08-15, 17:00–17:50 (US/Eastern), Marillac Auditorium
Tech platforms can’t be trusted. Oligarchs and billionaires want you to keep giving your data to their Big Tech companies for free so they can sell it and manipulate you into believing nonsense. In this talk, the Lockdown Systems collective will introduce Cyd, their open source desktop app that makes it easy for people to reclaim control over their data from Big Tech. Giving users actual control over their data is challenging when dealing with hostile, enshittified tech platforms like X and Facebook. Cyd bypasses all of that though by putting the user in the driver’s seat: it runs on the user’s own computer, from their own IP address, and it works by automating a web browser on their behalf - and sometimes relying on APIs, when they’re available, free, and don’t suck. It doesn’t share any access to your accounts or your data with the Lockdown Systems collective. Attendees will learn how Cyd works under the hood, how you can use it, and how you can contribute to building tools that challenge the dominance of Big Tech.
redshiftzero is a member of the Lockdown Systems collective. She’s an engineer and researcher working on privacy-enhancing technologies. Previously she’s worked on whistleblowing platforms, anonymity networks, and private payments systems.
Micah Lee is a member of the Lockdown Systems collective. He's a coder, a security engineer, and a journalist. He develops open source privacy and security tools, and he's done a lot of work related to journalism and whistleblowing. He wrote a book that teaches people how to analyze hacked and leaked datasets, Hacks, Leaks, and Revelations.
bluesky: @micahflee.com
fediverse: @micahflee@infosec.exchange
Yael Grauer is a program manager at Consumer Reports, where she conducts cybersecurity research on the policy team. She’s written reports, articles, and consumer guidance on consumer VPNs, memory safety, stalkerware, people search removal services, and so much more. Yael’s background is in investigative tech reporting.
bluesky: @yaelwrites.com
fediverse: @yaelwrites@mastodon.social
github: @yaelwrites/
instagram: @yaelgrauer/
linkedin: yaelgrauer
website: securityplanner.consumerreports.org/
website: yaelwrites.com/
