On Tuesday, April 24, 2001, at 08:42 PM, Declan McCullagh wrote: > That might be me, not sure from your description. I do speak > frequently at conferences, including libertarian ones, and probably > (to be frank) wouldn't be as good as some other listdenizens. I've got > deadlines, and usually only have 1-3 hours to prepare for a > presentation. Others might have more time to prepare, and better > technical or mathematical knowledge. *shrug* > > But Tim, I *have* recommended that at least one conference organizer > contact you for a paying gig, and I don't recall you taking it. :) > Not a single such conference organizer has contacted me. For either a paying gig or a freebie from me. I'm not meaning to sound bitter, just bemused that conferences on things like "anonymity in cyberspace" (a conference a few years ago in Southern California, as I recall) had a bunch of journalists and academics, but none of the Bay Area folks who unveiled the most interesting remailers and did much to explore the implications. Ditto for numerous other conferences. It seems organizers take the easy way out: they call a bunch of writers and journalists who agree to do some off the cuff speculation. A friend of mine pointed out some years ago that the only guests ever seen on the Jay Leno or David Letterman shows, or similar shows, are those who are there to "pimp" their latest movie, book, or cause. This is probably why Wendy Grossman agreed, as a journalist, to be interviewed by another journalist: she has a book to publicize. I expect the CFP Conference, which even half a dozen years ago had way too many journalists "comped" into it, will eventually consist mostly of journalists on panels, journalists giving keynotes (that they spent an hour or two preparing ideas for), journalists in the audience, and journalists standing in the food line. Oh, and the government narcs and spies taking notes on who's advocating thoughtcrime. Not that this is a new phenomenon. --Tim May
