars are free and open to the public)
ELECTRONIC VOTING: CAN TECHNOLOGY IMPROVE DEMOCRACY?
Where some see voting technology coming to democracy's rescue, others fear that increasingly sophisticated technology will lead to increasingly sophisticated and effective electoral abuses. Leading advocates and opponents of the application of advanced information technology to the electoral process will debate each other directly.
WHAT IS AN INFORMATION COMMONS AND WHY SHOULD WE CARE?
Howard Besser will explain why an information commons is critical to us as social beings. After tracing some of the history of our information commons, he will focus on recent attempts to fence off sections of it and will show that changes to copyright, free speech, and privacy could threaten our very social fabric.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 9:00 - 5:30
ACROSS THE GREAT DIVIDE: WHERE IS THE INTERNET GOING, AND WHO WILL GO THERE?
(a special morning double session followed by an open discussion with the panelists)
I. TOMORROW'S INTERNET: INTERNET2 AND THE ISSUES IT RAISES
Internet2 is a consortium working to develop and deploy advanced network applications and technologies, accelerating the creation of tomorrow's Internet. Speakers from Internet2 and EDUCAUSE will provide a glimpse of the Internet of the future, followed by a panel discussion of the key legislative, regulatory, and budgetary issues that such a future entails.
ELECTRONIC RECORDS AND GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY: PRESENT PRACTICE AND FUTURE PROSPECTS
How are government records managed and what implications does that management have for democratic accountability? Panelists will discuss this question and will argue that solving electronic records problems such as hardware and software obsolescence is essential for our continued governance, accountability, and cultural memory.
INFORMATION WARFARE AND THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENTS AND MILITARY ESTABLISHMENTS
Even though information warfare is the subject of headlines and the cause of significant Pentagon expenses, it's often difficult to see what it really is. Using real-world scenarios, panelists will explore some elements of information warfare and its implications for traditional nation-states and military establishments.
II. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE
As information technology races ahead, too many people are in danger of being left behind. Speakers from the Alliance for Community Technology (ACT) and elsewhere will discuss the problem and the opportunities for closing the gap, featuring highlights and conclusions from a summer ACT workshop on the Digital Divide.
SOCIAL ISSUES FOR COMPUTING PROFESSIONALS
1987 Wiener Award winner David Parnas will focus on what he sees as the need for computer professionals to inform the culture on issues such as the feasibility (or lack thereof) of software for missile defense, the need for training and licensing for those who write critical software, the benefits of a multiplicity of networks versus only one, and the question of whether computer professionals have been bought out by the military-industrial complex.
SUBJECTRIGHTS IN THE CYBORG AGE
Informed by twenty years experience with wearable computers, Steve Mann will address some of the philosophical issues of being one with the machine, focusing on the notion of Subjectrights, in which the individual can operate as if he or she were a large corporation. Mann will also discuss self- corporatization, self-bureaucratization, and self-demotion as means for dealing with bureaucratic organizations, as well as his research results in social responsibility and social desponsibility.
NORBERT WIENER AWARD DINNER - 7:00 p.m
Twenty Years Later:
Star Wars Remains Expensive Science Fiction
CPSR Awards the 2001 Norbert Wiener Award to
Nira Schwartz and Theodore Postol
for Their Courage in Exposing that Fiction.
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility was founded twenty years ago, in part to organize the vast majority of computer scientists who understood that Star Wars was simply not within the realm of technical possibility. Twenty years later, with millions of lines of code written, the concept remains fantasy.
CPSR Awards its Annual Norbert Wiener Award to Dr. Nira Schwartz and Dr. Theodore Postol for exposing the failure of Star Wars technology. For disagreeing with those who would accept funding on any pretense, both of these computer professionals have suffered career damage, from refused funding to unceremonious dismissal.
Dr. Nira Schwartz, who worked on the Star Wars project in 1995 and 1996, charged her employer, TRW, with misleading the Pentagon and the public by falsifying test results as to the ability of the system to distinguish real warheads from decoys. She was summarily fired, allegedly as a result of her refusal to cooperate with the publication of false test reports.
Dr. Theodore Postol, science adviser to the Chief of Naval Operations and professor of science, technology, and national security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, discredited the myth that Patriot missiles shot down Scuds during Desert Storm. His independent scientific analysis of the TRW test data concurs with Dr. Schwartz's claims of falsified results.
Tickets for the dinner may be purchased without registering for the conference.
NEOCAPITALISM AND THE HIVE MIND
Jessica Litman will talk about the conflict between the common, collaborative information space developing on the net (the "Hive Mind") and a copyright law that commodifies anything it can nail down and then forbids everyone from using it without explicit permission.
CPSR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
(free and open to the public)
Including CPSR Activity Updates:
ICANN: promoting legitimate Internet governance.
UCITA: fighting the legalization of bad software.
Register online at:
https://swww.igc.apc.org/cpsr/annMtg2001.html
For further conference details and online registration, visit
http://www.cpsr.org/conferences/annmtg01/program.html
Susan Evoy - Managing Director
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
P.O. Box 717 - Palo Alto - CA - 94302
Phone: (650) 322-3778
