Looking for conferences on #Cryptography and #Security. #AfricaCrypt is in #Cameroon this year, a country that imprisons peolpe for *suspicions* of being gay. In 2021 to trans women were sent to prison for “wearing women’s clothing in a restaurant”.
In other words, we are talking about a complete shit-hole country and a non-negligible part of the cryptographic community cannot safely visit the conference because of that.
A conference that proudly associates itself with the #IACR. I think we should have a serious discussion about whether it is appropriate to place conferences in places that will imprison people for who they are and whether the IACR should associate with conferences that ignore these concerns.
For all the problems that conferences in the west have with accessibility (and that you may rightfully criticize), you can usually at least be confident that the government there won’t subject you to torture for who you are.
