[00:01.400 --> 00:15.980]  This is a bit of a strange time for a presentation because it's dinner time and I haven't eaten yet, feeling pretty hungry, but maybe that's fitting because right now, millions of people around the world are being starved.
[00:16.520 --> 00:22.060]  Children are being starved by deliberate decisions, by engineered sufferings.
[00:23.180 --> 00:27.420]  So we're here today to do what hackers do.
[00:27.660 --> 00:31.120]  We say we can challenge this system by hacking it.
[00:36.380 --> 00:45.220]  All right, before we dive in, I'd like for you to get to know me a little bit better because I'd like to be allies with y'all by the end of this presentation.
[00:45.620 --> 00:46.740]  My name is Danicia.
[00:47.620 --> 00:48.620]  I'm from Vietnam.
[00:49.020 --> 00:57.900]  And in my blood and my bones, I carry the history of the people who fought of powerful invaders with farmers' tools, about justice and freedom.
[00:59.400 --> 01:04.440]  So for that reason, I believe that all oppressive systems are beatable.
[01:04.820 --> 01:10.980]  I came here for my philosophy degree with a focus on ethics and social justice.
[01:10.980 --> 01:20.660]  Then I got a master's in cybersecurity, which has allowed me to become a hacktivist and a social movement cyber defender.
[01:21.060 --> 01:35.740]  I work with a lot of nonprofit organizations, big ones that you've probably heard of, as well as grassroots movements to deploy organizational cybersecurity, as well as strategies for civil resistance.
[01:37.200 --> 01:45.540]  I teach cyber security online, as well as privacy and tech ethics on the CyberLixer social media page.
[01:45.920 --> 01:50.860]  I also have a website that stores all the educational resources that I share to the public.
[01:52.040 --> 01:55.780]  My personal motto is do good, do good, and do goof.
[01:56.280 --> 01:59.280]  All right, do good things for the world, but don't forget to have fun as well.
[02:00.420 --> 02:01.500]  That's who I am.
[02:01.660 --> 02:05.880]  Now let's talk about hacking as a path to social justice.
[02:11.040 --> 02:13.700]  So why am I giving this presentation here?
[02:15.040 --> 02:19.920]  Technology has never been more powerful, yet unpredictable and confusing.
[02:19.920 --> 02:23.940]  And it's being taken advantage of by a powerful few.
[02:24.560 --> 02:33.560]  Who's using it to exploit others, concentrate wealth, silence dissent, divide communities, and maintain controls.
[02:34.640 --> 02:36.160]  Communities need defenders.
[02:36.800 --> 02:42.620]  Not just from people who understand technologies, but people who understand and embody the hacker's ethos.
[02:43.780 --> 02:48.220]  So we have defiance, which is the refusal to accept the world as it is.
[02:48.640 --> 02:50.760]  Defiance is what fuels courage.
[02:52.460 --> 02:56.980]  The courage to question the status quo and stand up against unjust systems.
[02:58.140 --> 03:02.940]  Persistence, the fight for justice, is very long with a lot of obstacles and setbacks.
[03:03.400 --> 03:05.080]  Hackers love to keep going at it.
[03:05.640 --> 03:08.080]  Trying different solutions at different angles.
[03:08.840 --> 03:11.240]  And make sure that until something breaks, right?
[03:11.780 --> 03:13.900]  Hopefully the problem, not us.
[03:15.700 --> 03:16.300]  Creativity.
[03:16.620 --> 03:18.980]  Challenging oppression needs to come in many forms.
[03:19.240 --> 03:24.480]  Hackers bring in new possibilities by bringing in new data, new tools.
[03:25.500 --> 03:28.980]  And it needs a little bit of mischief in there as well.
[03:29.140 --> 03:33.320]  Because oppressive systems hate being laughed at or not taken seriously, right?
[03:33.580 --> 03:35.420]  And hackers do exactly those things.
[03:35.420 --> 03:39.840]  We bring fun, lightness, and joy to disruptions.
[03:40.460 --> 03:46.300]  This is not the break and brag culture that treats intrusion like an ego game.
[03:46.800 --> 03:54.440]  We employ hackers ethos purposefully to expose harms and protect communities.
[03:58.380 --> 04:06.280]  So many hackers who feel pulled into this work struggle to explain the end goal because social justice is a pretty abstract term.
[04:06.280 --> 04:10.840]  They end up saying things like, We want to make the world a better place.
[04:11.080 --> 04:13.380]  Or, we want to protect other people.
[04:13.920 --> 04:16.540]  Good intentions, but no direction there.
[04:17.080 --> 04:20.660]  We need a clear vision to guide your actions.
[04:21.160 --> 04:22.880]  So let's ground it a little bit.
[04:23.900 --> 04:28.080]  Social justice in concrete terms can mean equal rights.
[04:28.380 --> 04:33.520]  You fight for people's rights to have the same protections and freedoms, regardless of their identity.
[04:34.880 --> 04:37.960]  Equitable distribution of opportunities and resources.
[04:38.320 --> 04:44.200]  You make sure that resources are fairly distributed and go where they are most needed.
[04:44.480 --> 04:47.680]  You know, like those who are struggling to have them.
[04:48.820 --> 04:51.460]  Increasing people's capacity to live fully and freely.
[04:51.460 --> 04:55.020]  You remove barriers that prevent people from thriving.
[04:56.480 --> 04:59.120]  Reducing harms caused by systems of power.
[04:59.380 --> 05:04.700]  You want to dismantle structures that exploit and oppress others.
[05:05.880 --> 05:09.700]  So these are some starting points, but we all have more personal callings.
[05:09.700 --> 05:13.680]  The more specific context that you can give, like who you want to protect.
[05:14.460 --> 05:17.380]  What are you trying to help them, protect them from?
[05:17.680 --> 05:20.020]  And how are you going to do it?
[05:20.540 --> 05:23.140]  The easier it is for you to focus your energy.
[05:24.220 --> 05:25.540]  So set your mission.
[05:26.100 --> 05:31.480]  It will help you attract allies who share the same values as well as skills.
[05:36.060 --> 05:38.660]  So how is social justice achieved?
[05:40.900 --> 05:44.160]  How did black Americans dismantle Jim Crow?
[05:45.060 --> 05:51.380]  This is Dr. Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech that had 250,000 people showed up.
