Douglas Lucas was originally scheduled to speak at Burning Books back in February but got sick and had to reschedule. In fact, Douglas paid the overblown airfare cancellation fee himself so that he could re-use the ticket we bought him to come speak at Burning Books this month, and we believe that says something.

Cory Perla at The Public has this to say just before the February event was cancelled:

[DISCUSSION] Want to learn more about the internet’s most mysterious and mischievous factions, Anonymous? Well writer Douglas Lucas is a journalist who has dedicated himself to covering the workings of the secretive hacktavist group for several years and he comes to Buffalo’s Burning Books to do a presentation on the subject... Lucas has reported on the group’s activities for websites like Vice, Salon, Daily Dot, Nerve, and more. In 2014, he wrote an article for The Daily Dot titled “Barrett Brown Pleads Guilty: What it Means for Hacker Journalism,” about the journalist Barrett Brown’s plea deal “stemming from his reporting on a high-profile Anonymous hack”, which seems to have in part, something to do with Barrett’s protection of his sources within the hacker group, ANTISEC, which hacked the government security think tank Stratfor. In the article, Lucas talks about the implications of prosecuting a journalist as payback for their reporting. He writes: “While a plea deal does not set a legal precedent, it raises the chilling question of what the Department of Justice may do to other ‘hacktivist journos’ who report on leaked documents or protect their hacker sources.” Lucas will discuss these delicate issues and more this Thursday.

For those of us still a bit in the dark when it comes to new technology, here's a brief overview of the dire situation that Douglas will be addressing:

The FBI and other enemies of the people have been shifting towards privatizing various forms of surveillance and intelligence gathering. This is in-part because of special protections bestowed upon corporations over government agencies. The government, for example, is subject to the Freedom of Information Act, while corporations are not. In addition, certain dominant corporations within nefarious industries (such as Monsanto), have increasingly invested in their own surveillance and intelligence gathering against activists and organizations opposing their business practices. Thus a private sector of surveillance-for-hire has bloomed. Little would be known about this if it weren't for a computer hack into the private intelligence platform Stratfor (AKA Strategic Forecasting) by hacktivists associated with ANTISEC, including current political prisoner Jeremy Hammond and Barrett Brown, just released from prison last November. Douglas Lucas' groundbreaking journalism on Stratfor, the ANTISEC hack, and the cyber-industrial complex sheds much-needed light on the contemporary realities of what social justice struggles are up against.

More about Douglas Lucas at: [ Ссылка ]

More on political prisoner Jeremy Hammond at: [ Ссылка ]

More on former political prisoner Barrett Brown at: [ Ссылка ]

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