Open Source Sensing Future Salon October 17, 2008

Open Source Sensing:
Using open source & nanotechnology to reduce surveillance & head off Iraq-style wars with Christine Peterson from the Foresight Institute on Friday the 17th of October 6pm.

Please RSVP: http://snurl.com/3xl6x

Abstract: We have a choice: accept the top-down Surveillance State pathway the U.S. is now following, or develop a "bottom-up", decentralized, open source approach to sensing and defense. This proposal sketches some steps toward the latter: citizen-controlled, privacy-oriented, verifiably-limited open source security devices and procedures focused on obtaining and sharing the minimal data required for communities to satisfy the reasonable concerns of their neighbors — international and domestic — regarding the possible presence of specific weapons able to affect those neighbors directly.

The goal is to use decentralized, open source approaches to address
legitimate security concerns without impacting personal privacy in
other areas. In the long term, open source defensive technologies
will likely be the only ones capable of keeping up with rapidly-advancing offensive technologies — just as open source software is faster at addressing computer viruses today.

More information at:
http://www.opensourcesensing.org
http://www.convergence08.org
http://www.foresight.org

Bio: Christine Peterson writes, lectures, and briefs the media on coming powerful technologies, especially nanotechnology. She is President of Foresight Nanotech Institute, the leading nanotech public interest group. Foresight educates the public, technical community, and policymakers on nanotechnology and its long-term effects.

Her work is motivated by a desire to help Earth's environment and traditional human communities avoid harm and instead benefit from expected dramatic advances in technology. This goal of spreading benefits led to an interest in new varieties of intellectual property including open source software, a term she is credited with originating.

Future Salons have the following structure:
6-7pm is networking with light refreshments proudly sponsored by SAP; 7-9+pm is the presentation followed by questions and discussion.

SAP Labs North America, Building D, Room Southern Cross or Cafeteria depending on number of RSVPs. SAP is located at 3410 Hillview Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94304. Free and open to the public. Please spread the word and invite others, but be sure to RSVP so we know how many people to expect.

Official Website: http://futuresalon.org