[05:53.420 --> 05:58.900]  How have workers won better wages and working conditions?
[05:58.900 --> 06:01.340]  This is Occupy Harvard.
[06:01.720 --> 06:05.140]  Harvard students set up camps to fight for Harvard workers.
[06:07.640 --> 06:09.900]  And how do people take down authoritarians?
[06:11.620 --> 06:14.560]  So this guy on the left is Milosevic.
[06:14.760 --> 06:20.240]  He was an authoritarian of Yugoslavia known for his brutality against his opponents.
[06:21.060 --> 06:24.880]  He was eventually detained for war crimes by the United States.
[06:24.880 --> 06:25.980]  I mean, not the United States.
[06:26.120 --> 06:28.700]  The United Nations International Criminal Court.
[06:29.920 --> 06:36.900]  Apoor, the guys on the right, or the people on the right, was the revolutionary group who played a huge role in it.
[06:39.460 --> 06:46.120]  So should you use your skills for non-violent disruptions or more violent uprisings?
[06:46.120 --> 06:55.100]  Should you invest your time in more structured human rights organizations or get involved with more decentralized grassroots movements?
[06:56.180 --> 07:01.260]  Now we're asking these questions because social justice doesn't happen by accident.
[07:01.820 --> 07:06.480]  It's a carefully planned and engineered outcome.
[07:07.120 --> 07:12.280]  There are common elements for how societies have achieved greater advancements for social justice.
[07:14.720 --> 07:21.580]  So every oppressive system, every unjust status quo is dependent on the pillars of support.
[07:22.220 --> 07:26.040]  These are the institutions and groups that keep the power structure in place.
[07:26.240 --> 07:32.400]  It survives only because of the obedience and the cooperation of these sectors.
[07:32.400 --> 07:54.580]  So you can see we have the legal pillar, which includes laws, courts, policies, the police, the military, financials, corporations, banks, international trades, funders, consumers, social, the media, school, religious groups, the society themselves, political, voters, party systems, international allies.
[07:59.340 --> 08:00.620]  And here's the key.
[08:01.640 --> 08:05.520]  When enough of these pillars are weakened, the status quo collapses.
[08:07.180 --> 08:15.670]  So social justice movements are often won by eroding the support that these pillars provide, mostly through means of persuasion.
[08:17.290 --> 08:29.670]  So in many authoritarian takedowns, like the odd poor revolution that I mentioned earlier, activists would try to convince the security forces to not repress protests.
[08:30.690 --> 08:32.630]  They would try to win the empathy of them.
[08:32.910 --> 08:36.510]  So eventually, they would not follow orders.
[08:37.610 --> 08:39.150]  Tesla takedowns.
[08:39.270 --> 08:45.510]  They target the financial pillars by calling for boycotts and divestments.
[08:45.750 --> 08:46.990]  And it works, right?
[08:47.210 --> 08:50.130]  Eventually, now Elon is not in the government anymore.
[08:53.560 --> 09:04.680]  So as hackers, yeah, hackers can target the trust, the functionality and legitimacy of institutions that support repressive systems.
[09:04.680 --> 09:18.080]  So you can see and you can like tell the media pillar that you can undermine new sources by exposing why they are wrong or why they're ineffective in portraying the whole truth.
[09:18.320 --> 09:18.820]  Right?
[09:18.940 --> 09:25.220]  This is usually done by investigative journalism, like what 404 Media or Wired has been doing.
[09:25.680 --> 09:31.400]  Many hackers collaborate with journalists also to provide new data or insights on new technology.
[09:32.860 --> 09:41.640]  With the financial pillar, you can amplify boycotts or make other tools that help people transition out of certain products and services.
[09:41.980 --> 09:45.080]  So we have Clawbacker Data or SID.
[09:45.260 --> 09:47.840]  We have the founders sitting right there.
[09:48.160 --> 09:49.580]  Thank you for creating this.
[09:50.140 --> 09:54.940]  So SID helps people take their data out of X and transition into Blue Sky.
[09:57.040 --> 10:03.620]  You can also work with other social justice companies to build better apps so people can have other alternatives, right?
[10:03.820 --> 10:08.820]  So now we have Signal for messaging, Proton for Drive, and Tor for browser.
[10:10.000 --> 10:12.760]  I look forward to seeing more alternatives like this.
[10:14.720 --> 10:24.000]  EFF, they target the legal pillar by discrediting surveillance tools and policies as well as educating the public about how harmful and pervasive they are.
[10:24.000 --> 10:29.320]  So depending on your interests, you can focus on weakening a specific pillar.
[10:30.180 --> 10:33.260]  However, it is not enough to do this alone.
[10:36.390 --> 10:46.050]  So hackers love to operate in small specialized groups because we like interacting with people who are like us, who speak our language, and that's totally normal.
[10:47.790 --> 10:49.250]  It's our comfort zone, right?
[10:49.470 --> 10:59.510]  But history has shown that lasting social justice change can only happen when there's a mass of people who get involved.
[11:02.770 --> 11:03.990]  Now, why is that?
[11:04.490 --> 11:08.250]  Well, the smaller you are, the easier it is to ignore you.
[11:08.910 --> 11:16.030]  The more people we have visibly participating, the harder it is for the system to pretend that the issue doesn't exist.
[11:17.470 --> 11:31.670]  Political scientist Erica Chenoweth studied over a century of uprisings, found that if a movement can mobilize 3.5% of the population to participate, it's highly likely to succeed at achieving change.
[11:31.670 --> 11:38.810]  Now, I'm not talking about people just like looking at like a potential change and say, hey, I like that, but not participating.
[11:39.130 --> 11:49.630]  I'm talking about active participants who are like out there, attending rallies, trying to persuade other people, building tools for the movement, voting for the movement.
[11:50.790 --> 11:53.470]  So this is called the 3.5% rule.
[11:53.970 --> 11:58.750]  It's a magic number, but it's not a set law that we have to meet.
[11:59.930 --> 12:05.890]  But as you can see from the graph, you know, the higher the number of participation, the higher the success rate.
[12:10.630 --> 12:12.190]  So why does this work?
[12:12.930 --> 12:25.290]  When the 3.5% massive participation is reached, it's usually recognized as a legitimate issue by society, which then helps attract media attention.
[12:25.290 --> 12:34.430]  People start talking about it, people start asking politicians questions about it, and you can even get like international solidarity.
