Al Gore bars press from RSA talk next month

Remember, folks, it's Al Gore's Internet. We're just using it.

Gore is scheduled to give a keynote speech on April 11 at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. RSA says as many as 17,000 people showed up at last year's conference, and it's reasonable to assume a large chunk of this year's crowd will try to squeeze into Gore's keynote speech. These are security types, engineers, marketers, PR flacks, and so on--many of whom have their own blogs, Flickr accounts, and Twitter feeds where they'll share details about Gore's speech (assuming he says anything interesting).

This cozy, stylish and handsome CNET fleece could be yours: be the first to send along a link to a video of Gore's you-may-not-record-this speech at RSA next month.

Which makes it bizarre that Gore has demanded--as a condition of giving the keynote speech--that press be barred from the room. As Kim Zetter wrote for Wired.com: "Video recordings, broadcasts and photography are also prohibited."

Gore might have gotten away with it a decade ago. And, to be sure, he has the right to negotiate that requirement with RSA. But nowadays, when tech-savvy audience members, who each coughed up some $3,670 for registration, are outfitted with digital cameras and recording devices (including on mobile phones), any speaker who insists on this requirement is foolish or naive.

You decide which category Gore falls into.

This isn't the first time that Gore has insisted on a $100,000-or-so speaking contract that prohibited press from attending. He did it at a speech at Augustana College (billed as "free and open to the public"). He did it at a speech last year to the American Institute of Architects convention, which the San Antonio Express-News crashed and wrote up anyway.

His standard speaking contract says "closed press" and "Vice President Gore will accept no interview requests" and "Vice President Gore does not permit taping of his speeches." It's especially ironic given Gore's joint ownership of Current TV, which relies on user-submitted content.

Does anyone really think Gore's Don't-Record-Me Ban will work at a conference of 17,000+ gadget-outfitted security geeks? Thought so. So here's my offer: A free News.com (or CNET, depending on what we have in stock) baseball cap or fleece--your choice--to the first person who e-mails me a link to the video of the astonishingly publicity-shy ex-veep at RSA next month.

P.S.: The Gore-Internet quote from nearly a decade ago, according to CNN's official transcript: "During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet." (And no, for you conspiracy buffs, mentioning that doesn't make me a Bush administration acolyte.)

[gerrrg]

And so this is news because?

You forget, many members of the Supreme Court follow suit.<br /><br />Shouldn't a person have the right to control their image, or should they allow the press to shape it for them? After all, it is the free press that continues to screw up the quote about the internet that Al Gore has become infamous for. Or perhaps it is the other way around...it is the Al Gore quote that the press has become infamous for?

[cjohn17]

IT IS News Because...

Because liberals like Algore demand open debate and open forums <br />except when it comes to their speeches. Gore has become more obsessed with secrecy because he so often comes out looking like <br />an idiot when he's quoted. <br /><br />Liberals are such hypocrites. This is just the latest example.<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://theillustratedconservative.blogspot.com/" target="_newWindow">http://theillustratedconservative.blogspot.com/</a>

[amigosito]

Sour grapes

I love how reporters get all indignant when they are shut out of obvious story opportunities. Declan is class a-1 for digging up the tired old "Al Gore says he invented the Internet" line...I can almost hear the Beavis and Butthead laughter oozing out of that snide "p.s." Perhaps the author just needed to pad the word count on this lightweight non-article.

[colorado_jones]

*rolls eyes*

Declan, your columns are generally worth reading and I will continue to read them in the future, but...<br /><br />Give it a flippin rest already! Some of us know the full story on Gore's important role in the history of the internet and we are tired of you flogging the issue (not to mention the man).<br /><br />Regarding the RSA conference- of course he knows it'll be reported on. Did it occur to you that it's closed just to thumb his nose at the press? Maybe he even had you in mind specifically. I certainly can't blame the man on that one.

[DoughboyNJ]

i never tire of mocking Gore

that lying robot deserves it

[krosavcheg]

Wrong emphasis on this story

The real story is that the RSA is paying 100G to this flim-flam man for a speech.

[Pete Bardo]

Why bother to invent the internet

if you don't understand its power and potential?<br /><br />Oh, that's right, he ran for President under the same conditions. :)

[TieMeDown]

Secrecy - or attention-grabbing?

Of course Mr. Gore may be neither foolish or naive. Maybe he <br />realizes that a boring get-a-big-name-for-our-keynote talk at a <br />geeky encryption conference won't get either respect from the <br />geeks or interest from the public, so what better way to announce <br />it than to ask to ban media and ensure that it gets widely reported?

