DEF CON 34 - DEF CON Policy Announcement - Katie Noble, Heather West
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The DEF CON Policy initiative brings together hackers, community members, policymakers, and informed citizens to foster safe conversations about critical topics that shape our digital world. Led by Katie Noble and Heather West, this program aims to bridge the gap between technical expertise and regulatory frameworks, addressing areas such as bug bounties, offensive cyber operations, security practitioner protections, and complex laws like the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). The core mission is to ensure that discussions about technology extend beyond corporate policies to encompass global public policy, recognizing that regulations impact every human on the planet. As technology has evolved into national critical infrastructure essential for safety and daily life, these conversations have become vital rather than merely a nuisance.
The scope of discussion at DEF CON Policy covers a wide array of emerging issues, including harmonizing international regulations and navigating the rapidly expanding landscape of artificial intelligence frameworks, strategies, and plans. The organizers emphasize that while there are countless AI-related developments out there, their focus remains on how these technologies affect society as a whole rather than internal company rules. To facilitate this dialogue, DEF CON is currently accepting proposals for sessions ranging from 25 to 80 minutes, which can take the form of talks or interactive workshops. The team encourages creative submissions and promises to adapt formats to match the unique ideas proposed by the community, ensuring that important conversations happen on stage during the event in Las Vegas.
Beyond attending as a speaker, individuals are invited to join the policy department as volunteers known as attachés who help make the initiative run smoothly behind the scenes. These dedicated supporters work directly with speakers and logistics teams to ensure events succeed without which the organization could not function effectively. For those interested but unwilling or unable to volunteer on stage, simply attending the event in Las Vegas is a welcomed way to participate. The team expresses enthusiasm for receiving creative ideas from anyone who wants to contribute to building better policies that protect everyone's digital future and safety.
Read the full video transcript
Welcome to the US Capitol. I am Katie
Noble. I am the director of policy at
DEF CON.
And I have with me today Heather West. I
am Katie second.
And together we help coordinate a
fantastic initiative called policy at
DEF CON. And policy at DEF CON aims to
bring together hackers and community
members and policy makers and informed
citizens to be able to have safe
conversations about all kinds of
different topics
so that we can build better policy.
We've got hacker stuff and we've got
policy things and we've got where they
meet. Absolutely. And some of the hacker
things that we talk about are things
like bug bounties and offensive cyber
operations,
security
security practitioner protections,
things like laws like the CFAA. How not
to go to jail.
>> How not to go to jail. Very important in
today's age. We talk about policy things
like harmonizing regulations. We talk
about AI, all the AI, so many AI things.
National cyber security frameworks, AI
frameworks, plans, strategies out your
wazoo. Out your wazoo. And we're not
talking about your company's policy.
We're talking about global public
policy. So the idea is that every human
on the planet is impacted by these
policy regulations, laws, and standards.
Technology has gotten to the point these
days where it's not just a nuisance if
we don't have it anymore. It's national
critical infrastructure, it's way of
life, it's safety. All of these things
lead to the criticality of these kinds
of conversations. Yeah. And so we would
love if you would come join us. And
there's a bunch of ways that you can do
that. One, we have a call for proposals
out right now. We want to know what you
want to talk about. What you're thinking
about. What you think is important to
have a conversation about with all of
your hacker friends, all of your policy
friends, and everybody else who wants to
join us. Absolutely. So that call for
for proposals closes May 1st, so please
go ahead and submit to that. You can do
a 25-minute,
50-minute, or an 80-minute session,
talks, or interactive sessions.
We've had in the past some really great
workshops and round tables,
really great talks.
Tell us what you need to have the
conversation you want to have at DEF
CON. Yeah, absolutely. If you're
creative, we'll we'll be creative with
you and try to make that happen. So we
love some good creative juices. You can
also come join us as a volunteer. That's
right. So we have a call for attachés.
These are folks who come and spend their
time in the policy department, work with
speakers, work with the logistics,
and just really get down and dirty with
the policy department.
>> make it all work. Make it all work. We
could not do the things that we do
without our attaché core. And if you
don't want to volunteer, if you don't
want to be up on stage, then you should
just come join us in Las Vegas.
Katie, we're supposed to do something
funny. Oh, no. What do we do now?
Why did the AI go to therapy? I don't
know. It had too many deep learning
issues. Oh!