[12:35.750 --> 12:45.090]  The more people speak about that topic, the more people act on that topic, the more people also believe that change is possible, right?
[12:45.590 --> 12:48.750]  And start joining them to push for change, too.
[12:50.270 --> 12:54.590]  They're also big enough to disrupt normal societal functions.
[12:55.430 --> 12:56.750]  So think of a general strike.
[12:57.170 --> 13:00.430]  A general strike stops businesses from functioning.
[13:00.810 --> 13:03.070]  Businesses are important for an economy.
[13:03.350 --> 13:09.870]  So when we have a general strike or boycott, that can pressure authorities to consider change.
[13:11.250 --> 13:17.870]  Movements that reach this level of participation also is often also more sustainable over time.
[13:17.870 --> 13:23.030]  A large base of active participation can help maintain momentum.
[13:25.090 --> 13:31.690]  So this means that if you want to hack for social justice, it's not effective to act or operate like lone wolves.
[13:34.660 --> 13:38.100]  When we do, our impacts can be limited and short-lived.
[13:38.700 --> 13:49.620]  You might break into a server and expose wrongdoings, but without a network to amplify it, without a network to act on it and frame it, the story fades in a few days.
[13:50.960 --> 13:54.060]  You can do website defacements or DDoS attacks.
[13:54.580 --> 13:57.820]  Many sites have backups now, so they will recover pretty fast.
[13:57.820 --> 14:01.800]  And movement people don't really know what to do about them usually.
[14:03.180 --> 14:13.260]  And if you build a brilliant tool, but you can't teach communities how to use it, make it accessible, or spread the word around, you can't really help many.
[14:13.880 --> 14:23.220]  So an example of this is Mesh Static, a decentralized mesh networking tool with a huge potential for activists really.
[14:24.060 --> 14:27.440]  And not many activists know about it or know how to use it.
[14:27.700 --> 14:29.580]  So it's not being used by many.
[14:31.100 --> 14:36.300]  So for hackers, fueling mass participation doesn't have to mean marching in the streets.
[14:36.300 --> 14:47.600]  You can build infrastructures for mass participation, tools that make it easier for people to act, to speak, and protect each other.
[14:48.460 --> 14:50.220]  Take the eyes tracking tool.
[14:51.560 --> 15:00.860]  Simple, it's easy to use, and it enables neighbors to alert each other when the roads are icy and slippery, right?
[15:02.760 --> 15:07.740]  We can also reduce the barriers to entry by sharing cybersecurity and privacy tips.
[15:08.200 --> 15:12.560]  It's like giving people armors and shields when they're out there, you know, starting a battle.
[15:13.060 --> 15:17.200]  When people feel that they're protected and cared for, they're more likely to join.
[15:18.040 --> 15:21.480]  We can help break the fear barrier as well, right?
[15:21.560 --> 15:23.660]  Fear is the system's greatest weapon.
[15:24.180 --> 15:28.200]  And there's a lot of fear about technology right now, right?
[15:28.200 --> 15:31.140]  A lot of people are scared about signal being compromised.
[15:31.540 --> 15:32.740]  VPN doesn't work.
[15:32.880 --> 15:35.120]  Facial recognition is super scary.
[15:35.560 --> 15:39.000]  They're afraid to go out and participate in protests and stuff like that.
[15:39.540 --> 15:41.720]  So people are scared and confused.
[15:42.040 --> 15:46.660]  We should combat this fear with education, with your technical expertise.
[15:47.700 --> 15:53.780]  So the key here is embedding yourself in communities, teaching, listening, collaborating.
[15:54.160 --> 15:58.640]  So that when the moment comes, your skills don't just become a clever headline.
[15:59.140 --> 16:01.500]  They will amplify a much greater force.
[16:05.210 --> 16:10.350]  So who was the first Black woman that refused to give up her seat on a bus during Jim Crow?
[16:10.970 --> 16:13.310]  Now a lot of you might be thinking Rosa Parks.
[16:15.750 --> 16:17.890]  It was actually Claudette Colvin.
[16:18.090 --> 16:21.610]  She refused to give up her seat nine months before Rosa Parks did.
[16:22.030 --> 16:23.910]  They pretty much did the same thing.
[16:24.430 --> 16:28.210]  But Colvin's disobedience just evaporated into thin air.
[16:29.350 --> 16:31.250]  Now why did this happen?
[16:31.950 --> 16:37.510]  Because there was no strategy, no plan to carry Claudette Colvin's protest forward.
[16:38.650 --> 16:44.330]  Rosa Parks protest was chosen as the trigger event by the NAACP.
[16:44.610 --> 16:51.930]  They already had a plan to escalate that protest into a full-scale Montgomery bus boycott.
[16:52.330 --> 16:56.090]  Which, as you already know, transformed the civil rights struggle.
[16:59.610 --> 17:02.490]  So strategic organizing matters.
[17:02.870 --> 17:06.210]  And it comes from understanding the movement cycle.
[17:07.450 --> 17:09.690]  Learning how to build this wave.
[17:10.170 --> 17:12.130]  Not this wave, this wave.
[17:14.030 --> 17:16.290]  We start with growing public anger.
[17:16.690 --> 17:22.590]  Or just you feeling angry about a social justice issue and you think something needs to change.
[17:23.470 --> 17:26.990]  And then I'll talk about these spaces and how hackers can take part in them.
[17:27.290 --> 17:33.870]  We have trigger event, escalation, disillusionment, reflection, near normal, and mass adoption.
[17:37.290 --> 17:42.290]  Trigger events are traumatic moments that spark mass participation.
[17:42.810 --> 17:49.210]  They capture public attention, spark outrage, and create a sense of urgency for action.
[17:50.030 --> 17:53.990]  Sometimes they can happen by accident, but can be seized upon.
[17:54.490 --> 18:01.570]  So an example of this is when George Floyd's murder was captured on video, shared and amplified by multiple activist groups.
[18:01.570 --> 18:07.210]  You know, Black Lives Matters actually started seven years before George Floyd's murder.
[18:07.490 --> 18:08.810]  But not many heard of them.
[18:09.610 --> 18:10.250]  Because...
[18:10.250 --> 18:14.050]  Well, not many heard of them until this trigger event.
[18:14.050 --> 18:20.950]  Because they started amplifying this to spark a national outrage about the issue of police brutality.
