THEME: ENGAGE
The internet is our Global Commons and we rely on it in ways
we couldn’t have predicted a few decades ago. Unfortunately the internet has been slipping out of our hands and it is becoming more noticeable.
There are a lot of reasons for this. Tech monopolies doing tech monopoly stuff is a big one. In the name of efficiency and control the internet has become more centralised and less resilient. The move away from open protocols and publicly maintained standards is another.
At some point the speculators demand to be paid, and the platforms we’ve built little universes around start removing services and raising prices. The apps begin to intrude on us more, leveraging our data for cash. Terms of Service and dark pattern updates. Everything gets worse fast.
Cory Doctorow calls this process ‘enshittification’. He has a lot of good ideas about how to reverse it and you really should watch his DC31 presentation if you haven’t. (On the Media Server, or
YouTube)
Cory’s talk resonated with a lot of us. The germ of this year’s theme started to form. What is the opposite of enshittification?
How do we respond to this trend as a community?
We Engage.
To take back the internet we need to engage.
There are open alternatives to many of the services the App Lords are serving up. We can join them, use them and invite others. If they’re not as robust or full-featured as we want, we can help improve them. If no open alternative exists, we can pool our talents and create one like our friends in the Cult of the Dead Cow did with Veilid. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb1lKscAMDQ)
If the rules need changing, there’s a whole world of policy that is always looking for feedback. We encourage you to check out the Policy Community at DEF CON.. We encourage you to get involved locally wherever you fit in. Engagement is the antidote to apathy.
Join a DEF CON Group and share what you know. Show someone you care about how to escape the walled gardens and echo chambers.
Share your engagement ideas with us at defcon.social or on the DEF CON Forums and we’ll amplify. We’ll highlight the coolest ideas and projects you share with us, both online and at DC32.
The important thing is to get involved, nothing blooms where nothing is planted.
We can give the future a fighting chance. We can help open solutions flourish. We can build public alternatives to privatized space. We can both consume culture AND create it. The future we want is open, secure and accessible. The walled gardens have had their day.
VISUALS
Logo
Fonts
Sofachrome
Neuropol X
Lato
Palette
- #FFAC11 | Pantone 7408C
- #892BE1 | Pantone 527C
- #DB1675 | Pantone 219C
- #0A7985 | Pantone 5483C
The visual vibes for this year are inspired by Mar Williams’ art and what Tumblr tastemakers would call the ‘Y2K Aesthetic’. A rave flyer left under your windshield. The logo of a hip cybercafe with a T1. The turn of the century was electric with possibilities, both good and bad. We had to create a whole new iconography for the internet, and the energy spilled out everywhere. The future looked frictionless and holographic, crystalline and superclean.
The widespread adoption of the Web felt revolutionary. The potential of this new tool was boundless, and that feeling of limitless possibility was all over pop culture. That’s the feeling we’re trying to capture.
Sure, some shady developers want to turn our commons into a strip mall. They don’t have to have the last word. When you’re putting together your stickers, badges, and other goodies for DEF CON 32, keep this vibe in your heart.
HOMEWORK
Media:
For books and movies to get you in the headspace, we’re selecting works that center around the difference that can be made by a small group of determined people, even when there’s already a little dystopia to deal with. Here’s a book list to get you started.
Books:
Hacking Politics - How Geeks, Progressives, The Tea Party, Gamers, Anarchists and Suits Teamed Up to Defeat SOPA
Kim Stanley Robinson : New York 2140
also from KSR - Mars Trilogy, Aurora
Octavia Butler: Parable of the Sower
Becky Chambers: Wayfarers Series - The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet
Neal Stephenson - Seveneves
Movies:
Seven Samurai
*****ren of Men
Snowpiercer
We Live in Public