Discussion
Fedi friends: Please tell me what you would include if you had only 90 minutes to give a group of progressives a "crash course on copyleft and getting off of big tech"?
#FOSS #copyleft #askFedi #FreeSoftware #FLOSS #BigTech #activism #anarchism #SkillSharing #tech
@resl IDK if you should ve talking about Murena /e/OS but I love it a lot
@resl
> what you would include if you had only 90 minutes to give a group of progressives a "crash course on copyleft and getting off of big tech"?
Great question. My approach to tech rights education is to focus on how the issues affect the people I'm talking to, and how moving from proprietary to libre tech can benefit them and their work.
Once people understand they have skin in the game, and something to gain despite the transition pain, they're motivated to self-educate from there.
@resl
> what you would include if you had only 90 minutes to give a group of progressives a "crash course on copyleft and getting off of big tech"?
Great question. My approach to tech rights education is to focus on how the issues affect the people I'm talking to, and how moving from proprietary to libre tech can benefit them and their work.
Once people understand they have skin in the game, and something to gain despite the transition pain, they're motivated to self-educate from there
(1/2)
I can't really say anything more without knowing more about the specific group of progressives you'll be speaking to, and the knowledge base they're starting from. But the other piece of advice I'd give is learn as much as you can about that, and factor that into how you craft your talk.
The most effectively communication is that which is most appropriate to the receivers.
(2/2)
@resl "What if you bought a car, but you weren't allowed to look under the hood or repair it. Also, you can't drive to places that the car manufacturer hasn't approved. And they put ads on the dashboard. ..."
Most of the ridiculous things in software and IT become starkly clear when you translate the situation to physical machinery.
@carapace sounds like a Tesla 😁
@carapace said
> “What [if] you weren't allowed to look under [your car's] hood or repair it[?] … & ∃ ads on the dashboard…”
In early 2000s, I preferred the car analogy in #Copyleft #Advocacy 101. Sadly, your parade of horribles are mostly true with new vehicles.😬
Now to make that e.g. effective, speaker'd need to show how copyleft failed to prevent that, & then it's all about how most auto makers violate #Linux's license, #GPLv2 — probably is too in-depth for what @resl described in OP.
For Torvalds to sell out, he would have needed some strongly held principles that he lived by. Having known him for 30 years, I really believe the only things that truly matter to him (professionally) are: doing fun technical stuff, live comfortably, get famous, & gain power over other smart people so he can get away with verbally abusing them.
At least that's what I've observed. I'm proud to be the 1ˢᵗ person to tell him to his face he needed therapy, & he eventually had ≈6 sessions!
@carapace @resl Unfortunately on our Prius, you can't replace the 12V battery on your own. The car's MCU has to be reprogrammed afterwards, which requires a briefcase-sized piece of special equipment. I can't decide whether this is bad design or deliberate, but either way it's probably the last Toyota we'll buy, particularly since they went MAGA.
the importance of sharing even small improvements, even if they are based on self interest, are of benefit to everyone. Not having to re-invent the wheel every time you want to do something is as important as using or improving the way you do it. we are collective slaves if we have to continually re-invent the wheel. _especially_ if it belongs to someone else.
in order to thrive, individually and collectively, we have to accept that we depend on others. most explicitly on others that have gone before us. and in order to do that, we have to have an accurate and reliable record of what they did. not what they said they did, nor what they intended to do or what they would like to tell you about what they did, but what they did.
no one who is personally profiting while being able to satisfy a lust for power over others in order to compensate for something missing in their life is going to share if they don't have to.
living is process not things. we cannot hope to be safe or able to meet our needs when we are wholly dependant on individuals who value things over process. and even more so if it is an incorporated representation of their values.
@resl
Get your own (not really but still..) domain name, so you're never gonna use the one given by your mail provider.
* watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4
* actually download, install and use something together (e.g. bitchat, signal,) bc experience is key
* somehow underline that the techbros are dark triad, poisoned with power, and they can literally read everything you post on their platforms? (Imagine the workers of old trying to organize strikes in their bosses office, while him and his stooges take notes and record onto a grama-phone...)
@douginamug suggested:
> “actually download, install and use something together (e.g. bitchat, signal,) bc experience is key”
This is a good suggestion if there's time, @resl!
If there is time for it, I recommend #SecureDrop. #BitChat is a reasonable suggestion too, but since #Signal is actually centralized and while you can self-host your own Signal instance, you won't be able to talk to anyone who is on what is known as “Signal” with your setup, it's a bad example.
#copyleft #advocacy
@resl (ok, I'm a hold off... Looks like you're gonna get enough suggestions 😅)
@douginamug Ah, well if you'd be willing to look at my talk and zine and give feedback I'd love to get your thoughts
* watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeTybKL1pM4
* actually download, install and use something together (e.g. bitchat, signal,) bc experience is key
* somehow underline that the techbros are dark triad, poisoned with power, and they can literally read everything you post on their platforms? (Imagine the workers of old trying to organize strikes in their bosses office, while him and his stooges take notes and record onto a grama-phone...)
@resl
What an excellent opportunity! Main talking points (1/2):
* Copyleft, when used correctly¹, puts individuals on equal footing with corporations with regard to creating collaborative works of authorship (software being most notable).
* Copyleft is designed to use the systems of oppression (most notably copyright, but also non-negotiable contracts) *against* the oppressive Big Tech/Big Content corporations that created those systems.
* Copylefting one's own published works is easy²
…
@resl what is the acceptable end goal and how tech savvy are these people? Is "getting off of Big Tech" an ideal for individuals or are we talking on a societal level?
@Huubje it'll be a workshop they can opt in to attend instead of other concurrent workshops at an activist progressive conference so I expect they'll be interested in getting off big tech but not familiar with copyleft
@resl just using copyleft licences isn't enough though. Especially nowadays with slopwashed software projects. Copyleft and copyright in general are under pressure at the moment. Someone recently released a slopwashed version of the entire Adobe suite for example.
@resl vendor lock-in as a delayed extraction scheme is something that is interesting to anyone interested in tech resilence
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@resl - even I dont really understand 'copyleft'. Start with that.
- what others say here about the need for income from IP is real, it needs to be addressed, both in small and big scale. Inc how people make money from open source.
- ignorance is everywhere: I was asked recently 'is it safe to use Signal or is it just for criminals?'.
- start simple: Google/Chrome: what's the difference? Google search is only one choice etc etc. Assume nothing, even though they are 'progressives'.