[18:22.210 --> 18:28.750]  However, when trigger events happen suddenly, they can be difficult to escalate.
[18:29.270 --> 18:31.490]  Which is why movement engineers them.
[18:32.230 --> 18:36.630]  Because activists can't just wait for a trigger event to fall from the sky.
[18:40.490 --> 18:48.730]  So the key ingredients of a trigger event is dramatic, the event should be visually and emotionally striking.
[18:48.730 --> 18:55.670]  So from, you know, on the left, we have the picture that is Standing Rock in 2016.
[18:56.250 --> 19:07.350]  Dakota Access Pipeline organizers saw water tanks and staged these protests at nighttime during freezing conditions.
[19:07.930 --> 19:14.530]  The images of people risking hypothermia and even their life for water security were dramatic.
[19:15.270 --> 19:20.910]  Which motivated many news to report this and inspired a lot of people to join the cause.
[19:21.310 --> 19:27.350]  If they had timed this during a time that maybe it was hot outside and they sprayed water on protesters.
[19:28.030 --> 19:34.030]  It wouldn't... maybe wouldn't have caused as much anger as doing this at nighttime when it was freezing.
[19:34.710 --> 19:43.170]  And every news would say things like, you know, like these water tanks really endangers these people's lives who are trying to protest peacefully.
[19:45.910 --> 19:49.730]  Public, the trigger events must reach a lot of people.
[19:50.530 --> 19:57.230]  So Occupy Harvard students engineered this by setting up camps to demand better wages for Harvard workers.
[19:57.890 --> 20:04.930]  The visibility of the camps as well as banners and the occupation drew a lot of attention and was shared very widely.
[20:06.050 --> 20:07.510]  It has to be documented.
[20:08.050 --> 20:10.730]  So we see this... why this is important during George Floyd.
[20:11.110 --> 20:18.210]  As hackers, we like to teach activists that privacy is very important because privacy is important to us.
[20:18.490 --> 20:23.350]  But to organizers, they care more about exposing...
[20:26.710 --> 20:29.130]  exposing injustice and amplify them.
[20:29.590 --> 20:32.290]  So we should teach them about how to document safely as well.
[20:33.890 --> 20:36.510]  It should present a clear moral contrast.
[20:36.830 --> 20:41.070]  So the public must instantly see who is in the right and who is in the wrong.
[20:43.570 --> 20:46.110]  Nonviolent action amplifies this contrast.
[20:46.110 --> 20:47.910]  And we'll talk about it more later.
[20:52.300 --> 21:01.140]  So hackers can create or can help engineer trigger events by creating better conditions for them.
[21:01.880 --> 21:05.440]  So first consider teaching people digital safety and OPSEC.
[21:05.440 --> 21:18.060]  When activists know how to safely document actions, report abuses, whistleblow, or how to safely reach out to a journalist, they can take more risk and that can lead to trigger event.
[21:18.620 --> 21:24.840]  Tools like Hushline demonstrate how confidential reporting channels can protect whistleblowers and participants.
[21:26.740 --> 21:39.980]  Also when a movement design trigger events like a huge protest or speech, make sure to prep them digitally ahead of time because a lot of these aim to gather public attention on purpose.
[21:40.980 --> 21:42.860]  And participants get doxxed all the time.
[21:43.380 --> 21:48.960]  So once they're doxxed or few unsafe, it'll be a lot harder for movements to escalate.
[21:50.440 --> 21:52.460]  Third, we have strategic leaks.
[21:52.860 --> 21:56.860]  This doesn't mean dumping all the data out at once, right?
[21:56.860 --> 22:01.640]  Strategic leaks are coordinated with journalists and movement leaders.
[22:02.000 --> 22:06.880]  The goal is to make the story public with maximum clarity and credibility.
[22:07.740 --> 22:30.880]  So in 1971, Daniel Ellsberg worked with the New York Times and Washington Post to leak the Pentagon Papers, which revealed the public how the U.S. government had been lying about the Vietnam War and discredited the U.S. government as was intensified the anti-Vietnam War movement.
[22:34.630 --> 22:40.910]  Now I'd like to share some tips about teaching cyber security or digital safety to other people.
[22:40.910 --> 22:43.690]  First, you should use simple language.
[22:44.110 --> 22:45.830]  This didn't come naturally for me.
[22:46.030 --> 22:54.910]  I had to create like hundreds of content, gathered a lot of feedback so I know how to teach people in a simple and approachable way.
[22:56.210 --> 23:03.750]  Besides avoiding technical jargons, I also tried to include lots of visuals and screenshots so people know where the settings are.
[23:04.710 --> 23:10.510]  You can also try to make sure that your guides are searchable online so people can quickly find what they need.
[23:10.830 --> 23:12.750]  You don't need a whole website for this, by the way.
[23:12.890 --> 23:18.110]  I've seen a lot of people who used Google Docs and spreadsheets for this.
[23:18.470 --> 23:20.930]  You also don't need to teach everything yourself.
[23:21.150 --> 23:22.990]  There are lots of great resources out there.
[23:23.710 --> 23:33.010]  Point people to reliable and beginners friendly guides like the EFF surveillance self-defense guide is awesome as well as the activist checklist.
[23:34.250 --> 23:41.950]  So by teaching digital safety this way, you empower people with knowledge in ways that they can understand and act on immediately.
[23:46.170 --> 23:46.770]  Escalation.
[23:47.330 --> 23:53.650]  So after the trigger event, a lot more people will be interested in being part of the social justice movement.
[23:54.410 --> 23:57.650]  We now try to grow a spark into a blaze.
[23:58.750 --> 24:16.490]  In this stage, you'll see a lot more civil disobedience, more creative disruptions, more actions that put issues into the public eyes, street protests, coordinated boycotts, banner drop sit-ins, all aimed at making the issue unavoidable, impossible to ignore.
[24:17.190 --> 24:20.190]  So this is where hackers can be force multipliers.
[24:20.630 --> 24:27.630]  We can deliver new data, insights, and technical tools that deepen the public's understanding of the problem.
[24:28.410 --> 24:39.470]  You can also help organizers build tools like what to do next, where to boycott, where actions will take place, share records, open-source apps, and any toolkits.
[24:40.090 --> 24:47.470]  The public would also be interested in seeing if these movements actually win or actually change anything.
