Putin’s brutal aggression in Ukraine has put cyberwar back in headlines. Recently, Carey Parker, host of the Firewalls Don’t Stop Dragons podcast, reached out to us at Tech Learning Collective to talk through some of the issues the war in Ukraine has once again raised for laypeople who may be newly concerned about the reliance we’ve developed as a society on digital infrastructures. So, late last month, we sat down with him for another conversation about what anyone and, arguably, everyone could be doing not only to keep themselves safer online, but also prepared in the event of an escalation of hostilities in a cyber theater, rapid shifts in political climates, or even just natural disasters that affect telecommunication abilities.
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Firewalls Don't Stop Dragons: Luck Favors the Prepared
The Enragés: Next Time the Pendulum Swings, Part 2
Earlier this month, we republished part 1 of our interview with The Enragés, where we discussed our blog post, Imagining an Optimistic Cyber-Future. In this post, you’ll find the conclusion of our conversation along with a (somewhat rushed) transcript of the same. Here, we touch on ways in which capitalism has constrained people’s telecommunication abilities, we describe some of our inspiration from earlier political thinkers, and we even answer a couple of listener questions.
Testimonials
“inspired me to check out my packets while surfing the web on Tor”
Jackie and I attended a workshop about Tor by the Tech Learning Collective this weekend, and it inspired me to check out my packets while surfing the web on Tor.
“enlightening[,…] practical, and solution-oriented”
I joined Tech Learning Collective’s “Practical Digital Security” workshop because I had heard how easy it was to find out personal information about people on websites without their knowledge or permission and their workshop description promised to show me how I could protect myself from this sort of thing.
It did not disappoint! Not only did the workshop cover this topic directly, the instructor showed us exactly how “doxing” happens and the specific data broker websites that are used. For me, it was enlightening to learn about specific companies involved (augh, Facebook, of course!) and tools that I could use to automatically notify me of my personal information being out there, like Google Alerts and Firefox Monitor.
But there was so much more, too. I’m impressed at how practical and solution-oriented the whole experience felt. At the end of the workshop, I got the feeling that everyone got all their questions answered, which is really rare for classes like this.
“captured my imagination and has me inspired”
I found Tech Learning Collective’s “Our Streets, Our Maps” was a highly informative and stimulating workshop. The instructor did an excellent job illustrating the great versatility of OpenStreetMap and demonstrating the wide range of queries it can satisfy. As someone who’d never before used OpenStreetMap, this workshop captured my imagination and has inspired me to plumb the depths of this valuable resource!
“an amazing educational organization that can teach you all about online security.”
In unpredictable times, we need to keep each other safe. To do so, you don’t need to be a tech whiz or fluent coder. Plenty of volunteer developers have already made tools and applications to help you and your team increase safety and privacy without sacrificing functionality.
[Tech Learning Collective is] an amazing educational organization that can teach you all about online security. I owe much of this guide to what I have learned from them and the personal research their work has inspired. TLC has recently started to do more webinars (event calendar), so their work is now accessible from anywhere!