Reviewing the Pirate Security Conference
The 10th annual Pirate Security Conference took place on Feb. 17 and 18, 2024. This event is organized by our friends at Pirate Party of Germany with assistance from Pirate Parties International and additional partners. It takes place under the backdrop of the Munich Security Conference. This year we had perhaps the best lineup of speakers ever. A newspaper article was written about the conference and how it highlighted the issue of drone warfare. You can read the German article here: https://www.heise.de/news/Piraten-Konferenz-Drohnenstreitkraefte-wollen-hoch-hinaus-9635066.html
The following blog presents some of our own reflections about the conference together with some of our own pictures of the event. A big thanks to Alexander Kohler, the foreign policy spokesperson for the Pirates in Germany, who is the main coordinator of the Pirate Security Conference. We also thank the PPI Board member Sebastian Krone for diligently running the technology for the conference from backstage. Also, we want to thank the many additional people who helped to put this conference together, from those who spoke on security topics to those who volunteered with serving drinks. You all made the event a great success.
Alexander Kohler speaking at the conference.
Sebastian Krone running the technology from backstage.
Many speakers expressed concern with the rate of technological innovation in warfare. One main issue was the rapid developments with the Russian war in Ukraine. Mikuláš Peksa, a Czech European Parliament Member, discussed dilemmas in Europe of properly obtaining weapons. Further debate included remarks from Benjamin Tallis of the German Society for Foreign Policy that countries were not sufficiently prepared for a changing reality of drone warfare. Ronan Eidelmann, founder of the Institute for Positive Technology in Jerusalem, illustrated the potential pitfalls of relying on drones and surveillance technology. He highlighted how security systems failed when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th and the issues with surveillance that is too heavily reliant on AI. Other speakers also spoke heavily about the role of AI, not just for military issues, but other matters of personal security and privacy.
Mikuláš Peksa speaking on European standards for military aid.
Benjamin Tallis and Aaron Gasch Burnett discussing Germany’s unique security issues.
Ronen Eidelman discusses AI’s pitfalls when providing security for Israel.
There were a lot of controversies surrounding online ethics and AI use cases. Computer science professor Florian Gallwitz made the claim that large language models of companies, such as OpenAI and Google, can handle various tasks effectively. However, participants countered by pointing out limitations, especially in tasks like programming and ethically making decisions. Anja Hirschel who is running as the lead German candidate for the Pirates for the European Parliament, discussed AI and copyright and the need for clearer regulations that also would protect individuals’ privacy. Aside from merely AI, other issues of online dangers were discussed. Sara Hjalmarsson from the Pirate Party of Sweden spoke about the dangers of online recruitment of extremists, which can lead to people’s radicalization. She cautioned about when we should be worried.
Florian Gallwitz making positive claims for the value of AI.
Anja Hirschel speaking on the need for privacy laws
Sara “Beau” Hjalmarsson discussing “How to Turn Your Grandmom into a Terrorist”
Aside from these topics, there were a number of topics discussed during the 2-day conference. It really was a spectacular venue, held in a beautiful design building. There was a really good attendance from a variety of Pirates and people from various academic and political fields. We present below a few more pictures from the conference. We hope that the conference will continue strong for another 1o years and that more and more people will get involved.