[24:47.470 --> 24:56.290]  So building some sort of lightweight evidence hub with what's going on and timeline of wins can keep the narrative alive and show progress.
[24:58.570 --> 25:01.990]  Opponents will also be moving just as fast, right?
[25:02.110 --> 25:09.150]  They push misinformation campaigns out there, fake stories, character attacks, to discredit the movement.
[25:09.790 --> 25:13.770]  We can target misinformation sources and discredit them back.
[25:13.770 --> 25:20.810]  So the goal of escalation is to get active participants and weaken the pillars of support.
[25:23.540 --> 25:27.360]  Now, during escalation, there'll be lots of emotions, right?
[25:27.940 --> 25:33.960]  Sides will be throwing attacks verbally, physically, hackery, at each other.
[25:34.200 --> 25:37.560]  It's important that we stick to nonviolent tactics.
[25:37.980 --> 25:48.400]  Now, I'm saying this not because I feel like nonviolent tactics are morally superior or I'm afraid of physical confrontations, right?
[25:48.560 --> 25:49.900]  Have you seen my muscles?
[25:52.400 --> 25:55.300]  But because they've been proven to be effective.
[25:55.800 --> 26:03.140]  Through decades of research, they show that nonviolent movements are twice as likely to succeed as violent ones.
[26:04.100 --> 26:08.180]  Hell, it builds public empathy instead of fear, right?
[26:08.180 --> 26:17.780]  When people see peaceful actors facing excessive force by the government, the moral balance shifts towards the activists.
[26:18.400 --> 26:32.920]  But if the protest ends with burning houses, burning cars, innocent people getting hurt by activists, then the thought would change from these people deserve better into these people are dangerous and I want them to stop.
[26:36.480 --> 26:40.740]  So, nonviolent disruptions also make it easier for new people to participate in.
[26:40.980 --> 26:45.460]  And again, our goal is mass participation because they feel safer there.
[26:46.520 --> 26:48.740]  Violent disruptions tend to turn people away.
[26:50.240 --> 26:54.480]  Nonviolence also denies our opponents of pretexts they're looking for.
[26:54.800 --> 27:04.460]  So, governments, corporations, hostile groups want an excuse to label activists in a negative light so they can use much more excessive force.
[27:08.470 --> 27:13.570]  So, again, violent tactics can undermine the movement and prevent it from escalating.
[27:13.570 --> 27:18.550]  This is why governments like to plant agitators inside protests.
[27:18.790 --> 27:26.150]  So, when cars and buildings explode and innocent people get hurt, a movement is more likely to be denounced by the public.
[27:27.310 --> 27:34.990]  So, doxing, swatting, and encouraging violence can endanger not only the target but also unrelated people like their family or their kids.
[27:34.990 --> 27:42.670]  This website that doxs Tesla owners, they publish the home addresses of people who already sold their Tesla.
[27:43.470 --> 27:48.350]  So, the public just finds doxing very off-putting.
[27:49.670 --> 28:00.050]  Some of these other tactics like sabotaging critical systems by taking down essential infrastructures and leaking data without care can upset the public more than motivating them as well.
[28:00.050 --> 28:12.370]  So, WikiLeaks exposed so many outrageous government and corporate misconducts, but it also exposed a lot of sensitive personal information by innocent people.
[28:12.970 --> 28:16.190]  So, they couldn't gather much support from the public.
[28:17.730 --> 28:23.250]  The goal here, though, is not to avoid upsetting people because disruptions will upset people.
[28:24.210 --> 28:31.710]  But while they're upset, the majority should feel empathetic towards the activists' goals instead of fear or anger.
[28:37.110 --> 28:42.570]  Now, after a movement hits its peak of activity, there'll be a drop-off in energy.
[28:42.930 --> 28:46.230]  This is called disillusionment and it is normal.
[28:46.230 --> 28:55.610]  It happens when people realize that change is not immediate, the law hasn't passed, policy hasn't changed, and the injustice hasn't disappeared.
[28:55.970 --> 28:57.690]  The president is still presidencing.
[28:58.090 --> 28:59.470]  People feel burned out.
[29:00.510 --> 29:04.790]  So, when you reach this stage, remind yourself that change takes a long time.
[29:05.430 --> 29:12.150]  You should take breaks, slow things down, do something fun for yourself, get a health checkup, get a mental health checkup.
[29:12.150 --> 29:17.830]  Like, seriously, I've seen so many hacktivists and activists feel burned out and just stop altogether.
[29:19.210 --> 29:23.310]  This is why we use this period as a reflection as well.
[29:23.570 --> 29:38.790]  You know, we ask ourselves what worked, what failed, did our tactics reach the right people, gather feedback from the community, talk to other people, learn how to pace yourself better, and keep going.
[29:42.790 --> 29:46.710]  Now, every successful social movement dreams of this stage.
[29:47.150 --> 29:54.970]  When the once radical demand becomes so accepted, so embedded in daily life that it stops feeling like activism at all.
[29:55.370 --> 29:57.550]  So, this is called the new normal.
[29:58.690 --> 30:05.970]  At one time, ideas like same-sex marriage and women working in offices were considered impossible or even absurd.
[30:05.970 --> 30:07.930]  Now, they're everyday norm.
[30:08.910 --> 30:12.290]  However, opponents will keep trying to undermine progress.
[30:13.210 --> 30:19.230]  So, to maintain social justice progress, mass movements alone are not enough.
[30:19.570 --> 30:22.290]  Because they tend to phase out very fast.
[30:22.530 --> 30:27.890]  Since they lack centralized system, they lack funding, and they depend on volunteers.
[30:29.210 --> 30:34.690]  In this stage, the hackers' roles shift from pushing for change to protecting it.
[30:39.850 --> 30:44.710]  Black Lives Matter, the Me Too movement, we don't hear much about them anymore, right?
[30:45.150 --> 30:48.370]  Not because those issues don't exist anymore.
[30:49.190 --> 30:53.890]  Racism, sexual violence, gender violence, they're still with us.
[30:53.890 --> 30:58.990]  But because society's attention shifts, and that's normal, the new cycles move on.
[30:59.270 --> 31:01.750]  People get pulled up into the next urgent thing.
[31:02.890 --> 31:06.570]  And this is why movements need to transition into structure.
[31:08.550 --> 31:12.830]  So, grassroots uprisings, they thrive on speed and acquiring momentum.
