Annie Machon worked as an intelligence officer for MI5, the UK Security Service, before resigning to help her former partner and colleague, David Shayler, blow the whistle on the crimes, incompetence and lack of accountability of the spies. The story made headlines around the world in the late 1990s. They had to go on the run around Europe, face arrest and prison, and live in exile in France for 3 years.
Drawing on her varied experiences, she is now a writer, media pundit, political campaigner, and lecturer. She has a rare perspective both on the inner workings of governments, intelligence agencies and the media, as well as a profound respect for all things geek and the need to protect digital freedoms.
She is an internationally-recognised public speaker and lecturer, and has delivered keynote speeches at conferences, parliaments and universities around the world on a variety of issues:
- security and intelligence
- the war on drugs
- the war on terror
- the war on internet freedoms
- the war on whistleblowers
- press and media freedoms: rights and responsibilities
- secrecy legislation
- privacy and surveillance
- “Russiagate”
- the Middle East crises
- civil liberties and human rights
- totalitarianism and police states
- accountability in government and business
- ethics and citizenship
- “On the Run” — the personal story
Contact: annie@anniemachon.ch
Sample Venues:
As well as having done thousands of media interviews in the UK and internationally, over the last 20 years her speaking experience includes:
- CPDP panel discussion, Brussels, January 2018
- Funzing.com, London, January 2018
- Good Technology Collective launch, Berlin, December 2017
- EFET privacy talk, December 2017
- Funzing.com, London, November, November 2017
- “Nothing to Hide” panel discussion, European Parliament, October 2017
- Funzing.com, London, September 2017
- Funzing.com, London, August 2017
- Funzing.com, London, July 2017
- Hack in Paris Conference, Paris, June 2017
- Funzing.com, London, June 2017
- Disruption Network Lab whistleblower conference, Berlin, May 2017
- Funzing.com, London, May 2017
- Edinburgh University Spy Week, Edinburgh, April 2017
- Funzing.com talks, London, April 2017
- RightsCon, Brussels, March 2017
- Funzing.com talk, London, March 2017
- “Digital Dystopias” film festival, Hull University, February 2017
- Warwick University, UK, November 2016
- Leicester University, UK, November 2016
- Opening keynote at Webbdagerna, Stockholm, Sweden October 2016
- “A Good American” panel with ex-NSA Bill Binney, London, September 2016
- Deep politics conference, Utrecht, The Netherlands, September 2016
- University of Monterrey, Mexico webinar, September 2016
- Harvard/Freiberg University webinar, July 2016
- “Fight for your Right to Privacy”, Spark.me, Budva, Montenegro, May 2016
- Amnesty International privacy talk, Hanover, Germany, May 2016
- Drugo More Art & Privacy Symposium, Rijeka, Croatia, April 2016
- European Students for Liberty conference, Prague, March 2016
- LEAP UK launch, Houses of Parliament, London, February 2016
- Warwick University, UK, February 2016
- Birmingham University, UK, February, 2016
- Webstock, Wellington, New Zealand, February 2016
- Secrecy and Governance, CPDP, Brussels, January 2016
- Human Rights in the Digital Age, Goldsmith’s University, December 2015
- Guest lecture on ethics, Loughborough University, UK, December 2015
- Mass Surveillance conference, EU Parliament, Brussels, December 2015
- Internet Days Code Red knowledge track, Stockholm, November 2015
- EBU 10th News Assembly, Berlin, October 2015
- Compact conference, Berlin, October 2015
- The Influencers festival, Barcelona, October 2015
- Big Brother Awards, Belgium, October 2015
- Runshaw College criminology conference, Lancashire, UK, October 2015
- LEAP Germany launch, Bundestag, Berlin, September 2015
- “Surveillance & Citizenship” conference, Cardiff University, June 2015
