[NCUC-EC] Notes from 30C3

[Milan, Stefania]

Dear all, a quick mail from nerds' paradise, that is to say the Chaos Communication Congress I am attending right now. The CCC (or 30C3, given this is edition number 30), is probably the biggest hacker festival/gathering in the world. It takes place annually in Germany (historically in Berlin, nowadays in Hamburg), towrads the end of the year (December 27-30, the worst timing ever). In any case, I believe this is a relevant venue for us, and want to share a few impressions/reflections that you might find interesting.

First of all, there are some 8500 hackers in one place, in a sort of around-the-clock marathon of talks, hacking and partying. What is relevant for us is the fact that there is not only politics here (not necessarily a given in this environment), but there are also quite internet governance debates. Now, we have to understand internet governance in the broadest sense, which includes the current hot issue (surveillance) and public policies concering data privacy, transparency, retention etc.

There are debates on SOPA/PIPA (nothing new here), on the EU policies concerning privacy and data retention, on net neutrality... and the rooms are uber-full. Having said that, I believe the NCUC should come here as well.

You might remember that I am very new to this ICANN business, but particularly concerned with inclusion and participation of those communities which are excluded (or, best said, typically self-excluded) from these processes - yet, they are relevant communities and have much to say, with a legitimacy which is derived from serving very real communities, and from a hands-on approach that is informed, very concrete and problem-solving-oriented (while being rooted on hacker ethics).

Having said all this, while playing around with circuits and learning new things, I am trying to think about ways in which this wonderful container of ideas, values and knowledge can be involved in what we do and care about.

IF you are curious, check out the (messy) event blog: events.ccc.de

Greetings from nerdsland!
Stefania

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