[31:13.250 --> 31:19.050]  But once it's acquired as objective and lose funding or volunteers, they phase out really fast.
[31:19.050 --> 31:25.750]  Whereas structured organizations, the strength is they're more stable and durable in the long term.
[31:26.630 --> 31:29.950]  Over time, they also acquired political leverage.
[31:30.290 --> 31:35.970]  They have established fundraising channels and legal teams for sustained campaigns.
[31:36.170 --> 31:41.930]  They can also create leadership pipelines to train and mentor new organizers.
[31:43.070 --> 31:50.450]  The weakness is they can be slow to act as they care more about long term stability and protecting their leaders.
[31:52.050 --> 31:59.070]  So, if you are to help a structured organization, you might be disappointed at how slow they can be.
[31:59.270 --> 32:03.170]  Or like, how unreactive they are to things that are going on.
[32:05.370 --> 32:08.070]  A perfect example of this too is end-to-end encryption.
[32:08.070 --> 32:13.950]  At one point, it was mostly advocated for by activists, hackers, security geeks.
[32:14.390 --> 32:27.350]  Then we have more organized structures now like the EFF and ACLU, which try to raise public awareness about it and trying to embed end-to-end encryption into more day-to-day apps.
[32:28.050 --> 32:32.570]  However, governments, as you already know, are still trying to weaken it with backdoors.
[32:32.570 --> 32:39.310]  So, hackers and these structures have to keep defending it to maintain the new normal.
[32:40.590 --> 32:47.650]  This is why lasting social justice requires both grassroots and structured organizations.
[32:50.910 --> 32:55.270]  If you're interested in supporting organized structures, here are what you can do.
[32:55.950 --> 32:57.470]  You can work for these organizations.
[32:58.130 --> 33:02.050]  You know, if there is any that you're interested in, sign up for their job letters.
[33:02.630 --> 33:04.450]  Or introduce yourself to them.
[33:04.850 --> 33:07.370]  And bring your skills into their infrastructures.
[33:07.810 --> 33:15.710]  You can be the one who spots their vulnerabilities, or design more secure systems, or handle organizational cybersecurity like I do.
[33:16.670 --> 33:18.390]  Protects their data, protects their people.
[33:19.690 --> 33:21.610]  They're under lots of attacks and pressure.
[33:21.930 --> 33:24.890]  They usually lack funding as well.
[33:25.130 --> 33:27.090]  So, any volunteering would really help them.
[33:27.950 --> 33:29.190]  But they're willing to pay.
[33:30.530 --> 33:33.690]  If you're good at teaching, you can train their staff on digital safety.
[33:34.410 --> 33:37.210]  You can share threat intel with advice with them.
[33:37.390 --> 33:50.630]  If you're handling cybersecurity for a nonprofit, there's this organization called NGO ISAC, which stands for NGO Threat Intelligence Sharing Center, to exchange threat and best cybersecurity practices with others.
[33:51.690 --> 33:52.910]  You can volunteer.
[33:53.430 --> 34:00.490]  Not everyone can work full-time as an activist, but even just one hour per week can make a difference to them.
[34:01.310 --> 34:02.990]  You can amplify their work.
[34:03.150 --> 34:09.690]  So, if you think of what they do is cool or is useful, you should spread the word to others.
[34:09.690 --> 34:16.190]  You know, like use your social media or bring it into conference talks like how I did and talked about like SID.
[34:17.310 --> 34:21.410]  Well, for Media, Wired and other cool tools.
[34:23.210 --> 34:25.150]  And finally, donate.
[34:25.550 --> 34:27.950]  Because we all need money to keep going.
[34:31.870 --> 34:35.630]  So, we've covered a lot of theories, history and examples.
[34:36.210 --> 34:38.310]  So, if you're lost in a sauce, don't worry.
[34:38.310 --> 34:45.510]  I made an action item checklist for you to summarize the main points.
[34:46.590 --> 34:48.450]  So, number one, define your purpose.
[34:48.990 --> 34:52.350]  Ask yourself, what injustice am I trying to address?
[34:52.750 --> 34:54.870]  And how you want to address it?
[34:55.790 --> 34:57.770]  Number two, engage with communities.
[34:57.970 --> 34:58.690]  This is so important.
[34:59.010 --> 35:00.610]  Just introduce yourself to movements.
[35:00.870 --> 35:02.110]  Let them know what you do.
[35:03.350 --> 35:06.110]  Listen before building tools for them, right?
[35:06.110 --> 35:06.850]  Learn their needs.
[35:06.990 --> 35:07.590]  Learn their fears.
[35:07.710 --> 35:08.270]  Learn their vision.
[35:08.990 --> 35:13.970]  A tool that fits their reality will go further than the tool that you think they might need.
[35:15.950 --> 35:18.210]  Create tools to engage mass participation.
[35:18.530 --> 35:24.630]  As you already know by now, mass participation is the key for social change and social justice.
[35:24.630 --> 35:28.630]  So, make sure it's accessible and widely known to others.
[35:28.930 --> 35:39.110]  I know a lot of my friends who create brilliant tools who are sitting in this room, but are kind of shy about telling others about their tool.
[35:39.730 --> 35:42.650]  So, please don't be shy.
[35:43.290 --> 35:48.570]  Or contact influencers or content creators like I do to spread the word about them.
[35:48.730 --> 35:49.630]  I think they're really awesome.
[35:52.090 --> 35:54.650]  Protect movements from harm proactively.
[35:55.130 --> 36:00.230]  So, if a social movement catches your attention, just reach out to them and offer help.
[36:00.430 --> 36:02.270]  Don't wait until they get doxxed or something.
[36:03.250 --> 36:17.810]  I know from my experience that a lot of these social movement people would get harassed and threatened, and they would just drop after the trigger event and just refuse to do anything else afterwards.
[36:17.810 --> 36:22.490]  When their family complains about it, when their neighbors complain about it.
[36:24.190 --> 36:25.550]  Teach and empower.
[36:25.990 --> 36:27.710]  Spread your power to other people.
[36:28.310 --> 36:31.450]  We're stronger when we're more powerful all together.
[36:33.010 --> 36:35.090]  And then celebrate victories.
[36:35.290 --> 36:37.190]  Do good and do goof.
[36:38.010 --> 36:40.890]  If you just start out, pace yourself.
