Tech Learning Collective

Technology education for radical organizers and revolutionary communities.

  • October 19, 2019 3:30 PM October 19, 2019 5:30 PM
  • 1360 Fulton Street, Ground Floor Brooklyn NY 11216 United States
  • Status: CONFIRMED

Free or donation-based!

Tickets are no longer available for this event.

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Event description

Brooklyn Community Pride Center in collaboration with the Tech Learning Collective presents: Digital Defenses for the People: Practical Digital Security, a two-hour, beginner-friendly introduction to digital safety. This workshop will cut through the fear, uncertainty, and doubt generated by the frenetic news cycle and the latest Internet privacy listicle, and offer an opportunity to ask the Tech Learning Collective’s cybersecurity trainers your most pressing online privacy and digital security questions.

Learning how to stay safe online is on many people’s minds, but how do you start this process? With so many tools and suggestions from “experts,” how do you know which tool to use, when, and in what situation? Do you really need a VPN? (And what even is that?) What are the tools you really should use, and which tools aren’t worth it? Moreover, without being a cybersecurity expert yourself, how do you learn to sniff out the useful stuff from the placebos?

This beginner’s workshop taught by the Tech Learning Collective’s cybersecurity trainers offers a simple framework anyone can use to understand what risks they might face and how to protect themselves from those risks. Developed and maintained by the Anarcho-Tech NYC Collective, an independent cybersecurity research group that provides digital security services to anti-fascist groups in New York City, this framework now forms the basis of many digital safety workshops. It is a simple three-by-three grid in which you can place both yourself and your online safety concerns by answering a few intuitive questions like “How likely is it that I will be targeted?” and “How many resources (money, people, etcetera) does my attacker have?”

Although there are many good and free tools available, most people only need to use a few basic ones: a secure messaging application (like Signal), a password manager (like KeePass or Bitwarden, and a few of the built-in features of their existing computers, like the full-disk encryption software available for free on every modern laptop and smartphone. This short, calming introduction to digital safety cuts through the fear, uncertainty, and doubt generated by the frenetic news cycle and the latest Internet privacy listicle. You’ll leave this workshop with a security plan in place, and a much clearer picture of the first few steps you should take to protect yourself and your information both online and offline.

Reservation tickets are offered on a first-come, first-served basis, but no one will be turned away for lack of funds:

Class space is limited to 12 students! Please arrive 5 to 10 minutes early to reserve your seat and make your donation, or make your donation now and get your reservation ticket online. If the suggested rate is cost-prohibitive, we encourage attendees to pay whatever is comfortable for them. For accommodations, please email the Tech Learning Collective at techlearningcollective@riseup.net.

You do not need to bring a laptop or smartphone to class, but may want to do so to follow along with the exercises.

As with all Tech Learning Collective events, racism, queerphobia, transphobia, sexism, “brogrammer,” “manarchist,” or any kind of similarly awful behavior will result in immediate removal from class without a refund. Please refer to our lightweight social rules for details on our strictly enforced no-tolerance policy against bigotry of any kind.

About Tech Learning Collective

Tech Learning Collective is an apprenticeship-based technology school that trains politically self-motivated individuals in the arts of hypermedia, Information Technology, and radical political practice. We offer unparalleled free, by-donation, and low-cost computer classes on topics ranging from fundamental computer literacy to the same offensive computer hacking techniques used by national intelligence agencies and military powers (cyber armies). For more information and to enroll, visit TechLearningCollective.com.

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