the false narratives about the fbi and the impact that they were having on the people of the fbi and the ability to do their work, and if people really understood more about the organization, who we are, how we work, what kind of people were drawn to the fbi and how we make the decisions they did. there are policies given to us by the department o department t based on politics and personal preference. how a person became the jews are. it describes how internet use shifted from being individualistic, spontaneous involuntary to being data and advertising driven and dominated by corporations.

>> host: the winner of the fellowship award she's been a resident in the nonfiction program and instructor at the school for poetic computation. additionally her essays and reviews have appeared in publications such as "the new york times," defends, the globe and many others. she will be joined in conversation this evening by a clinical instructor and lecturer where they teach students to practice technology by working online. the work reflects on the technology and the law covering topics such as facial recognition, computer security, online harassment and freedom of expression. tonight they are going to we ars the new book, working. it is a poetic history that will

resonate with anyone who goes online to listen and learn, not to shout and grandstand. and insightful ways reviewing what has been lost, but has been stolen and what possibilities may still be recovered. workers of the world unite. we are so pleased to host the event here please join me in welcoming joanne mcneil. [applause] >> to start i have a brief reading. just a short passage this is a chapter called sharing.

around the time of its first launch, sorry, around the time of its first smartphone launch in 2007 it wasn't to talk about it as an underdog in its own narrative the holdover inspired super bowl commercials to it by ridley scott featuring to attack big brother with a sledgehammer. in 2007, apple was ranked 367 on the global 500. ten years later there was ninth on the list. they were off to the races and sold almost 40 million by 2014 the sales are just shy of 170 million. now the figure is north of 200 million each year both in

the function and appearance, the totem for the 21st century the iphone is gorgeous, intuitive and two handled like an acquaintance. people would learn about the loss of human lives associated with the creation it was too expensive certainly, but january 9, 2007, steve jobs announced the future of the times. it's nearly paralleled the years in the white house elected in 2008 obama left office in january 2017, 10 years after the presentation. barack obama was the first president to have a twitter account interest use instagram. they were in washington, d.c. for the inauguration crafting very different accommodations in

the upscale hotel room respectively. and independently they talked about the experiences of the moment. it sparked the crystallized idea for companies. the corresponding timelines of obama and the iphone are abundant for the historians but let's not forget that meanwhile there is a great recession. a lot of the people. magic comes from attack. in 2010 or 2011 kind of seemed like all of the ants in the subway then all had iphone's house on androids also. maybe it was the other way around. ...

>> and the changes have been with people hacking away at them there are moments looking at how powerful the iphone has been with someone on the grocery store talking to his friends in american sign language. before the iphone they word text and a slipshod contraption i got the job done i pick up the slickest device from the online store which came with a two-year commitment coming from my samsung flip about as old as an old toaster oven it was like a power tool my hand trembled a little when i went to take a photo the battery on

- - badly compressed images like on a postage stamp i don't think either bothered to upload any of the pictures but it seemed good enough because i didn't think there was any better. the iphone came around just as that contract ended i wanted it like the shinier paperweight but it cost $500 in another two-year commitment and then to keep papers from blowing off my desk. i thought the difference i thought the difference between the clamshell and the iphone was a difference between economy and first-class is just the difference between the two destinations that otto my signed up on craigslist for a workgroup i walked away with a tiny check and an iphone as a parting gift through several models and multiple contacts

it has been in my hand or pocket or totebag ever since the quality conjured up images to hold the iphone so gently at first like primer eyeshadow with my fingertips what else can people handle with such care? i started to go to bed with that it was a paperweight to rest on the pillow and then fully integrated with my daily life. so the same way i felt because of what was on my plate it became more immediate for the iphone that was less present and less urgent from what i wondered about. finally bumping into strangers more frequently i wouldn't notice landmarks in a new city i no longer regretted sitting alone. is no longer board on the train i would focus on the

screen to keep people at bay i was never allowed. never there is always a little window. [applause] >> i am so excited to be in conversation with you about this book. which i really loved and i am thrilled i get to ask you questions about it. and with that since you unluckily put me appear with you i will last the first question and go straight into my second you chose the title working but i - - lurking i cannot but i will try but in the book itself lurking can be a waiting room before communication like the dial-up

