Lisha, our speaker from last night needs some funding
help. Please help
if you can. Thanks!
-----SNIP-----
Please help Lisha Sterling and Joel Preston Smith get to the The Circle
of HOPE conference !
Lisha will be giving a talk entitled "Tech Warrior Camp at Standing
Rock: Lessons for Keeping The Lights On and the Livefeeds Streaming".
Lisha and Joel will be presenting a workshop together called "Assholes
and Infiltrators: A game for every activist" to help people learn how to
deal with difficult or problematic members of a community to prevent
damage to the core work of your group.
Unfortunately, HOPE does not pay for speakers' travel, so we need YOUR
help to get there. We need airfare for each of us (coming from different
states), plus a place to sleep, food, and transportation in New York.
Joel Preston Smith is the Director of Field Operations and
Communications at Frontline Wellness United. Lisha Sterling is the
Executive Director at Geeks Without Bounds and also a board member at
Frontline Wellness United. Both do this work FULL TIME and neither
currently receives a salary for the work they do.
-----SNIP-----
WHAT: TA3M Seattle (Tech Activism, 3rd Mondays)
June meeting
WHEN: June 18th, 6:30-9:00pm (3rd Mondays)
WHERE: WeWork South Lake Union, 500 Yale Ave N
Networking and food 6:30-7:00. Presentation starts at 7:00. Community
discussion after presentation.
Food is pizza, pizza and 2 kinds of vegetarian salad, about 1/3 of the
pizzas are also vegetarian. Lesson learned from last month.
=====
PRESENTATION:
Community, Communications, Assholes and Infiltrators
By Lisha Sterling
Over the past three years, Geeks Without Bounds (GWOB) has been working
on a number of community Internet projects -- from "Canoe Net" in the
Ecuadoran jungle to WiFi at Standing Rock. Along the way, we've learned
that communications technology is both a boon for low resource
communities and a potential weakness that allows powerful enemies of the
community to track and destroy the very things the community stands for.
Mobile networks are vulnerable to cell site simulators (aka IMSI
Catchers, aka Stingrays). An Internet connection opens you up to all
manner of possible attack. Social media gives the government and
corporations information that can be used against you. And yet, without
these communications tools low resource communities have little if any
chance to compete, engage in global discussions, or improve their local
situation. Learn about how we are working to help communities from India
to "Indian Country" connect to the Internet and each other, and how we
are helping them stay safe(r) once they connect.
Lisha Sterling is the executive director of Geeks Without Bounds, a
nonprofit organization that supports open source technology in low
resource situations. She writes about cybersecurity for activists at
nonviolent-conflict.org. She is the board member in charge of
information security for Frontline Wellness United (a nonprofit
organization providing free medical, dental and mental health services
to activists and whistleblowers) and also serves on the board of Gods
and Radicals (a nonprofit cooperative Pagan Anti-Capitalist publisher),
where she has recently been writing about lessons learned while
coordinating the technology team at the Water Protector camps in
Standing Rock, ND in 2016-2017.
=====
COMMUNITY DISCUSSION:
We'll have dedicated time for community Q&A with the speaker and meet &
greet after the talk. We've had a lot of this at past meetings - let's
keep it going!
=====
LOCATION:
This month, for the first time, we'll be hosted at the South Lake Union
branch of WeWork. Thanks to
Meetup.com and Michelle for arranging it!
WeWork - South Lake Union
500 Yale Avenue North
Seattle WA 98109
https://www.wework.com/buildings/south-lake-union--seattle--WA
Note: Try to get there on time. Building doors lock after hours. A TA3M
organizer will be waiting for stragglers until about 7:10, After that,
look for a yellow-sticky on door for a number to call to get someone to
get you in.