HOPE_16 (2025): "Data Autonomy: Counter-Surveillance Strategies for Civil Society" (Download)
Marlon Kautz
Friday, August 15, 2025: 9:00 pm (Little Theatre): The surveillance apparatus in the West is going critical, and civil society is not prepared for the fallout. Political leadership is explicitly targeting NGOs and social movements using surveillance capabilities that have been perfected over the past decade. This talk will evaluate the merits and limitations of different counter-surveillance approaches from the vantage point of grassroots organizers, and go beyond the stock advice of "use Signal and a VPN" to offer proposals for defeating state surveillance through technical infrastructure development and political organizing.