People at the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference

At the first day of the 15th Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference, attendees witnessed (and, in some cases, participated in) an occasionally raucous debate over a wide range of technological issues. Here are some of the faces of people at the conference.

Steve Mann

Self-professed cyborg and inventor Steve Mann examines one of the "sousveillance" bags he created for the conference, which were given to each attendee. The bags feature a large dome of smoked plastic, the type used for security cameras in public places, fastened to the outside of the bag.

A small number of bags actually contained wireless video cameras, designed and built by Mann, and conference organizers projected video from these cameras onto large screens in the main ballroom, where most of the morning talks were held. Conference attendees were warned with a flyer that the bag may contain a camera, but very few actually did.

Mann himself wears a visual information device of his own creation, called an EyeTap, almost all the time.

Barry Steinhardt

The ACLU's Barry Steinhardt, taking part in a conference session about proposed new U.S. passports, demonstrates that the radio frequency chip technology the government plans to use can be read from a greater distance than the 10 centimeters the government says is the maximum range of the chip's radio transmissions.

With an attached self-adhesive RFID tag (of a type he said was similar to those that will be used in the new passports), Steinhardt held his passport about three feet above an RFID tag reader on the floor, which triggered a projection of an image containing data from his passport to display on a large screen in the conference hall. Steinhardt, director of the group's Technology and Liberty Program, argued against the new technology, claiming it puts Americans at risk abroad.

Frank Moss

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services Frank Moss shows off a demonstration model of the new U.S. passport, which contains a small chip that is designed to transmit data from the data page of the passport to the computer of an American passport control officer.

The most controversial ability of the chip--to transmit data wirelessly--was the subject of a debate that was, at times, antagonistic. Moss vigorously defended the technology, telling a crowd of attendees that the U.S. government wouldn't have given the technology a green light if it didn't think it was safe for U.S. citizens to carry the passport abroad.

However, several attendees attacked claims about the safety of the technology and, in a few cases, alerted Moss to hypothetical scenarios where data might be stolen from the new passports, which Moss admitted he hadn't thought about.

Patrick Ball

At the EFF's Pioneer Awards ceremony (appropriately held at Seattle's Science Fiction Museum), the organization lauded technologist Patrick Ball, who has written software for, and provides technical assistance to, human rights organizations in several third world countries.

Ball actually was in East Timor, an island that, until recently, was under military control by the nation of Indonesia. He has been assisting East Timor's Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (CAVR), which is documenting human rights violations by the Indonesian military during the occupation. Ball accepted his award via a somewhat scratchy Internet video linkup between Seattle and CAVR headquarters in East Timor.

Comments

umm..

You say:

At the first day of the 15th Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference, attendees witnessed (and, in some cases, participated in) AN OCCASIONAL RAUCOUS DEBATE OVER A WIDE RANGE OF TECHNILOGICAL ISSUES. Here are some of the faces of people at the conference.

The pictures are pretty mr. brant.. but what about the "raucous debate"? Blog readers like me would like to know... please..

blog critic

April 15, 2005

11:03 AM PT

However, several attendees attacked claims about the safety of the technology and, in a few cases, alerted Moss to hypothetical scenarios where data might be stolen from the new passports, which Moss admitted he hadn't thought about.

What were the cases?

Bruce McIndoe

April 18, 2005

6:17 PM PT