A dissenting view on the CFP...
Dave has a dissenting view on the Computers, Freedom and Privacy conference coming up soon:
Down with freedom!
[...] I feel sorry for any representatives of the MPAA or RIAA and the like. They're outnumbered and certainly will have many hard fought arguments ahead of them during that week. I'm on their side -- not that I agree with their point of view, but I like rooting for the underdogs.
This conference is the ultimate collection of subjects that the left-leaning people care about that everyone else doesn't care about. Does this mean we shouldn't care about these issues? Of course not, but we don't have solutions to most of the problems. Will open source software fix the issues with electronic voting systems? Absolutely no, and most people wouldn't know the difference between an open-source powered electronic voting system versus a proprietary one.
My concern is the lack of concern about these issues. Surprisingly, there's only one session about organizing people for protest and change, but that was about sites such as MoveOn.org and the like. The conference presenters are ice skating uphill; they don't realize that most of their problem isn't solving the issue at hand but rather creating a movement behind their beliefs. [...]
I understand Dave's criticism but not the extent of his pissed-offedness. For example, there is not a single person claiming that open-source software will solve our voting problems... moreover, many of us are thinking about ways to make elections legitimate in the eyes of both the lay public and the experienced computer scientists. That's a tad specific...
However, looking at the program I find myself not caring much about Dave's criticisms. Why?
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While the program appears to be slanted to the left... I believe it isn't as slanted as dave claims ("3/4 of the participants are representing left-leaning organizations or universities (and university types tend to also sway left)"). There are quite a few feisty university types in the program that are specifically not left-leaning. It may not be 50/50, but it's close and the organizers tried damn hard to get it that way.
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Having been involved with only a small part of the organizing of this conference, I can attest that there has been much labor involved with making sure that a variety of opinions were sought out and that panels are balanced. What's more, we've gone to lengths to make sure that people are comfortable and feel free to make the argument that they want to make.
Finally, the issues addressed at CFP this year are cutting-edge and the cream of the crop is either coming or had previous engagements. The issues are privacy and freedom, which aren't necessarily in the interests of the people that Dave would like to see at the conference (although the illusion thereof is in their interests). Anyway, the conference is sponsored by Microsoft, HP, Sun, Google, etc...
I will be attending most of the conference and will amend these comments after having had the experience.
Posted by joebeone at Abril 7, 2004 04:14 PM | TrackBack