Presented at
The Fifth HOPE (2004),
July 10, 2004, 6 p.m.
(120 minutes)
Over 40 years ago Marshall McLuhan declared that the Third World War would be an information war in which civilians and the military wouldn't be particularly distinguished. That vision has become a reality. Governments from China to Zimbabwe have strangled access to information critical of their regimes, often with the aid of American companies. And as quickly, resistance has sprung up to challenge that repression. Areas of opportunity are beginning to emerge as hackers, human rights activists, and the academic community begin to join forces. This panel will explore the phenomenon of state-sponsored censorship and grassroots resistance from the political, legal, technological, and human rights perspectives.
Presenters:
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Dr. James Mulvenon
James Mulvenon is a political scientist at the RAND Corporation in Washington, DC and Deputy Director of RAND's Center for Asia-Pacific Policy. A specialist on the Chinese military, his current research focuses on Chinese C4ISR, defense research/development/acquisition organizations and policy, strategic weapons doctrines (computer network attack and nuclear warfare), patriotic hackers, and the military and civilian implications of the information revolution in China. James' most recent book, entitled Soldiers of Fortune, examines the Chinese military's multi-billion dollar business empire. He received his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.
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Nart Villeneuve
Nart Villeneuve is Director of Technical Research at the Citizen Lab, an interdisciplinary laboratory at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto. He is currently documenting Internet content filtering and surveillance practices worldwide with the OpenNet Initiative (ONI). Nart designed the software and methods used by the ONI to enumerate Internet filtering and is currently investigating Internet filtering in more than 15 countries worldwide. In addition, he has been documenting and evaluating existing circumvention technologies as well as developing them. His research interests include hacktivism, cyberterrorism, and Internet security. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto's Peace and Conflict Studies program.
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Oxblood Ruffin
Oxblood Ruffin is the Founder and Executive Director of Hacktivismo, an international coalition of hackers and human rights activists that develops circumvention technologies and consults with NGOs. He is also a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow t-file and security group. Oxblood is a coauthor of the Hacktivismo Enhanced Source Software License Agreement (HESSLA). The license enables both Hacktivismo and its end users to go to court if a third party (read Government) attempts to use the software in a malicious manner or to introduce harmful changes into the software in such a way that it violates the licensee's human rights. Oxblood participated in the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva and recently delivered a paper on hacktivism at the Yale Law School Conference on Cybercrime. He is based in Munich where he works as a strategist for a cryptography firm.
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Sharon Hom
Sharon Hom is Executive Director of Human Rights In China and Professor of Law Emerita at the City University of New York School of Law. She has over 14 years of experience in USA-China legal exchanges and training programs. Sharon was a Fulbright Scholar in the People's Republic of China and a Scholar-in-Residence at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center. She also participated as an independent expert in the WSIS International Symposium on the Information Society and Human Dignity. As a delegate of the International Federation of Human Rights Leagues, Sharon also presented at several parallel NGO events at the WSIS, and participated in the EU-China Human Rights Seminar in Venice, Italy. She served on the USA-China Committee on Legal Education Exchange with China, and sits on the boards of Human Rights Watch/Asia, and on the Committees on Asian Affairs and International Human Rights of the Bar Association of the City of New York.
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Eric Grimm
Eric Grimm and his law firm CyberBrief, PLC, specialize in the resolution of technology related legal disputes. Back in 2001 he represented 2600 when Ford decided to sue for redirecting fuckgeneralmotors.com to their site. His victory in that case probably saved others from the horrors of a lawsuit, at least for now.
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