The RSA Conference, the world’s largest computer security conference held in San Francisco’s Moscone Center, started yesterday and will continue through February 28.
It might not be too late to register, but at least 11 of their speakers have boycotted the conference by canceling last-minute. Now, comedian Stephen Colbert is on the bullseye for being one of the RSA’s star speakers.
Speakers who are boycotting include technology experts from Google and various security firms. They’re concerned about allegations that RSA, a pioneer in the security software industry, agreed to incorporate a flawed encryption formula into a widely used security product in accordance with a secret $10 million NSA contract.
“In my opinion, RSA has a serious trust issue,” said Jeffrey Carr, CEO of a security firm called Taia Global Inc. and one of the speakers who has decided to cancel his talk and boycott the conference. “I think they’ll just let it die down. There’s been little uproar, even among the security people,” he added.
If those who oppose this boycott it, doesn’t that just make the conference appear more unanimous and supportive of the policies?
Running away rarely solves problems.
Not when they’re on site boycotting it, and the nearby opposition conference is totally sold out.