THEME: Agency
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DEF CON 33's theme was Access, how to make sure information and services are available to everyone, uncensored and accessible. Building on Access, DEF CON 34's theme is Agency.
Agency is self-determination. It's about making choices that increase yours, AND helping others to control theirs.
So much is stacked against us having, using and maintaining our digital self-determination:
- Dark patterns embedded in apps circumvent our will, hijacking our focus.
- Tech giants conspire to shrink our pool of options for information and communication while their algorithms maximize rage engagement and spread deliberate disinformation and bot content.
- Without reliable and trustworthy information we cannot make free and informed choices.
- If we can't communicate with each other without fear that our communications will be collected and turned against us, we can't connect with each other honestly.
- Without that connection, we are atomized and weakened.
In the policy sphere, governments are weak in the face of regulatory capture and economic coercion. Social apps that lure us into reality bubbles and feed our worst instincts are making a mockery of political discourse. The increasing demand for PII to monetize makes everything sloppier, greedier and less secure.
These problems are big, and unlikely to improve on their own. But even with problems this big we can still make choices to our advantage.
- Our attention has real power and has created some of the world's great fortunes. Why should someone else wield it?
- We can reclaim our digital agency by avoiding legacy companies built on surveillance capitalism. It won't be easy, but we have resources.
We can start with these two steps:
1. Starve the beast:
The social media dark patterns are like a Victorian era vampire. We have to invite them in. We can deny them entry by choosing alternatives whose business model doesn't require our bewitchment and consumption.
One of the beguiling aspects of when making the transition to social media without algorithms is that you are the new algorithm. The more you like or boost a post the more likely others are to see it. Social media becomes social again. You relearn the lost art of choosing your own environment.
We're a few years into running our Mastodon server defcon.social, and we believe in the Fediverse. No black box full of eldritch algorithms, just open source, decentralized and not driven by ad revenue.
Mastodon - The most human-scale, configurable replacement for the various enshittified global chat platforms.
Peertube - Like the other tube, but not ad-choked and randomly censorious. Also federated and decentralized.
Pixelfed - Remember when posting pictures was about sharing beautiful and fascinating things with friends?
2: Feed Your Community:
In addition to disintermediating the algos, we need to focus on human interactions.
We have to support the future we want. A big part of the solution is rolling our own tools, and supporting the people building them. Community-based solutions need contributions of all kinds so everyone can get in where they fit in. Pick the spot that suits your abilities and plug in. As hackers we can help build and test the tools that others will use.
Resources
Open source projects need resources. If you can afford to, find a project you admire and give them a donation. This year we're donating to Tor and HardenedBSD.
Click the donate link already. You see it there, every time you visit that site you rely on. Waiting, patiently. Just click.
- There are some organizations that streamline the process of donating to good projects. One cool option is 'Back Your Stack' (backyourstack.com). BYS can scan your github profile or your dependecy files and tell you which of your dependencies are currently seeking funding.
- If you have hiring authority, keep an eye out for open source developers. Good day jobs fuel OSS, too.
Time and Energy
Community-based creators often need material assistance. Maybe you code, and can contribute to an open project. Maybe you have some rack space and can run a Federated Server or a Tor node.
Evangelize. Encourage the organizations around you to consider open alternatives. Make the case.
Policy
It's easy to overlook the policy sphere, but that's where the rules of engagement are set. The hacker mindset seeks to understand the possible uses of technology, regardless of what is on its label. It's time that we learned to think of policy as a crucial technology. It's time to get under the hood and see if we can't hack some performance improvements into this thing.
If our community wants a future where being an explorer doesn't mean being an outlaw, we're going to have to help build it.
We have to be involved in the policy struggle on every level. The rule makers need to hear from us, not just as voters and donors, but as contributors to the conversation. Local systems vary, but we need hackers with vision to get on committees, to make public comment, to craft plebiscites and even run for office. Share your passion and expertise with the people setting our parameters. Share your plans and your successes with us and we'll amplify.
For our part, DEF CON has been working hard to create an interface between interested hackers and policy pros. The work started as the Voting Village and has grown into Project Franklin (defconfranklin.com), and Policy@defcon (https://defcon.org/policy/). DEF CON is also a big supporter of the EFF, and it will take all of us to be heard.
That's where we start, with one step at a time in the direction of less dependence and more transparency. Agency is self-determination. Agency is seeing where we can help and choosing to act.
Network effects are real, and when we choose platforms that support our agency we take back some power.
Let's put our heads together on defcon.social and at DEF CON 34 and be the network we want to see in the world.