Presentation from creator of PrivacyTests.org?

[Jason]

I've been having an email conversation with the creator of the website privacytests.org, Arthur Edelstein. Bill shared the link with his post here. He's tested multiple popular browsers to compare how well they protect your privacy.

I initially wrote with some questions and then thought he'd make an interesting presenter especially after finding out that he also worked as a Tor developer for 4.5 years.

He's happy to do the talk over Jitsi with a 10-minute slideshow and then open it to a free-flowing discussion. He's open to other approaches as well. Arthur submitted this message as a summary:

Arthur Edelstein was previously a browser developer at the Tor Project and was formerly at Mozilla as a Product Manager for Firefox Privacy and Security. He currently develops PrivacyTests.org, an independent, open-source privacy audit for web browsers.

"Over the past 25 years, the Web has grown to become an essential communications medium for billions of people. Unfortunately, web browsers have numerous baked-in vulnerabilities that silently leak everyone's private data to corporations and governments. I believe this flaw constitutes a serious threat to freedom and human rights. I will give an overview of the challenges we face in bringing privacy to the web. Let's discuss what can be done about this problem!"

Obviously, I'm gung-ho about the presenter and presentation. What do you guys think? Would you go? And if so, what block of time would you prefer (morning, evening, etc.) and day or week? I could just pick a date/time but I want to get the most out possible since it's rare we have a presenter.



Update: I've added a summary of the meeting that Arthur has suggested.

[fox]

I would be interested. If in the evening, days other than Monday or Tuesday would be preferred.

[ssfc72]

I would be interested. Sometime in the evening (except Thursday) would be best.

[Jason]

It looks like Wednesday might be the best bet. What about on a weekend afternoon. Last time we have several members starting to doze so wondering if earlier in the day might be better.

If I can get him, would you guys be up for the presentation next week or do you think we should put it back some to get the word out? There might be other clubs like the Durham PC group members that might want to attend.

I'd love for Arthur to present to more than us few devotees but I'm sure he's happy to regardless. He asked for some details of the group and you know me, I wrote a long response, likely longer than he wanted to read. And I was honest about the size of our group. He was still interested! You guys are just that good.

[ssfc72]

I forgot to suggest, that you should send out an email to the Group on the PLUG Protonmail List. That might get the word out to more people that would be interested.

[fox]

It looks like Wednesday might be the best bet. What about on a weekend afternoon. Last time we have several members starting to doze so wondering if earlier in the day might be better.

If I can get him, would you guys be up for the presentation next week or do you think we should put it back some to get the word out? There might be other clubs like the Durham PC group members that might want to attend.

....

I'm OK with either Wednesday or a weekend afternoon, assuming I'm available on the day.

I think it would be nice to invite the Durham PC club, as we get invited to their events. And more attendees is better.

[Jason]

Good idea. We'll invite them. Since this presentation isn't just specific to Linux, I think they'd find it informative.

I'll try and get back to you guys over the weekend. I also think I'm going to send out an email to our group to see how much interest there is. With you guys, I know a few people will be coming but I'd like to find out if more would be.

[BrianP]

Sure sounds good  to me!

[Jason]

A bit of an update. Arthur suggested just limiting the meeting to PLUG members this time around so that we have a small enough group to have a roundtable discussion around privacy, etc.

I'd like to record the meeting and post it on YouTube. I'll ask at the beginning of the meeting if that's okay and if anyone objects, I won't. I could also just record his presentation. He's okay with it as long as everyone's comfortable.

[Jason]

We're pushing back the presentation one week so we can give everyone a little more notice. So the meeting will be on Friday, February 25th at 7 pm instead of tomorrow night. I'll put out an official announcement this weekend. I hope you can all make it!