- Code Red crypto-social, Amsterdam, June 2015
- LEAP talk and discussion, Amsterdam, June 2015
- Code Red launch, Amsterdam University, June 2015
- Amnesty DE AGM with Code Red, Dresden, May 2015
- The Lost Lectures, Berlin, May 2015
- Women’s cryptoparty, Berlin, May 2015
- “CitizenFour” Docs Against Gravity debate, Warsaw, May 2015
- “The Four Wars”, Re:publica, Berlin, May 2015
- “Anything to Say?” whistleblower art project, Berlin May 2015
- Code Red launch, C Base, Berlin, April 2015
- Code Red launch, Perugia International Journalism Festival, April 2015
- Whistleblower discussion, Perugia International Journalism Festival, April 2015
- “Networked Disruption” conference, Ljubljana, March 2015
- LEAP event at UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, March 2015
- The Sam Adams Award for Integrity in Intelligence, January 2015, Berlin
- Logan Symposium, London, December 2014
- Keynote at Internetdagarna conference, Stockholm, November 2014
- “1971” film panel discussion, Berlin, November 2014
- Privacy panel discussion, John Cabot University, Rome, November 2014
- Politics and International Studies Society, Aberdeen Uni, November 2014
- Web Summit, Guardian panel discussion, Dublin, November 2014
- Playful conference, London, October 2014. Associated Guardian article
- BM Foreign Affairs, Berlin, September 2014
- Stop Watching Us, Berlin, August 2014
- CAAB — Independence Day at Menwith Hill, UK, July 2014
- Debate at Hack in Paris conference, June 2014
- Opening keynote, Int’l Whistleblowers Conference, Amsterdam, June 2014
- Drug legalisation talk with Dr Freek Polak, Amsterdam University, June 2014
- Magical Secrecy Tour, Berlin, June 2014
- Pre-Euro election anti-surveillance debate, Vienna, May 2014
- Opening keynote at pre-election drug debate, Antwerp, May 2014
- European Harm Reduction Conference, Basel, May 2014
- Stop Watching Us, Berlin, May 2014
- International Journalism Festival, Perugia, May 2014
- Opening keynote at European Media Art Festival, Osnabrueck, April 2014
- Veterans for Peace AGM, London, April 2014
- THNK School of Creative Leadership, Amsterdam, March 2014
- Delft University talk on surveillance, March 2014
- Oxford Union debate — “Is Edward Snowden a hero?”, February 2014
- Chelsea Manning Sam Adams Award ceremony, Oxford, February 2014
- The Whistler launch, London, February 2014
- LSE privacy debate “What do you have to hide?”, London, February 2014
- Transmediale Art & Tech conference, Berlin, February 2014
- “On the Run” with Saint Gobain Glass Conference, January 2014
- CCC The Four Wars (main stage), Hamburg, December 2013
- MGI UK & Ireland Annual Partners Conference, London, November 2013
- Int’l Conference on Drug Policy and Policing, Frankfurt, November 2013
- Cryptofestival panel discussion, London, October 2013
- Akzept drug policy conference, Bielefeld, Germany, October 2013
- EU Parliament LIBE whistleblower hearings, Brussels, September 2013
- Whistleblower talk at the Centre for Media Studies, Riga, September 2013
- LEAP talk at Organised Crime Symposium, Cambridge, September 2013
- International Day of Privacy talk, Berlin, August 2013
- The Four Wars talk at OHM 2013, the Netherlands, August 2013
- The Great Spook Panel at OHM 2013, the Netherlands, August 2013
- LEAP talk at OHM 2013, the Netherlands, August 2013
- Erosion of Democracy talk, Isle of Man, July 2013
- LEAP talk, East Drug Conference, Kiev, June 2013
- Die Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft, Essen & Muenster, June 2013
- NORML Conference, Bristol, UK, May 2013
- LEAP talk in Athens at drug harm reduction conference, May 2013
- LEAP talk, Chamber of Deputies, Italian Parliament, Rome May 2013
- The Club of Amsterdam — the future for social media, April 2013
- Make Wars History, UK Parliament, April 2013
-
Die Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft, Heidelberg, March 2013
