Wartime Tech: Submit!

DANGER ROOM pal Annalee Newitz is putting together a conference this January, on Technology in Wartime. And she wants your papers for the confab.

Annalee is the president of the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility. The group's conference, at Stanford University, "will explore how computer technology is used during war -- both for the purposes of combat/defense, as well as for human rights interventions into war-torn regions."

*Topics will range from high tech weapons systems and internet surveillance, to privacy-enhancing technologies that aid human rights workers documenting conditions in war-torn countries and help soldiers communicate their experiences in blogs and e-mail. We are also interested in the history of computer-aided weapons systems. Our goal will be to consider the ethical implications of wartime technologies and how these technologies are likely to affect civilization in years to come. Ultimately we want to engage a pressing question of our time: What should socially-responsible computer professionals do in a time of high tech warfare? *

We welcome proposals from technology experts, military professionals, policy-makers, scholars, and human rights workers on the[se]
issues outlined above... Submit a one-page abstract of your proposal, a short biography, and cover letter by Oct. 15, 2007 to [email protected]

I'll be there; hopefully, some of you guys will be, too.