Owen Blacker Profile picture
Nov 4, 2017 22 tweets 4 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
Next at #ORGcon17: @JamieJBartlett taking about online extremism. Far more difficult to censor and control, so govt increasing penalties
This is bad, because we're entering a time of increased radicalism—and we need radicals who bring new ideas to democrats. #ORGcon17
Bartlett recently wrote book "Radicals", for which he went to "Liberland", a libertarian anarchocapitalist state in territory disrupted >
< btwn Serbia and Croatia. Weirdly, neither country wants the territory! On arrival in Croatia, Bartlett was being heavily monitored >
< by Croatian authorities. Suddenly, after talking about extremists' use of crypto & darknet, he gained a new understanding of the need >
< for such technologies. "Even the existence of powerful encryption made me feel I could express myself [more openly]" #ORGcon17
It's a truism that people on the fringes are on the lookout for evading censorship and surveillance. He always found it amusing when ppl >
< didn't understand why Islamic State were so Internet-savvy_they were mainly young man 18–25; they know the Net. One of first BBSes was>
< Stormfront; EDL for a long time was effectively a Facebook group and a few in-person protesters.

Next anecdote: Bartlett taking about >
< Tommy Robinson travelling round Europe trying to set up a new respectable fascism without the drinking and fighting. Every day he gets>
< a stream of news reports of bad things happening. They're not all untrue; the problem is more that they're an unfiltered steam of the bad>
< So they can genuinely perceive that Islam is bad; police tactics mean they genuinely perceive there a conspiracy silencing them #ORGcon17
Censorship backfires against radical groups. That said, in next few years, censorship is going to become more or less impossible to do.
It is more or less impossible to remove illegal material from the darknet — drugs markets, ransomware etc is becoming cheaper there.
So we're running the risk of govts trying to censor more, at a time when it becomes less effective and when it just cements groups positions
Digital literacy is being taught so poorly—mainly in context of counter terrorism, when it's a core skill, for example. We also need to >
< build up our critical faculties, including by exposure to these radical materials.

Q: as individuals become able to achieve more >
< how do we make sure we don't all die?
A: I'm very pessimistic but I fear we're gonna need to give govts more powers & have far more >
< supervision of how those powers are used. #ORGcon17
Q: How do we balance increasing digital literacy with a govt who wants to surveil >
< everything children do online?
A: Good question *shrug* Everything we say about teaching kids to be good ppl, they're still gonna make >
< mistakes, like every other generation before then. We need to make better *people*. Humans have been trying at that forever! #ORGcon17
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More from @owenblacker

Nov 4, 2017
Next at #ORGcon17: @mikebutcher and @PaulbernalUK: What does #Brexit mean for digital rights?
Paul: most important thing to understand is that we don't understand what will happen with Brexit—pticly with tech matters. Most of our >
< UK digital rights law originates from Europe. And the great timing of GDPR, which we will be required to do … for a few months > #ORGcon17
Read 45 tweets
Nov 4, 2017
Next at #ORGcon: @mariafarrell with @nighatdad and Azmina Dhrodia talking about abuse online and what we can do about it
With @amnesty, Azmina released a qualitative and quantitative report using machine learning to look at the abuse sent to MPs.
In the 6 weeks up to the 2017 election, @HackneyAbbott received 45% of all abuse sent to MPs. Removing her data, female MPs of colour >
Read 40 tweets
Nov 4, 2017
Next at #ORGcon: @tkingdot and @CCriadoPerez: can online campaigns effect real-world change?
While social media can be a cesspool, it's also a massive advantage to disadvantaged voices. @CCriadoPerez wants to point out that >
< while she is a Jane Austen fangirl, it was a campaign to get female representation on our banknotes, not specifically Austen 😉
Read 26 tweets
Nov 4, 2017
Next at #ORGcon: @NiNanjira: is the Internet helping disadvantaged groups or cementing the power of the powerful?
Half the world's population is still offline, disproportionately women. Women 50% less likely to be online and 35–50% less likely > #ORGcon
< to be politically active online even if they are. Partly because of the cost of access & devices. For the Web to be for everyone > #ORGcon
Read 32 tweets
Nov 4, 2017
Moving from dystopian questions, #ORGcon now hears from @audreyt, civic hacker and Digital Minister of Digital Enterprise for Taiwan.
Short video presentation followed by live Skype Q&A session #ORGcon
(The video's coming from YouTube, but I can't find a link, sorry.)
Read 25 tweets
Nov 4, 2017
Next at #ORGcon: @glinner and @helenlewis. Are we building a utopian dream or a dystopian nightmare?
Graham Linehan has left @Twitter cos their terms of service are clearly meaningless if not applied to @realDonaldTrump, @Cernovich #ORGcon
The free speech of people monetising hate is limiting the free speech of disadvantaged groups. Both speakers talk abt 45's erosion > #ORGcon
Read 31 tweets

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