modem a moment to pause and prepare for that exchange with others. before plunging into that amplification of identity or an act like reading for general curiosity or research from the beginning lurking. so i am curious what brought you to choose that as the title for the book as a motivating metaphor as engaging the internet in the book? >> yes. thank you. it seems like the most obvious title for me because it is my identity as internet user in my internet use is very much being the wallflower of the social network. the thing that makes the internet unusual is that at a

party a wallflower typically use it in the corner but they can't necessarily see you watching them and it's one of those things that has to do with the element that makes interactions online unusual from physical world interactions and sometimes because we take for granted how much our communication is woven in our daily lives. so that sense of the world that i wanted to make clear in that title. >> you say lurking is your preferred way and since you wrote a book about it is there specific places online that you consider yourself?

where are you lurking these days? >> i have never had a reddit profile. is specially for those there are very sweet and unexpected some are very toxic but there are some that people face seeing homelessness is somewhat of a layer of anonymity because it is a lot as fake names as opposed to real names. i don't participate myself but i have worked on their or meta- filter there are a lot of communities i find information that is useful but then in the book i go through

how there are chat rooms and message boards but before i read a post i were definitely months to make sure i was welcome to their. [laughter] >> i am noting the title is like you are lurking at the edge of the room so you are welcome to sit down but we will not make you participate in any particular way. but i think with reddit that is so interesting because one of the weird things that i will admit i am on their i read a fair amount of legal advice as a lawyer which is probably a form like critics like i'm causing myself paying viewing other people and i read a fair amount of literature so mib asked whole?

it's funny because it has gotten a lot of people in a way to interact with this form of the internet where if you use twitter someone will supposed something like in my the acyl then people respond on twitter and that is departed from the actual context from the actual post was made. >> so a conversation that is usually quite bizarre and heated in its own way on reddit but if you take it to another platform like twitter there is the underlying irony attached to it so you always have to be above the content and that's what makes twitter distinctive you cannot be too sincere about things. what is incredibly funny about twitter is that i talk about when i first got on i felt

like i was a judgment jerk look at all these nice people showing what they are eating for breakfast and why am i not a nice person everybody's showing the peaceful moments and make weird jokes but now i feel i am overwhelmed with that content and that everything has to be that element of distancing yourself from the platform if you can laugh at everything, you are not so entwined to have a layer personal distance from what you are doing their. >> yes it's like working to be a way to distance yourself that i'm not as invested as those people or someone who was as much of our work or online, it is not a lack of

investment. i'm not less invested. i am more invested than the people who post but i still get that sense of distance. so you frame the book of the idea of becoming a user and one of the things you talk about a fair amount is what i thought was interesting because of features were basically for those who are familiar and whether the online profile they don't want a facebook profile. and people will construct them for them for all the things they do even though they are not on facebook and with that ubiquitous tracking on the web and how that has changed or more specifically?

>> that is another element it's not something possible on the internet to find to track activity and analytics that is just part of the function of the social network. especially something like facebook where the profit is attached to having data on its users. so that is another element to have those advantages that you can leave without a trace and walk away. and perhaps if we don't have the ubiquitous surveillance cameras. [laughter] >> and sort of weaving and the other space. so to switch topics a little bit one part of the book had a

lot of interest which was broader so as someone who has identified with that label, i was appreciating the humility with which you approached it and say you will resist the urge even the grand unified theory you are more likely than feminist commentators in new york. so i will not ask you to read that grand narrative. but just to note those themes that were overly kind to me. i look at that. of tech feminist organizing which is really a lack of attention for that class analysis that ended up pleading over into what i call.

and the way that there is a very different version of feminism and the new york professionals but at the same time it is the version of white feminism. certainly there were with the culture there's a lot to be said about that. but i would be curious about your process with that chapter because a real moment you are reflecting on how not to just come off as nostalgic but historical of a positive crisis and your views and your own reflection. >> absolutely. that was an intense moment and

i opening where at that time i was based in new york and i remember those elements were unavoidable on platforms like twitter and facebook. like the professional feminist media at that time what is addressing some of those elements that went into this harassment. and some of those resources that i found were like deep feminism and just to be so much beyond like a media presentation and with that

period of time of activism. and with the women's margin 2016 and then to come so far. and with that inclusion. and the two years prior and much more broadly. and i'm always hesitant to name certain factors more than others. >> and as dramatic as the

