Social Enterprises as a Tool for Activism

Presented at Still Hacking Anyway (SHA2017), Aug. 6, 2017, 8:20 p.m. (60 minutes)

We have entered the era of President Trump. Activists, NGOs, and charities thus need to reexamine the stability of (and motives behind) their funding sources. Surprisingly, business is an excellent tool that one can leverage to change the system. While business is not perceived as sexy by most activist-types, this talk will explain why social enterprises are tactical, lightweight, independent, effective, and why they are now more important than ever. #Society

Presenters:

  • MRieback
    Dr. Melanie Rieback is the CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security, the world’s first non-profit computer security consultancy company. She is also a former Assistant Professor of Computer Science at VU who performed RFID security research (RFID Virus and RFID Guardian), that attracted worldwide press coverage, and won several awards (VU Mediakomeet, ISOC Award, NWO I/O award, IEEE Percom Best Paper, USENIX Lisa Best Paper). Melanie worked as a Senior Engineering Manager on XenClient at Citrix, where she led their Vancouver office. She was also the head researcher in the CSIRT at ING Bank, where she set up their Analysis Lab and spearheaded the ING Core Threat Intelligence Project. For fun, she co-founded the Dutch Girl Geek Dinner in 2008. Melanie was named 2010 ICT Professional of the Year (Finalist) by WomeninIT, one of the 400 most successful women in the Netherlands by Viva Magazine (Viva400) in 2010, and one of the fifty most inspiring women in tech (Inspiring Fifty Netherlands) in 2016. Dr. Melanie Rieback is the CEO/Co-founder of Radically Open Security, the world’s first non-profit computer security consultancy company. She is also a former Assistant Professor of Computer Science at VU who performed RFID security research (RFID Virus and RFID Guardian), that attracted worldwide press coverage, and won several awards (VU Mediakomeet, ISOC Award, NWO I/O award, IEEE Percom Best Paper, USENIX Lisa Best Paper). Melanie worked as a Senior Engineering Manager on XenClient at Citrix, where she led their Vancouver office. She was also the head researcher in the CSIRT at ING Bank, where she set up their Analysis Lab and spearheaded the ING Core Threat Intelligence Project. For fun, she co-founded the Dutch Girl Geek Dinner in 2008. Melanie was named 2010 ICT Professional of the Year (Finalist) by WomeninIT, one of the 400 most successful women in the Netherlands by Viva Magazine (Viva400) in 2010, and one of the fifty most inspiring women in tech (Inspiring Fifty Netherlands) in 2016.

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