Deductible Junkets
Digital Identity
Computers, Freedom, and Privacy.
As the benchmarks of the network economy shift from automatic teller machines and barcodes to telemedicine and biometrics, debates about privacy are becoming increasingly common. Smartcards, for example, provide plenty of consumer convenience, but they also serve up a slice of your digital identity to complete strangers.
What sets the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference apart from similar confabs is the range of participants - it's where the spooks meet the phreaks. Lawmak-ers, security experts, journalists, business professionals, and hackers from around the globe go head-to-head discussing the direction of the digital revolution.
Even the staunchest privacy advocates, however, concede the growing economic impact of new technology. The philosophy behind this gathering is not to squelch the efforts of prying database marketers, but rather to increase dialog between information brokers and their subjects. Accordingly, featured speakers such as Department of Justice attorney Peter Toren, EFF-Austin president Jon Lebkowsky, former Federal Trade Commission member Christine Varney, and Vanderbilt/Owen Graduate School of Management professor Donna L. Hoffman will address the latest developments in computer hacking, condemn or condone PICS, and look beyond the CDA victory.
Among the less orthodox proceedings at this Austin, Texas, conference will be mock courts in which participants are asked to role-play. You just might find Lebkowsky championing infrared track-ing of supermarket carts to monitor purchasing patterns, or Toren extolling the virtues of stronger encryption.
Though the registration form does ask for an email address, it's fairly safe to say these privacy proponents won't sell your coordinates to the Spam King.
Registration: US$400 through January 20, $525 after. Contact: +1 (512) 475 6700, fax +1 (512) 475 6876, email utcle@mail.law.utexas.edu, on the Web at www.cfp.org/.
The cybersnoops at Computers, Freedom, and Privacy won't be the only crowd converging on Austin under cloak of darkness: bat lovers know this Texas town as the spring home of the Mexican free-tail. Though the nocturnal creatures are common throughout the hot, dry climes of the Southwest, it wasn't until reconstruction on the Congress Avenue Bridge was completed in 1980 that bats began to move in by the thousands. The newly formed crevices made perfect nests.
While these shadowy figures - like spammers - are generally reviled, disgust is largely unfounded in the case of bats. They seldom attack unprovoked and dine on insects harmful to local crops. Bat Conservation International encourages people to observe, but not handle, the animals. On warm evenings, picnickers can look on from a nearby grassy knoll as 1.5 million pairs of wings block out the remaining sunlight. Watching Austin's bats in their adapted habitat is one voyeuristic pleasure even privacy advocates can indulge without guilt.
December 8-11 Usenix Symposium on Internet Technologies and Systems; Monterey, California.
- December 10-14
Computer Support for Collaborative Learning '97; Toronto. 14. January 5-11
Unconventional Models of Computation; Auckland, New Zealand. 15. January 16-23
Slamdance International Film Festival '98; Park City, Utah. 16. January 28-31
Medicine Meets Virtual Reality: 6 - Art, Science, Technology: Healthcare (R)Evolution; San Diego.
January 11-14
Pacific Telecommunications Conference '98; Honolulu This 20th annual gathering focuses on the telecom factors fueling the Pacific region boom. FCC commissioner Rachelle Chong and Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission chair Françoise Bertrand will address infrastructure flows, Internet security, and the implications of increased competition. Registration: US$1,100 through December 31, $1,250 after. Contact: +1 (808) 941 3789, on the Web at www.ptc.org/.
January 12-14
@d:tech West '98; Los Angeles A spinoff of Chicago's annual @d:tech, this inaugural West Coast event - sponsored by IBM, The New York Times, and Wired Digital - will show how entertainment can deliver more bang for your banner buck. Disney Online head Jake Winebaum and Hummer Winblad partner Ann Winblad will discuss using Hollywood's glamour and glitz - among other traffic-driving tools - to light up your site. Registration: US$1,095 through December 19, $1,195 after. Contact: +1 (804) 643 8375, on the Web at www.ad-tech.com/.
February 4-7
Interactive Newspapers '98; Seattle As even small-town newspapers get an online presence, the art of publishing has to catch up. Data Smog author David Shenk will help editors avoid giving readers information overload, while Modem Media cofounder G. M. O'Connell will contemplate customized classifieds and interstitial ads. Registration: US$1,295 through February 4, $1,395 after. Contact: +1 (212) 675 4380 ext. 285, on the Web at www.mediainfo.com/ephome/events/eventshtm/confer.htm.
February 8-11
Milia '98; Cannes, France This international interactive media fest does for CD-ROMs what that other Cannes festival does for film. Beyond the New Talent Pavilion and the Milia d'Or Award competition, Milia '98 covers topics from the pursuit of venture capital to the future of Web TV. Registration: £3,175 (US$515) through November 30, £3,850 (US$624) after. Contact: +1 (212) 689 4220, on the Web at www.milia.com/.
February 9-11
International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Multimedia Applications 1998; Churchill, Australia Scientists, engineers, and researchers will gather to share their latest studies on information retrieval, telecommunications, and virtual reality. Conference topics will range from recent advancements in logic synthesis and genetic algorithms to discussions of their effects on manufacturing and education. Registration: A$440 (US$320). Contact: +61 (3) 9902 6665, on the Web at www-gscit.fcit.monash.edu.au/~iccima98/.
February 18-20
Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference; Austin, Texas See information at left.
January 6-9 Macworld Expo; San Francisco. Contact: on the Web at www.mha.com/macworld/mwsf98/. 17. February 1-4
Demo '98; Indian Wells, California. Contact: on the Web at www.demo.com/. 18. February 18-21
TED8; Monterey, California. Contact: on the Web at www.ted.com/.
