The response of governments and corporations to Wikileaks, Anonymous, the occupy movement and the Arab Spring has been defensive and warlike. The internet and social media were declared tools of agitation. Behaviour that sought peaceful democratic reform was characterised as treasonous or even terrorist.
Governments asserted the right to flick the internet off switch. And law enforcement, Internet Service Providers, telcos and the judiciary were enlisted to harass activists via subpoenas, takedown notices, mercenary denial of service attacks, and direct denial of services based on unexplained breaches of hard to find user licenses. It also involved the ritual harassment of activists in the far corners of international airports, dark places reserved for unlawful arrivals and criminal suspects.
It doesn't have to be like this. Come and hear from an activist, journalist, researcher and legislator challenging the gatekeepers and proposing alternatives to the weaponisation of the cyberspace. Come and add your voice to the global conversation.
JACOB APPELBAUM is a core member of the Tor project for online anonymity. Based at the University of Washington, he has been repeatedly targeted by US law enforcement, who sought a court order for access to his Twitter account and have detained him multiple times for his work and his association with Wikileaks. He's in Australia for a short time only - come along and hear from someone who has a lot to say about sane alternatives to war on the Internet.
BERNARD KEANE - 'Crikey' journalist, author of War on the Internet (available at the Crikey shop online!)
SCOTT LUDLAM - Australian Greens Senator and spokesperson on Communications
SUELETTE DREYFUS - Author and researcher on whistleblowing
A MESSAGE FROM JULIAN ASSANGE WILL KICK OFF THE EVENT