Elevate Media and Technology

In recent years, Wikileaks, Snowden reports and the NSA scandal have helped to make the general public aware of the ambivalence of new technologies. While facilitating a democratization of knowledge, decisions, information and production, they also open a gateway to mass surveillance. For several years now, the Elevate Festival has provided a platform for controversial discourse on topics such as Post Privacy, anonymity in the Internet, redefining privacy in the Internet Age, and Internet policy issues.

Prominent guests of the very first festival edition included Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, the "Big Brother Awards" co-founder and journalist Erich Moechel and Phil Zimmermann, inventor of the world's most widely used email encryption software, PGP. In subsequent years, the range of topics has expanded, and many inspiring projects, such as Linux, Funkfeuer, History Commons, Democracy Now!, FreedomBox, TOR and Cryptocat, have been presented at Elevate. Updates, opportunities, risks and current developments are the cornerstones of this session.