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DerbyCon Will Hold Its Last InfoSec Conference in September This Year (derbycon.com)
DerbyCon 9.0, the upcoming edition of the popular InfoSec conference in September, will be its last. From an official announcement: When we first started DerbyCon, our goal was to create a conference where we could all come together to collaborate and share as a community, but most importantly as a profession. DerbyCon 1.0 was a huge gamble for us both personally and financially, but we believed in what we were doing, and it worked. For those that don't know the history of DerbyCon, it started off inside of a pizza shop as an idea between a few friends. Our goal was to create an affordable conference that shared a lot of what we had experienced in our early days in security. The ideas of collaboration, community, and the betterment of the industry and the safety of technology were at the forefront. At the end of DerbyCon 1.0, we realized that the conference was a huge success and our dream became a reality.
[...] What we have had to deal with on the back-end the past few years is more than just running a conference and sharing with friends. The conference scene in general changed drastically and small pocket groups focus on outrage and disruption where there is no right answer (regardless of how you respond, it's wrong), instead of coming together, or making the industry better. There is a small, yet vocal group of people creating negativity, polarization, and disruption, with the primary intent of self-promotion to advance a career, for personal gain, or for more social media followers. Individuals that would have us be judge, jury, and executioner for people they have had issues with outside of the conference that has nothing to do with the conference itself.
Instead of working hard in research, being a positive force in the industry, or sharing their own unique experiences (which makes us better as a whole), they tear others down in order to promote themselves. This isn't just about DerbyCon, it is present at other conferences as well and it's getting worse each year. We've spoken with a number of conference organizers, and each year it becomes substantially more difficult to host a conference where people can come together in large group settings. It's not just conferences either. This behavior is happening all over the place on social media, in our industry, targeting people trying to do good. As a community, we add fuel to fire, attack others, and give them a platform in one massive toxic environment. We do this all in fear of repercussions from upsetting others. Until this pattern changes, it will continue to get worse.
[...] What we have had to deal with on the back-end the past few years is more than just running a conference and sharing with friends. The conference scene in general changed drastically and small pocket groups focus on outrage and disruption where there is no right answer (regardless of how you respond, it's wrong), instead of coming together, or making the industry better. There is a small, yet vocal group of people creating negativity, polarization, and disruption, with the primary intent of self-promotion to advance a career, for personal gain, or for more social media followers. Individuals that would have us be judge, jury, and executioner for people they have had issues with outside of the conference that has nothing to do with the conference itself.
Instead of working hard in research, being a positive force in the industry, or sharing their own unique experiences (which makes us better as a whole), they tear others down in order to promote themselves. This isn't just about DerbyCon, it is present at other conferences as well and it's getting worse each year. We've spoken with a number of conference organizers, and each year it becomes substantially more difficult to host a conference where people can come together in large group settings. It's not just conferences either. This behavior is happening all over the place on social media, in our industry, targeting people trying to do good. As a community, we add fuel to fire, attack others, and give them a platform in one massive toxic environment. We do this all in fear of repercussions from upsetting others. Until this pattern changes, it will continue to get worse.
What the shit? Reminds me of when the FTC lady had an issue with the girls on hacker pyramid at Defcon and I told her to STFU or leave, nobody is forcing you to be there. I had feminist hanging off every single one of my tweets for a week and calling who they thought my employer was and trying to get me fired. Don't get me wrong, I love women and I believe in equality but seriously if you don't like something, leave.
You canâ(TM)t have freedom to express yourself without the freedom to cause someone to feel insulted.
The two are related, if you cannot insult someone. Nearly all free speech is bound to make someone feel bad. If you say you got bad customer service, the service agent will feel bad. Nearly all speech will make somebody feel bad.
Why do people, especially value-neutral technically-focused people ... not just start saying: No!
No. We want to focus on our stuff and have no obligation to engage with your issues.
No. We will not ban people because you want us to.
No. You cannot have special treatment. You get the same as everyone else. Nothing more, nothing less.
No. We will not enforce your Purity Code of Conduct. Want an ethics code? Use the ACM's. Or the IEEE.
No. Your chosen group membership does not compensate for your lack of ability. Meritocracy or GTFO.
No. You have not been elected, and do not represent the community you claim to defend.
No. We will not apologise for our intrinsic attributes, whether skin color or lifestyle choices.
No. Your ideological goals will not cause your behaviour to be overlooked or forgiven. You are what you do.
And in return: You get the same freedom from our interference.
The VILENESS of some activists, both left and right, but increasingly primarily on the left,
is despicable. Bipolar, partisan, nastiness. 100% agreement or you will be purged and punished.
Instead of merely a "2 minute hate" session, they are in a continual state of ideological fervour.
And like children, they are constantly calling for Authority to bring force down on their enemies.
More rules. More control. More force. Comply or be purged.
If this is not how you want to live, it is time to start telling them: NO!
Or is this now Radical as well?
(R)ule in Hell or (S)erve in Heaven [R]?
Don't get me wrong, I love women and I believe in equality
You shouldn't have to f'ing write that... but lately I find myself making similar half baked apologies in my posts as well. The fact that you feel you need to make this clear in advance is a sign of how toxic public debate has become.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
#metoo is a hashtag used by sexual assault victims.
No, #metoo WAS a hashtag used by sexual assault victims by the time this happen it had become a hash tag used by whiners and outright frauds.
Look at the person doing the complaining on twitter she outright stated, this incident amounted to sexual assault. It SHE who is making light of tragic things that have happened to real victims, so that she can be popular on twitter. She is the one doing real harm to the cause and you are too by defending her! Yes someone made very stupid joke in very poor taste about a serious matter. Hey I guess we'd better string anyone who has ever played cards against humanity and especially its creators up right away right? Oh no because they are 'woke' or whatever.
Bad taste though it might be it really is harmless fun. By acting like its even in the same universe of concern of what is actually "sexual assault" that is where the real trivialization is occurring. You should be assumed of yourself.
Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
> But this is the point. If you leave a whiteboard somewhere, it is likely that someone will write something on it. Maybe interesting, probably not, potentially offensive.
If you invite people to write / draw whatever, some idiot will draw a penis. How long it takes before someone draws a penis in different situations is a measurable quantity known as TTP, time to penis.
An area for further study is TTPE, time to penis erasure. This is how long after the penis is drawn until some reasonable person comes by and erases it.
Recently we've been seeing an inversion. TTPE is sometimes higher (longer time) than TTSJW, meaning a whack job has the opportunity to see it and go insane prior to a reasonable person erasing it.