According to Rotenberg, the conference will be held at the Omni Shoreham hotel, April 6-8 (and I presume that the 5th would be the traditional tutorial day); there's apparently an announcement list: Send SUBSCRIBE to 'cfp99-announce@cfp99.org" the dramatis personae have been revealed: Marc Rotenberg EPIC Washington, DC CFP99 Chair PROGRAM COMMITTEE Carlos Afonso Alliance for Progressive Computing Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL Phil Agre University of California San Diego, California Yaman Akdeniz Centre for Criminal Justice Studies Leeds University London, UNITED KINGDOM Roger Clarke Australian National University Canberra, AUSTRALIA Tracey Cohen Centre For Applied Legal Studies SOUTH AFRICA Lorrie Faith Cranor AT&T Labs-Research Florham Park, New Jersey Simon Davies London School of Economics London, UNITED KINGDOM David Flaherty Office of the Privacy and Information Commissioner British Columbia, CANADA Oscar Gandy Annenburg School of Communication Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Deborah Hurley Harvard Information Infrastructure Project Kennedy School of Government Cambridge, Massachusetts Joichi Ito Digital Garage Tokyo, JAPAN Stephen Lau Privacy Commission HONG KONG Paul McMasters Freedom Forum Rosslyn, Virginia Peter Neumann SRI Menlo Park. California Eli Noam Columbia University New York, New York Jonathan Peizer Open Society Institute New York, New York Bruce Schneier Counterpane Systems Minneapolis, Minnesota Keith Sears Creative Artists Los Angeles, California Barbara Simons USACM Palo Alto, California Ross Stapleton-Gray Electronic Embassy Program Arlington, Virginia Barry Steinhardt Electronic Frontier Foundation San Francisco, California Nadine Strossen American Civil Liberties Union New York, New York Frank Tuerkheimer University of Wisconsin Madison, Wisconsin ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEE Dave Banisar Washington, DC Kathleen Ellis, Washington, DC Lauren Gelman, Washington, DC Bruce Koball Berkeley, California David Sobel Washington, DC Shauna van Dongen Washington, DC FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE Rob Kushen Open Society Institute New York, New York (note - no hackers or activists need apply) The call for participation is scheduled to go out within the week.

No hackers, or activists? Why not don't they have a say about computers also?

They sure do, but they seem to be conspicuously absent from the CFP participant list.

Are they absent because they are not wanted, or because they choose not to participate?

They were uninvited.

The Association for Computing Machinery PRESENTS Computers, Freedom + Privacy 1999 THE GLOBAL INTERNET OMNI SHOREHAM HOTEL WASHINGTON, DC APRIL 6-8, 1999 CALL FOR PROPOSALS The Program Committee of the conference on Computers, Freedom, and Privacy (CFP99) is seeking proposals for the ninth annual CFP, which will be held in Washington DC between April 6th and April 8th 1999 at the Omni Sheraton Hotel. CFP is sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). CFP is the leading Internet policy conference. For almost a decade, CFP has shaped the public debate on the future of privacy and freedom in the online world. The CFP audience is diverse with representatives from government, business, education, non-profits and the media. The themes are broad and forward-looking. CFP explores what will be, not what has been. It is the place where the future is mapped. The theme of the 1999 CFP conference is "The Global Internet." Proposals are welcomed on all aspects of privacy and freedom. The 1999 Program Committee is particularly interested in receiving proposals that deal with: ACCESS TO THE INTERNET, particularly those relating to globalization and governance. Of particular interest are issues of privacy, censorship, free speech and access. INTERNATIONAL ISSUES, especially the emerging issues of global privacy protection, encryption policy, international principles of human rights, regulation, legislation, and copyright. ELECTRONIC COMMERCE, including the impact of payment systems, regulations, and technical standards on personal freedom and privacy. CULTURE AND LANGUAGE ON THE INTERNET, such as the significance of diversity, multilingualism, and cultural representation We strongly encourage proposals that involve leading experts, innovators, policymakers, and thinkers. The CFP99 Program Committee will finalize the selection of proposals by February 1, 1999, and all proposals must be received by January 15, 1999 Please follow the submission guidelines below. CFP99 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Proposals should be sent by email to proposals@cfp99.org before January 15, 1999. Proposals should include the following information: 1. Presentation Title 2. Presentation Type (Panel discussion, Luncheon meeting, Tutorial, "BOF" Session) 3. Proposed Length of Presentation (typical CFP sessions are 1 hour) 4. Name(s) of Speaker(s), plus brief background description for each speaker. 5. A one to two paragraph description of the Topic and Format, suitable for conference brochure and press release. 6. Complete contact information (email, phone, and mailing address). For presentations with more than one speaker, please provide contact information for all of the proposed speakers. For more information on the Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conferences, please visit the conference Web page http://www.cfp99.org. If your have further questions about CFP, please feel free to contact a member of the Program Committee. PROGRAM COMMITTEE Marc Rotenberg, EPIC and ACM, Washington, DC, CFP99 Chair Carlos Afonso, Alliance for Progressive Computing, Rio de Janeiro, BRAZIL Phil Agre, University of California, San Diego, California Yaman Akdeniz, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies, Leeds University, London, UNITED KINGDOM Roger Clarke, Australian National University, Canberra, AUSTRALIA Tracey Cohen, Centre For Applied Legal Studies, SOUTH AFRICA Lorrie Faith Cranor, AT&T Labs-Research, Florham Park, New Jersey Simon Davies, London School of Economics, London, UNITED KINGDOM David Flaherty, Office of the Privacy and Information Commissioner, British Columbia, CANADA Oscar Gandy, Annenburg School of Communication, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Deborah Hurley, Harvard Information Infrastructure Project, Kennedy School of Government, Cambridge, Massachusetts Joichi Ito, Digital Garage, Tokyo, JAPAN Stephen Lau, Privacy Commission, HONG KONG Paul McMasters, Freedom Forum, Rosslyn, Virginia Peter Neumann, SRI, Menlo Park. California Eli Noam, Columbia University, New York, New York Jonathan Peizer, Open Society Institute, New York, New York Bruce Schneier, Counterpane Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota Keith Sears, Creative Artists, Los Angeles, California Barbara Simon, ACM, Palo Alto, California Ross Stapleton-Gray, Electronic Embassy Program, Arlington, Virginia Barry Steinhardt, American Civil Liberties Union, New York Nadine Strossen, American Civil Liberties Union, New York, New York Frank Tuerkheimer, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin FUNDRAISING COMMITTEE Rob Kushen, Open Society Institute, New York, New York PREVIOUS CFP CHAIRS Jim Warren, Woodside, California (CFP91) Lance Hoffman, George Washington University, Washington, DC (CFP92) Bruce Koball, Berkeley, California (CFP93) George Trubow, John Marshall School of Law, Chicago, Illinois (CFP94) Carey Heckman, Stanford Law School, Stanford, California (CFP95) Hal Abelson, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts (CFP96) Kent Walker, Netscape Communication, Mountain View, California (CFP97) Mark Lemley, University of Texas School of Law, Austin, Texas (CFP98)