Let's start simply. On April 16th I gave a talk at the Atlantic Security Conference (@AtlSecCon) on general privacy issues surrounding border crossings and password disclosure. The talk was called Mandatory Key Disclosure & Self-Incrimination in Canada (you, dear reader and fellow citizen, can find the presentation here). The talk came in the wake of Alain Phillipon's arrest at the Canadian border for refusing to disclosure the password to his phone (I plan on writing an update on this case soon).

To put this in context, the Atlantic Security Conference is a yearly gathering of IT/Security professionals. Most of them are hacker types playing for the "good guys", but all of them look like they're up to mischief (I say this with affection). Forgive my generalization... which will now continue. These people are smart. Above average intelligence all 'round... and they have a very healthy problem with authority (which is part of the reason I liked them all so much - they are also easily convinced to drink beer and dance, but I digress).

I'm slightly ashamed to say the talk took me FOREVER to prepare. Not only did I do what I typically do and got bogged down in the graphic design of the thing, I also agonized over the substantive content. The area remains complex. There's a lot of grey. I went in there with no firm answers - as is more often than not the case.

The talk went great. I praised BevMac, I talked about Law and Order, I dropped an XCKD cartoon, I indulged in my "call to arms" tone.

I had an absolutely fantastic time. Then... there were the questions. I was mobbed. It was fantastic.

These were some of the most challenging questions I had ever grappled with. Some I could answer, some I could not. I was energized. Energized enough to think about it for a while. Energized enough to agonize once again over the details of graphic design. Energized enough to start a blog about tech, the interwebs, and the law.

The tone is a bit informal, as is my way, but the content will be interesting to those who are interested.