Theme: Media and Technology
Saturday, April 8th
The vast landscape of the Internet and social media define and dominate much of contemporary life, yet the cyber ecosystem is fraught with profound systemic flaws that pose immense challenges for societies, communities and individuals. How does the monopoly power of a tiny handful of “Surveillance Capitalist” behemoths radically exacerbate wealth and power inequities? Have powerful new AI-based tracking systems made personal privacy obsolete and total socio-political control by authoritarian regimes far more likely? How can we arrest this Age of Disinformation? What can be done? Join a group of leading experts who are wrestling with these and other related questions as they explore the rapidly shifting world of info-tech and what we need to do to prevent the most dystopian outcomes. With: Randima Fernando, co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology; Luca Belli, founder of Sator Labs and a UC Berkeley Tech Policy Fellow; Cindy Cohn, Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Moderated by Kellen Klein, former Course Manager at Center for Humane Technology.
April 8th | 4:45 pm to 6:00 pm | Golden Bear Room, Hotel Shattuck Plaza
Panelists
Randima Fernando
Co-Founder | Center for Humane Technology
Randima Fernando, a co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, which has helped over 100 million people globally understand the harms of extractive technology through "The Social Dilemma" and other projects, previously served for seven years as founding Executive Director at Mindful Schools, a nonprofit that has taught mindfulness to millions of kids worldwide. Before that, Randy led award-winning projects and authored three #1-ranked 3D graphics books over seven years at NVIDIA. He also serves on the Spirit Rock Meditation Center board.
Luca Belli
UC Berkeley Tech Policy Fellow
Luca Belli, Ph.D., the founder of Sator Labs and a UC Berkeley Tech Policy Fellow, was previously the co-founder and Research Lead for Twitter's Machine Learning Ethics, Transparency and Accountability (META) team where he guided industry-leading approaches for responsible ML practices and product changes. Before that he operated as a Data Science and Machine Learning Engineer at Conversant and WolframAlpha.
Cindy Cohn
Executive Director | Electronic Frontier Foundation
Cindy Cohn, the Executive Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation since 2015, served as EFF’s Legal Director as well as its General Counsel from 2000 to 2015. In 1993, she served as lead attorney in Bernstein v. Dept. of Justice, the successful First Amendment challenge to the U.S. export restrictions on cryptography. Among other honors, Ms. Cohn was named to TheNonProfitTimes 2020 Power & Influence TOP 50 list, and in 2018, Forbes included Ms. Cohn as one of America's Top 50 Women in Tech. In 2013, The National Law Journal named Ms. Cohn one of 100 most influential lawyers in America, noting: "If Big Brother is watching, he better look out for Cindy Cohn."
Kellen Klein
Community Building Expert
Kellen Klein, an expert in stakeholder engagement and community building, has over a decade of experience working on "wicked" social and environmental challenges such as climate change, environmental justice, extractive technologies, and economic development. Most recently, he served as Course Manager at Center for Humane Technology, working to convene and catalyze a global community of responsible technologists. Prior to that, he was a Director at Future 500, a non-profit sustainability consultancy. His current focus is supporting movements building more equitable, just, and regenerative economic systems.
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