Surveillance, Snowden and Security

On Saturday 20 June the York Festival of Ideas will delve into the controversial world of intelligence gathering, surveillance, fragile states, media coverage of conflict, crime and terrorism and cyber security. This focus day plays host to experts in the field of cryptology and coding, journalism, and security, debating the ethics and truth behind implications of surveillance.

Saturday 20 June

11.00am - 12.15am

Cracking the Code

Keynote address by Professor Bill Sherman, Director of Research, V&A on Decoding the Renaissance: 500 Years of Codes and Ciphers

Followed by Panel Discussion with:

Professor John Clark, Department of Computer Science, University of York

Dr Rene Zandbergen, Voynich Manuscript expert

Sir Dermot Turing, nephew of Alan Turing and Trustee of the Bletchley Park Trust

Professor Bill Sherman, Director of Research at the V&A, and University of York

1.00pm - 2.30pm

The Future of Cyber Security

Rory Cellan Jones in conversation with Professor Bebo White. Professor White was a member of the team at CERN who posted the world's first website and is regarded as America's first Webmaster. He will discuss the astonishing naiveté of the early internet pioneers and the unforseen consequences of the explosion of the internet.

Followed by a panel discussion with:

Professor Bebo White, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Stanford University

Professor Tim Spiller, University of York

Professor Fred Piper, Royal Holloway, University of London

Colin Williams, SBL, University of Warwick and De Montfort University

Nicholas Swift, Security Executive for Accenture

Chair: Rory Cellan Jones , BBC News Technology Correspondent

3.00pm - 4.30pm

Surveillance, Snowden and Security

Keynote Address by Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian and Edward Snowden

Followed by a panel discussion with:

Professor Sultan Barakat, Post-War Reconstruction and Development, University of York and Brookings Institute

Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian

4.45pm - 5.15pm

Intelligence’s Role in Defending Europe

An opportunity to hear from NATO’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations and Intelligence, Major General Gordon ‘Skip’ Davis on intelligence’s role in defending Europe and the opportunities and challenges in a new strategic environment.

5.30pm to 6.30pm

Intelligence Gathering and the Media: Who to trust

Panel Discussion curated by Claire Spencer, Chatham House and featuring Paul Adams, BBC Diplomatic Correspondent; Charlie Edwards, Director of National Security and Resilience Studies at the Royal United Services Institute; John Williams, Professor of International Relations, Durham University

6.45pm - 8.15pm

Crime and Terrorism

Keynote Address by former chief of staff to Tony Blair and CEO of Inter Mediate, Jonathan Powell, about his new book Talking to Terrorists, chaired by Ken Bush, Al-Tajir Lecturer in Post-War Recovery Studies.

Followed by a separate panel of discussion on Is Religion a Decoy? curated by Mina Al-Oraibi, Asharq Alawsat, and featuring Afzal Ashraf, Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies, and professor Sultan Barakat, the Founding Director and the Chair of Board of Governance of Post-war Reconstruction and Development Unit (PRDU).

Sunday 21 June

12.00pm to 2.00pm

Citizen Four: Documentary screening

When film-maker Laura Poitros and journalist Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong to meet whistleblower Edward Snowden for the first time, Poitros took her camera with her. The result isCitizen Four, a real life espionage story unfolding minute by minute. Join us for a special screening of the Brit4 Oscar and Bafta winning documentary.