Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference

The Computers, Freedom and Privacy Conference (or CFP, or the Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy) is an annual academic conference held in the United States or Canada about the intersection of computer technology, freedom, and privacy issues. The conference was first held in 1991 in Burlingame, California.^[1] Since at least 1999,^[2] it has been organized under the aegis of the Association for Computing Machinery. It was originally sponsored by CPSR.

Attendees include high-level government officials, grassroots advocates, and programmers.^[3]

Panelists at the 2009 CFP

The first annual US Big Brother Awards were made at CFP99 on Wednesday 7 April 1999,^[1] the 50th anniversary of the publication of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The awards were made by the London-based Privacy International to recognize "the government and private sector organizations which have done the most to invade personal privacy in the United States."^[4] Simon Davies, managing director of Privacy International, presented the awards, otherwise known as Orwell's. There were five categories of award: Greatest Corporate Invader, Lifetime Menace, Most Invasive Program, People's Choice, and Worst Public Official.^[5]

Key Figures

• Jim Warren, Founder and Organizer. He was the primary organizational force who conceived the idea of a conference to address the "Hacker Crackdown" and digital liberties.^[6]
• Mitch Kapor, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation(EFF). Provided the crucial funds necessary to launch the first conference.
• John Perry Barlow, co-founder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation(EFF). his rhetoric and participation in the "Crypto War" and other policy's debates as fundamental battles of the CFP
• Dorothy Denning, Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown. Chaired many key sessions and often argued the necessity of government access.
• Judi Clark, Conference Organizer and Archivist. Central part of the logistical organization of the early conferences. Her personal papers form a key archive of the CFP history
• Marc Rotenberg, represented the Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility(CPSR) and later the Electronic Privacy Information Center(EPIC), keeping the focus on privacy and government accountability