- Snarrotin (Icelandic Civil Liberties Union), February 2013
- Theology Faculty, University of Iceland, February 2013
- Social Sciences Faculty, University of Iceland, February 2013
- Reykjavik Crypto-party, February 2013
- Icelandic Centre for Investigative Journalism (ICIJ), February 2013
- Oxford Union Society, Sam Adams Award, January 2013
- Panel discussion after film screening, London, December 2012
- Drug policy conference, Parliament of the Czech Republic, November 2012
- Journalism symposium, National University of Ireland, November 2012
- Cannafest Expo, Prague, November 2012
- International Relations Society, Oxford University, October 2012
- LEAP talk — Symposium on Economic Crime, Cambridge, September 2012
-
Die Deutsch-Britische Gesellschaft, Duesseldorf, August 2012 & Frankfurt, November 2012
- Occulture, Brighton, July 2012
- La conference regionale du journalisme d’enquete, Geneva, April 2012
- Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) conference, London, April 2012
- Tutki! investigative journalism conference, Finland, March 2012
- SKUP investigative journalism conference, Norway, March 2012
- Grav investigative journalism conference, Sweden, March 2012
- “Using Our Intelligence”, Aiglon College, Switzerland, January 2012
- Keynote at SAS.com conference, Scotland, January 2012
- Keynote at The Big Dig journalism conference, Copenhagen, November 2011
- Guest lecture, Maastricht University, NL, November 2011
- Senator Mike Gravel “Direct Democracy” European tour, November 2011
- MediaFabric conference, Prague, 2011
- Keynote at Global Investigative Journalism Conference, Kiev, October 2011
- Centre for Investigative Journalism summer school (keynote), London, July 2011
- “How the Light gets In” festival, Hay-on-Wye, May 2011
- Frontline Club whistleblower debate with Julian Assange, London, April 2011
- British Womens’ Club, Duesseldorf, March 2011
- Durham University Union Society, February 2011
- British Businessmen’s Club, Duesseldorf, February 2011
- Cambridge Union Society (CUS), January 2011
- “Boiling Frogs” — post-play talk about civil liberties, London, October 2010
- “Ethics and Citizenship”, Bishops Stortford School, UK, October 2008–2010
- Bits of Freedom, digital civil liberties campaign, Amsterdam, September 2010
- INN New York Symposium “How the world changed after 9/11”, September 2010
- CCC Sigint technology conference, Cologne, May 2010
- Understanding Deep Politics conference, California May 2010
- ETH‑0 technology conferences, NL January 2009 and 2010
- Vers la Verite conference, Paris, September 2009
- WikiLeaks Discussion Panel, HAR, the Netherlands, August 2009
- National speaking tour across Canada, May-June 2009
- The Campaign to Make Wars History UK Tours, 2008–2009
- Speaking tour, California, September 2008
- IT Defense Conference, Hamburg, January 2008
- CCC international hackers’ conference (main stage), Berlin, December 2007
- Introducing US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, European Tour, 2007
- International Islamic Fair, Malaysia, July 2007
- William Rodriguez “Last Man Out” European speaking tours, 2006–2007
- Oxford Union Society, 2006
- UK Festivals: Big Green Gathering 2006, Eastern Haze 2007, Hacking at Random NL 2009, Secret Garden Party 2008 and 2010
- Huddersfield University Intelligence Studies course, 2006
- Cardiff University Journalism course, 2006
- “An Evening with…” at UK theatres, Clive Conway Celebrity Productions, 2005
- Café Diplo — La Monde Diplomatique, 2005
- Sheffield University investigative journalism course, 2003
- MPs in both the Houses of Parliament and the Scottish Parliament
- UK political party conferences & a bit part here with Mark Thomas, 1998
- Rotary Clubs
- Schools
- National Union of Journalism national UK conferences
- Foreign press corps
- Political rallies
- Anti-war rallies
- Trades Union branch meetings