Posted by bobcat at 6:11 am
The Keynote speakers are known! We introduce Geert Lovink and Karin Spaink.
Geert Lovink is a Dutch-Australian media theorist, internet critic and author of Zero Comments (2007) and Networks Without a Cause (2012).
Karin Spaink has been writing about technology, internet, health, digital rights and politics since the early nineties. She’s written eleven books and hundreds of columns.
Read more about them:
Geert Lovink
A World Beyond Facebook: Alternatives in Social Media
Internet culture and IT in general has a constant tendency to create monopolies. In the past these were IBM, Microsoft and recently Google, and now we’re in the midst of a social media crazy with Facebook and Twitter as its main players. Many geeks, artists and activists do not agree with this unprecedented concentration of power. Why don’t we focus more on the distributed nature of networks? In this lecture we will move from the critique of social media (such as privacy) to alternative platforms that are current under development.
Geert Lovink is a Dutch-Australian media theorist, internet critic and author of Zero Comments (2007) and Networks Without a Cause (2012). Since 2004 he is research professor (‘lector’) in the School for Communication and Media Design (CMDA) at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) where he is the founding director of the Institute of Network Cultures. He also teaches in the new media masters program at Mediastudies, University of Amsterdam and is media theory professor at the European Graduate School.
Karin Spaink
Privacy is the cornerstone of personal safety
We’ve been led to believe that giving up bits and pieces of our privacy and having our everyday lives minutely scrutinized, will enhance our security. But somehow it hasn’t. More and more people are being flagged simply because they demonstrate ‘odd behaviour’ and suddenly find themselves redefined as a security risk. Governments are wasting billions on tracking innocent citizens.
And nobody is paying much attention to the security of these amassed data. Data leaks run rampant. The same government agencies that are bent on identity checks, don’t seem to understand the concept of identity fraud, nor that their efforts make identity fraud more enticing. We need to push the notion of ‘data hygiene’: creating secure storage and safe protocols for the handling of personal data. Otherwise, these data collections will merely become a new target for criminals and a new vulnerability for citizens.
Meanwhile, governments and companies are inventing and enforcing all kinds of ICT-practices, -stratagems and -devices that are far from safe: from electronic public transportation vouchers and voting machines to hackable pacemakers and insulin pumps. Data privacy is essential. The lack of it can kill you – literally.
Karin Spaink has been writing about technology, internet, health, digital rights and politics since the early nineties. She’s written eleven books and hundreds of columns. Scientology sued her for ten years over alleged copyright infringement on the net, and she won. Her hack of two major Dutch hospitals in 2005 – proving the vulnerability of electronic patient records – caused a major debate in Parliament. She’s working on a book on the history of the public internet in The Netherlands. She was the chair of Bits of Freedom (the Dutch digital rights organization) from 1999 to 2006, and she’s the chair of the Dutch Big Brother Awards.