[Mike8134]

You've been had

Come on now. What is absolutely the best way to make sure whatever speech you're making gets the widest possible coverage?<br /><br />Tell people they can't cover it. <br /><br />Telling thousands of the smartest geeks in the world that they can't record or broadcast a speech is like waving a red flag in front of a herd of angry bulls on steroids. It will be all over the Web in about five minutes, proably in 3D holographs somewhere. Which is just fine from Mr. Gore's standpoint. He gets far more publicity than the speech would have otherwise garnered, at the same time he has maintained the legal fiction of trying to protect his copyright interest in his words and image. Same for the organizers of the conference. Next he'll try to get his speeches banned in Boston.

[Tablloyd]

Roots

before politics, gore was a reporter for the nashville tennessean.<br />wonder how he would have covered this!

[charlie cooper]

You may be surprised to learn....

that both Vint Cerf and that raging liberal Newt Gingrich credit Gore for playing a vital part in clearing the way for what eventually grew into the latter day Internet infrastructure. I don't have the URL handy but there was a terrific piece not very long ago on Gore (I believe in Vanity Fair, though my memory's hazy)

[HoKooshyFly]

Vint Cerf comment

Ironically on Politechbot.com :D<br /><br /><a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.politechbot.com/p-01394.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.politechbot.com/p-01394.html</a><br /><br />Yeah I myself thought any connection was ridiculous but as Vint pointed out there was political support etc. from Gore. <br /><br />Though back on the article I think it is a little strange not to have press at any conference nowadays. I mean, is this meant to create hype? Just strange IMHO.<br /><br />-Alan

[riredale]

Sensitive to criticism

I think the real angle is that Gore is riding high on the Man-made Global Warming wave, and there are numerous new findings that show it to be largely BS. He doesn't want to give up his lofty perch and is trying to isolate himself from questioners.

[mpotter28]

show it to be largely BS.

2 possibilities your hat is on too tight or your reading your books back to front

[Karridog]

@rire: Why don't you as a global warming scientist watch the History channel and the Discovery channel. They can tell you and show you why man should be concerned about what is happening to our environment. This past week an ice shelf broke into seven pieces. Each piece was about the size of Manhattan. Do you have any idea why the ice shelf broke? Why do the polar bears cannibalize? It wouldn't be beause they have no fish to eat would it? In Washington DC the water is rising at the Jefferson Memorial. They're gonna be hard pressed to find a solution to that problem. You would make a good politician. It appears to me that you are an expert at character assasinations.

[pctec100]

No Press - not so surprising

Gore says he's a recovering politician but keeping the press out hints that he harbors plans to run for office again.<br /><br />Politicians are taken out of context constantly. I can understand why politicans want to control their message. Gore could make a comment at the RSA conference in regard to digital security that could sometime in the future be replayed on loop to demonstrate that he's not consistent on foreign policy. By the time anyone realized the context of the comment the media would have moved on to another headline and if they ever set things straight it would be on some blog that no one but hardcore news junkies ever read.

[gringoloco2000]

Attended the Gore Speech today

I was there today for Gore's speech at RSA. The rule was that you could only take pictures or video for the first 5 minutes. That is exactly how long it took him to provide some comical stories that had nothing to do with global warming. I stopped filming and put my camera away. Others at my table kept filming until the guards came around and told them that they would be asked to leave if they did not stop filming. I watched the guards methodically go through the crowd and stop each and every person that had an obvious LCD lit. After 15 minutes into the meat of his speech, Gore exclaimed that "the Arctic ice cap will be completely melted within 5 years". You could hear some gasps in the crowd. Not sure what others thought, but I thought it was without merit. So now it gets good. About a minute later, a brave young woman in her early twenties near the front row begins to tell Gore that he is wrong. He trys to laugh it off. She stays standing and continues to yell at him. Before her interruption many people began to leave early. I think the 5 year melting of the arctic was too much. So, she continues. The guards close in on her. I decided to follow her out. I could not take it anymore. I wanted to say something to her. I make it to the door right behind her. She is being escorted by three guards. I managed to get close to her and thanked her. She smiled and said your welcome. A cop meets them outside and continues with them up the escalator. I follow behind on the escalator. I hear really loud singing. A group of 10 or more come out of the keynote room singing a funny song. It was something like "Al Gore NotCo2, blah blah blah" The NotCo2 part sounded like Nazi. They followed close behind me on the escalator. There seemed to be more commotion and I witnessed many more people leaving early after I had exited. When we reached the top of the escalator, the cops and guards escorted the woman away. I did not catch where they went. The singers made to the top and then disappeared in an unknown direction. There was quite a bit of confusion going on. My thought is that the speech was cut short by so many leaving and the few causing the disruption. He got what he deserved. Maybe there was some disrespect, but when you bar the press and any recording of an event, you have to wonder. What is the big secret? Must be a thin skin issue.