[36:40.890 --> 36:46.770]  When I started this work, I started just doing one hour per week of social justice.
[36:47.870 --> 36:50.530]  And just realized that this is a marathon.
[36:50.930 --> 36:52.090]  So, you need to train your stamina.
[36:52.650 --> 36:53.590]  Build it up from there.
[36:54.490 --> 36:58.290]  People who don't run strategically get earned out really fast.
[36:59.570 --> 37:03.070]  Again, remember, do good, but also do goof.
[37:03.790 --> 37:07.790]  Keep your humor, your joy, and most of all, your hope.
[37:11.300 --> 37:13.320]  The world needs hackers who care.
[37:13.540 --> 37:15.460]  The world needs hackers who take actions.
[37:15.800 --> 37:20.760]  And the world needs hackers who see social justice as a future to be built.
[37:21.460 --> 37:22.860]  The world needs you.
[37:23.580 --> 37:24.460]  Hack the planet.
[37:35.170 --> 37:37.550]  I think there might be time for questions, or...
[37:37.990 --> 37:38.250]  I don't know.
[37:38.710 --> 37:38.890]  Yeah.
[37:39.010 --> 37:39.210]  Go ahead.
[37:44.370 --> 37:45.070]  Go on.
[37:45.710 --> 37:47.210]  How did you get started?
[37:48.230 --> 37:48.750]  Oh.
[37:49.890 --> 37:50.970]  Started in what?
[37:51.730 --> 37:54.390]  Well, like, how can we follow your footsteps?
[37:55.990 --> 37:56.310]  Right.
[37:56.550 --> 38:06.890]  So, when I was doing my master's in cybersecurity, I realized that a lot of my program was focusing on protecting businesses, their data, and their systems.
[38:06.890 --> 38:08.750]  And I was like, this is not what I want to do.
[38:08.770 --> 38:09.970]  I want to protect people.
[38:09.970 --> 38:11.290]  I want to protect human rights.
[38:11.450 --> 38:12.610]  I want to protect activists.
[38:12.610 --> 38:20.210]  And so, I went online, and I searched just cybersecurity for human rights.
[38:20.930 --> 38:23.730]  And Matt Mitchell was everywhere.
[38:24.130 --> 38:25.810]  He became my inspiration.
[38:26.170 --> 38:32.750]  And so, I just reached out to him and learned about his methods of being more involved in the space.
[38:32.750 --> 38:35.830]  I was introduced to HOPE.
[38:36.290 --> 38:46.170]  And I have been really loving this community, because I feel like hackers align with my values and my ethos more than cybersecurity professionals.
[38:46.890 --> 38:49.830]  I like how unserious you guys are at times.
[38:50.510 --> 38:51.090]  Yeah.
[38:51.410 --> 38:52.930]  And how cool you dress, too.
[38:55.390 --> 38:56.250]  So, yeah.
[38:56.310 --> 38:57.130]  It's been awesome.
[38:58.530 --> 39:13.570]  So, I started doing a lot of work with Matt and got introduced to NGOs and started just like interacting with them as people, like understanding their issues and just telling them that, hey, I have this skill.
[39:13.730 --> 39:15.370]  And if you need help, like I'm here for you.
[39:16.110 --> 39:18.770]  So, I encourage you all to do the same thing.
[39:18.970 --> 39:22.370]  Like it might be a little intimidating or like you might feel weird.
[39:22.610 --> 39:23.930]  Just reach out to these people.
[39:25.010 --> 39:27.750]  But they're like pretty friendly and they need help.
[39:27.950 --> 39:33.510]  So, they would appreciate it a lot if you just reach out to them and offer them your skills.
[39:35.430 --> 39:35.910]  Yes.
[39:36.390 --> 39:36.730]  Hi.
[39:37.750 --> 39:47.210]  First off, I want to thank you for encouraging folks who are involved in this space to get involved in social justice movements and especially get out there in the streets and involved in the community and stuff like that.
[39:47.210 --> 39:53.370]  So, if I may offer just a brief friendly critique on one thing.
[39:53.430 --> 39:57.310]  I was curious if you've ever heard of the term diversity of tactics, right?
[39:57.430 --> 39:58.630]  Now, I'll just explain briefly.
[39:59.110 --> 40:09.610]  Now, some of these major protests like Republican Convention or the G20 or like the RNC, so forth, like that, the coalitions of organizations that are out there protesting, you know there's no one way to do things, right?
[40:09.610 --> 40:18.070]  And so, they adopted this thing called, in some places, the St. Paul Principles, which basically says, we embrace a diversity of tactics, that there's no one way to do that.
[40:18.130 --> 40:26.830]  We won't publicly condemn other organizations, but we will maintain a separation of time and space so people can freely participate to their comfort levels, right?
[40:27.930 --> 40:34.070]  Now, you spoke quite a bit about your perspective on why we need to remain non-violent, right?
[40:34.210 --> 40:37.310]  And some examples you elaborated was a burning cock cup, right?
[40:37.550 --> 40:42.010]  And I just want to say, like, you know, if you don't dig it, don't do it, right?
[40:42.110 --> 40:49.070]  But to be fair, though, for the millions of people in this country, especially who languish in the gulags of America, right?
[40:49.130 --> 40:49.770]  The prison system.
[40:49.930 --> 40:52.590]  Or who have experienced racist police brutality, right?
[40:52.590 --> 40:59.370]  Like, just to tell someone to be patient, or don't be violent, because then you will be as bad as them.
[40:59.510 --> 41:09.870]  Like, honestly, like, like, for example, like the burning cop cars in the streets of LA, like, was a beautiful and important and necessary thing that, like, inspired others to spill out of the streets.
[41:10.070 --> 41:13.070]  Or the burning precinct during the George Floyd uprising, right?
[41:13.210 --> 41:14.150]  That had to happen.
[41:14.470 --> 41:16.310]  That had to happen, right?
[41:16.310 --> 41:25.690]  And so I just, I just want to, if you could speak to, like, how we could, like, for example, criminality, like, hackers are often condemned as being criminal or going too extreme and stuff like that.
[41:25.730 --> 41:32.490]  And it's actually kind of, like, shameful how, like, you have sometimes so-called peace patrol people will throw people to the police.
[41:32.710 --> 41:38.530]  And so I just wondered if, like, if you had any opinions on that concept of diversity attack.
[41:38.630 --> 41:40.330]  Because you play the right card for the right situation.
