Flex Your Rights: The Constitution and Political Activism in the Hacker Community
Channel: theprez98
Date: 2012-10-01

"Flex Your Rights: The Constitution and Political Activism in the Hacker Community" as delivered by Michael "theprez98" Schearer at DerbyCon in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, September 29, 2012. Abstract: Let's be clear upfront: I don't care if you're a Republican or Democrat (or another party), I don't care if you're pro-life or pro-choice. This presentation isn't about politics in the traditional sense. What we should be willing to acknowledge, however, is that public policy issues and the political process increasingly overlap with issues and interests that are important to the hacker community. Issues like free speech, privacy, and copyrights manifest themselves in legislation like SOPA, PIPA, ACTA, the Cybersecurity Act, DMCA (and many others). Surely these issues are worth our time and attention. By exploring recent legislation, court cases, and newsworthy events, it's my aim to convince you that we, the hacker community, need to flex our rights right now, more than ever. Won't you join me?