How the Original Hacking Supergroup Might Just Save the World

University, Chief Security Officer at Facebook during its battle against election disinformation in 2016. The conversation will be moderated Micah Sifry, co-founder of Civic Hall and of Personal Democracy Media. It is sponsored by Civic Hall and the Stanford Internet Observatory.
Menn’s book tells the story of the oldest surviving and most influential group of American “white hat” hackers, revealing that its early members included presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. From humble beginnings as teen operators of pre-web electronic bulletin boards in Texas, members of CDC went on to start the modern hacking conference, pioneer coordinated disclosure of software flaws, and popularize the idea of hacktivism, which they defined as security work in service of human rights. 
With an extraordinary ensemble of performance artists and activists as well as engineers, the Cult of the Dead Cow won fame in 1998 for tweaking Microsoft over the poor security in early versions of Windows, creating a media circus with theatrical launches of trojan programs that allowed almost anyone to seize control of someone else’s machine. They kept evolving as the stakes rose higher, and members ran cybersecurity grants at DARPA, started a billion-dollar company that gave software buyers fresh security insight, and spurred the development of privacy program Tor and the Citizen Lab, which tracks government surveillance. 
One of the group’s greatest legacies is the work of those it trained, like Alex Stamos. A veteran of the security consultancy @Stake, Stamos fought Chinese espionage against Google and other firms, then called out NSA overreaching after Snowden. He left Yahoo on principle and then joined Facebook, where he exposed Russian disinformation campaigns and was part of the team contribution to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation
What can big tech learn from these hacking innovators? Is there a future for critical moral reasoning? Does a hacker have any business running for president?
Join us and find out. 

SCHEDULE
7:00-7:30pm: Registration + Networking7:30-7:40pm: Introduction & Welcome Remarks7:40-8:15pm: Panel Discussion 8:15-8:30pm: Audience Q&A8:30-9:00 pm: Networking + Book Signing

Menn’s previous books include “Fatal System Error: The Hunt for the New Crime Lords Who Are Bringing Down the Internet” and “All the Rave: The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning's Napster.”
Copies of “Cult of the Dead Cow” will be available for sale after the event.
Refreshments will be provided, thanks to our sponsor Stanford Internet Observatory. 

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