[41:40.490 --> 41:41.350]  Sometimes shit needs to burn.
[41:41.610 --> 41:42.430]  But I agree.
[41:42.590 --> 41:44.830]  It's not always about that flash in the pan, either.
[41:44.910 --> 41:46.350]  It's all a lot like what you said.
[41:46.590 --> 41:50.030]  The infrastructure support for the movement and getting the masses in the street.
[41:50.030 --> 41:52.270]  But I just wanted you to offer that little critique.
[41:53.310 --> 41:53.730]  Yeah, honestly.
[41:53.970 --> 41:54.290]  Oh, sorry.
[41:54.690 --> 41:55.170]  Yeah, honestly.
[41:55.930 --> 41:58.050]  I love seeing violence.
[42:00.990 --> 42:04.910]  I based my presentation on research, right?
[42:05.370 --> 42:08.510]  But sometimes it's, like, satisfying to see things like that.
[42:08.630 --> 42:09.490]  And I agree with you.
[42:09.650 --> 42:20.090]  But it also led to, you know, like, I also, I talked to a diverse range of people as well, not just activists, but also, like, people from the other side see how they see things.
[42:21.470 --> 42:28.150]  And, you know, like, when people get afraid or feel angry, they feel like extra force is justified.
[42:28.570 --> 42:41.530]  And when it comes to violence and using force, it's really difficult for us to meet the forces of, you know, like, these government people, the military.
[42:41.530 --> 42:46.770]  They have tanks, they have weapons, they have all these armors.
[42:48.530 --> 42:51.270]  And protesters, you know, like, they're risking their lives.
[42:52.590 --> 43:00.630]  And it makes it harder for older people or children or people with disability to, you know, show up the next times as well.
[43:00.630 --> 43:02.170]  So it's, like, pros and cons.
[43:02.730 --> 43:06.750]  I also am aware that the LA protests were mostly peaceful.
[43:07.030 --> 43:10.370]  There were just, like, a few that kind of exploded.
[43:10.790 --> 43:25.450]  And I do think that some violence is also good, because it makes other tactics look more moderate, and they're more willing to negotiate if they think that you're more moderate than that, like, those violent tactics.
[43:25.450 --> 43:26.390]  I see all that.
[43:28.410 --> 43:28.890]  Yes.
[43:29.110 --> 43:30.050]  I think I have some time.
[43:30.310 --> 43:30.530]  Yeah.
[43:31.710 --> 43:33.730]  You say all their skills.
[43:34.230 --> 43:43.030]  In her experience, when you reach out to NGOs and other organizations, what are some tool sets that they're most often seeking?
[43:43.590 --> 43:47.170]  When you went out testing, what do they often tell you that they need?
[43:48.070 --> 43:51.470]  Honestly, like, a lot of them are lacking basic digital safety.
[43:51.770 --> 43:54.550]  Like, a lot of them are not aware of signal.
[43:54.550 --> 43:56.670]  They don't understand how VPN works.
[43:57.210 --> 44:03.230]  They're still using text messages to, you know, like, send messages around and share, like, confidential information.
[44:04.010 --> 44:05.770]  So just, like, the basics.
[44:06.230 --> 44:10.070]  They don't have money to spend on, like, cybersecurity professionals.
[44:10.970 --> 44:13.970]  So I'm usually, like, out there, like, just offering them help.
[44:14.270 --> 44:16.930]  And they also get, like, harassed and threatened as well.
[44:16.930 --> 44:25.050]  So just, like, knowing someone, like, a cybersecurity professional or hacker who can be there to support them to reach out when they need something.
[44:25.950 --> 44:27.210]  That would mean a lot for them.
[44:33.510 --> 44:39.770]  I have a bit of a comment that I'm, honestly, I'm a little hesitant to offer.
[44:40.110 --> 44:45.090]  I, my background is 16 years working in non-profits.
[44:45.090 --> 44:52.930]  And now, as I try to transition to tech, anything, I can bring, like, this back to my timing on puppets.
[44:53.760 --> 44:55.170]  We're social justice oriented.
[44:55.790 --> 45:09.150]  And I love that there is so much emphasis and seeing today and yesterday on bringing tech folks into volunteering within nonprofits.
[45:09.150 --> 45:15.750]  And, like, I don't want to disrespect at all the power that they come out of that.
[45:15.910 --> 45:17.430]  I see what communities can do.
[45:17.530 --> 45:18.870]  I see what communities can do.
[45:19.030 --> 45:19.910]  We've worked out in whole health.
[45:20.530 --> 45:32.410]  And, at the same time, I would love to see another parasite that is not just volunteering, brought forward or brainstormed or talked about.
[45:32.410 --> 45:40.170]  Because as long, and I've seen this firsthand over and over and over again, as long as we're reliant upon volunteers, you are limited.
[45:40.330 --> 45:41.510]  Your capacity is limited.
[45:41.990 --> 45:43.870]  Your sustainability is limited.
[45:44.570 --> 45:47.410]  And, and ultimately, like, projects die.
[45:48.250 --> 45:52.030]  And, you know, there's a lot of things that come up.
[45:52.030 --> 45:54.550]  So, it's just a plea to the potion room to you.
[45:54.950 --> 46:09.230]  And to also maybe think about what could we do beyond volunteering to maybe perhaps pay people for their labor and make sustainable opportunities for folks within social justice organizations.
[46:10.350 --> 46:11.950]  Yes, I totally agree with you.
[46:11.950 --> 46:19.330]  So, my cybersecurity job, as the CEO of Cyberlixr, I'm actually getting paid to do cybersecurity work.
[46:19.610 --> 46:25.930]  And when I meet these NGOs, I told them that I would need to be paid so I can keep doing this work.
[46:26.490 --> 46:33.670]  And I told them, like, the price and also, like, how they can reach out for funding, you know, cybersecurity funding.
[46:33.870 --> 46:35.130]  There's a lot of that out there.
[46:35.830 --> 46:41.070]  A lot of the time, they just don't know, like, how much it costs, or they expect people to volunteer.
[46:41.570 --> 46:51.310]  So, it's important that when you reach out to the NGOs like that, you tell them ahead of time, like, I'd like to be paid for this work, I'm a professional, and here's how you can get more funding.
[46:54.230 --> 46:57.830]  I think we're out of time, so I can get more questions.