Title: OSINT – Disparity and Consensus
Description: Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) should not be hard to define; we understand the origins of the term, and we know how the practice it describes relates to other related terms. However, as the reliability, availability, and diversity of open sources grow, and as the general public takes that power in hand, suddenly those definitions and boundaries start to creak. Drawing on the speaker’s experience and research across various realms of OSINT practice, this talk delves into the disparities that become apparent when different kinds of practice are viewed through the lens of their practitioners. What kinds of sources are permissible? What practice standards must we apply? What constitutes an appropriate output? The answers to these and other questions form the basis for an important discussion on where different kinds of practitioners can come together for mutual benefit and where they must necessarily stay clear.
Biography: Matthew Lawrence is a career intelligencer whose experience spans the public and private sectors and includes work driven by the online investigative community. He is currently a Director at the Centre for Information Resilience and is researching a PhD at Cardiff University, mapping the diversity and overlap present across different types of practitioner who self-style their work as OSINT.
