This week, President Joe Biden hosted a White House summit meeting on cybersecurity, inviting A-list Silicon Valley corporate leaders, Wall Street bankers, and CEOs from large industries.
The meeting’s goal was to encourage the private sector to step up to increase online security and combat ransomware and other illicit activity and privacy abuses.
We at Ethics in Tech support enhancing online security and customer privacy. And we also believe in expanding the discussion to include more than large government and corporate representatives. At all of our events, including our upcoming conference on Wednesday September 15th, we will bring in representatives of nonprofits, community leaders and civil society representatives who have worked on these issues.
Tickets start at $15 and are available here.
“The reality is most of our critical infrastructure is owned and operated by the private sector, and the federal government can’t meet this challenge alone,” Biden said.
We would suggest that the world’s governments and industry leaders, even when working together, can’t meet cybersecurity challenges alone. Ordinary people who use technology, as well as those who have faced persecution or discrimination in cyberspace or in general society, should be able to express their concerns and shape policy.
As a nonprofit we don’t take positions on political candidates. This post isn’t meant to comment on Biden specifically but to advocate for the voices of the world’s ordinary people and for civil society leaders to be heard alongside the captains of government and industry.
Some of our speakers, including Vahid Razavi and AJ Rice, have a background working with tech startups and large tech firms. Others, including Tracy Rosenberg, Mike Rufo, Ray Acheson, Carley Towne, Adrienne Kinne, and Tauriq Jenkins, come from local, national and international grassroots civil society organizations advocating for international peace, privacy and civil liberties, indigenous rights, feminism, anti-racism, and the de-militarization and refocusing of police resources.
The people we have lined up to speak, and the comedians we’ve invited to perform, will discuss a variety of issues related to human rights and big technology. We hope to bring a more varied perspective to the issues currently discussed among corporate and government leaders that is informed by the perspectives of average people, marginalized groups in particular.
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