CrySP Speaker Series on Privacy

This speaker series is made possible by an anonymous charitable donation in memory of cypherpunks and privacy advocates Len Sassaman, Hugh Daniel, Hal Finney, and Caspar Bowden.

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Catalyzing Social Change as a Privacy and Security Technologist

Michael Brennan, SecondMuse

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April 3, 2013 3:30pm, in DC 1302

Abstract

This talk will cover personal experiences in applying knowledge and research in privacy and security towards work on issues of social change around the world through government, international development, and hacker communities. In government, Michael worked as a technologist for the Federal Trade Commission, advising on national consumer privacy policies. In international development and activism, Michael advises Radio Free Asia's Open Technology Fund, and traveled to India and Burma to understand the risks faced by individuals on on the ground. In working with hacker communities, Michael has brought together hacking communities with nonprofits, governments and cities to address problems such as domestic violence in developing countries.

Bio

Michael Brennan <http://www.mbrennan.net> leads projects related to technology and social impact at SecondMuse <http://secondmuse.com>. These include Random Hacks of Kindness <http://rhok.org/>, the National Day of Civic Hacking <http://hackforchange.org> and NASA's International Space Apps Challenge <http://spaceappschallenge.org>. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Drexel University where he co-founded their Privacy, Security and Automation Lab <http://psal.cs.drexel.edu> and was the recipient of the Jay Modi Memorial Award. His academic research focused on privacy and security on the web, especially regarding the adversarial possibilities of authorship recognition. Michael is passionate about catalyzing positive social change through open technology communities, socially conscious software development, and free and open access to the Internet.