platforms are the nature of having something like twitter that somebody could create a #and then to discuss this and having that community element and then to design for multiple communities. to push forward and i say that with a lot of hesitation for the most part i feel the platforms are designed for everyone. and then with the twitter account and then to the people with the backgrounds that are very different so to see that

experience and their arguments are part of the conversation and part of twitter that had hashtags. so that would be the key turning point for the hashtags for activism, it is something that i don't want to discount but not credit too much i don't want to discount the role but also credit twitter because certainly it has done nothing as a company for that user activism. >> like the ability on twitter to use that platform for movements and organizing and

it doesn't necessarily accredit to twitter but the point the way in which they may choose those that are not like them that are interesting. but one of the challenges is that you can gain a false sense of familiarity despite the fact you never actually interact with them. so that's a tricky bit of using the law on - - online platform as a way to understand or relate to other experiences is you can feel you are much more familiar with them. and specifically those online have talked about how they feel so to talk about that

everybody is the black friend. and with that false sense of familiarity which at the very least and then to get other people's attention. and one of the challenges we talk about they didn't need that to make money. and those other challenges is it could be easy because it is appropriate or not necessarily

accredit people's ideas and i just saw it on twitter. so there is the weird flipside. and through those experiences with interacting. >> going back to twitter. and with those airport workers they would get fired so the platforms might appear to be a representation of public opinion but it's always a very privilege public opinion there are two's take certain risks to share.

and then to make that decision it's embarrassing but we have a community and a moment so it's always been the case with any social media blog of substantially less power assistance so how many times have you seen people complain on twitter and facebook? it's like they do not exist on twitter and part of that is my filter bubble. and i am following a very filtered timeline. but i also know the opportunity are possibly not

even breaking even. so it's very much a last resort for people and then to see people on twitter which is a representation and with that power to share and another thing those strategies and tactics people can take to be porous enough to be open enough to the general public. and that moderator with that designed for women and gaming. if you know anything that is

not the world for them but at the same time to understand they don't want to be so exclusive that a kid in a small town that knows no one else in the town and then to be to their people but then also and what they get through and that could be unfiltered. and how they would be on read it. and then to the moderator.

and that you're not there to control and with that deeper conversation maybe just to create accounts just to get access. but at least it is filtered enough. it's not a solution. >> thank you you sent me a perfectly. [laughter] >> and the take away message it is about the power and those that taught you you don't use the magic of the internet and that is something that has been coming up for a

lot of folks especially more recently i think of platforms like that and those that we are devoted to building community schools. and then to engage with the internet. >> the biggest criticism we have and then to mastodon is a decentralized social network and has a lot of pluses and minuses and the drawbacks that it is kind of hard to get everybody to go through the decentralized network people having been on this platform

and for some people to be quite privileged with a facebook account they are forced to participate and that social sacrifice of giving up that account is too great but if you're in a place where you try to build a community online with people that you already know you would not like to have your data exploited or all of those challenging factors and data breaches and to do tactics not necessarily solutions but it is worth looking into and

sometimes you don't have that ability of those platforms that have elements and with that community to study moderation and this is a technique that is very easy to implement and is on the internet right now so if you are a user you are also a moderator and a user at some point in your life you will probably see a conflict and want to step in if you those that just got our next-door

app. >> and that recognition. with your daily internet activity and people can have conflicts and then to help them disengage and with that situation and that is part of having in one thing we did talk about with this ultra- exclusive internet to be able to afford to login and afford a computer with a significant percentage of the world has used the internet regularly

for that sense of needing to share the space with people who are not like you if you are in a place just do what you can. >> great. thank you so much, thank you for writing it you will be signing them i understand? it is a beautifully written book. thank you. [applause]

more about the organization, who we are, how we work, what kind of people are drawn to the fbi and how we make the decisions we did based on specific legal authorities and priorities and policies given to us by the department of justice, politics and personal preferences.

georgetown university's ben buchanan on the normalizing of cyber warfare as a geopolitical tool. his book is the hacker and the state. >> good morning, everyone. more people are expected to arrive, but i think i saw michael waller, there he is in the back now. he's becoming shy. so is the wilson center's best supporter on the planet and we are giving him a name tag. but welcome. i'm jane harman, president and ceo of the wilson center. it's the best job on the planet because i ge get to talk to geniuses every