Comment by pinkgolem

1 day ago

How is it computer adjacent, keep in mind, it's a talk about how the media communicates things...

Surveillance was the political topic of 2020, so there was quite a few talks about that, migration is the political topic 2025, so there are a lot of talks about that

There are also other unrelated things which do not have a lot to do with computers, like "all creatures welcome".

> Surveillance was the political topic of 2020, so there was quite a few talks about that, migration is the political topic 2025, so there are a lot of talks about that

There is one important difference: surveillance is a deeply computer-/hacking-related topics while migration isn't.

So I would say a talk about surveillance (as long as it is relevant for hacking topics) typically has its place while it is much harder to find a reason why a talk about migration has relevance for a hacking conference.

  • The linked surveillance talk has nearly 0 references to computers and is all about media/reporting

    • > The linked surveillance talk has nearly 0 references to computers and is all about media/reporting

      (link to the talk: https://media.ccc.de/v/34c3-8969-die_sprache_der_uberwacher )

      Surveillance has relevance to core CCC/hacking topics (privacy is a central topic against which hackers fight), so I can understand why the organisers decided to include this talk in the schedule: they considered it to be a good idea that the audience should also get a "non-computer perspective" on a topic that is highly relevant to hackers.

      But I agree that for the decision to include or not include this specific talk, the organisers have to apply an exceptionally good judgement: if they make a "wrong" decision here, people will immediately (rightfully) complain that the talks are too political (or if they "wronged" by non-inclusion of this talk, the other side will complain that important topics are omitted).

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