There's a common problem in our politics in Europe and the US. Tactical voting for the status quo. The centrists cry oh but "consequences", some folks have already had the state come down hard even with "centrist governments". Those of us on the sharp edges that you ignored. Suddenly Fascism raises it's head and you're asking us to prop up governments that will ensure we don't have a livable environment for humanity. No I won't facilitate your status quo because you're scared.

We really need an org forking of Mozilla. Especially with #Firefox plonking in #perplexity without our consent.

Hachyderm.io

David Culley (@davidculley@hachyderm.io)

Reminder: Perplexity partners with Trump's Truth Social. Truth Social is the fascist propaganda channel of a pathetic vile narcissist. How narciss...

Firefox is used by a lot of folks outside our space, we develop for it, so the answer isn't just insert [alternative] here. So if you're gearing up to suggest your alternative. Please don't, I'm aware. I have them installed.

Technology and protocols may seem to be neutral. In reality people are not neutral, our politics influence how we see the world and the change we want to bring into the world. We encode those beliefs. It's why I don't trust projects that choose "No Politics" or "We have a big tent" . Being nice to each other and framing it as kindness means you can ignore the Fascist in the dev teams. After all if you never talk about your politics in the open, you can claim you never knew they were harmful.

Over a year ago I wrote this about long term community sustainability issues. "We have systematic issues with recruitment into STEM in general. To be clear when we are talking about toxic communities and discrimination we aren't criticising specific individuals. We are criticising the systems of community that encourage that toxic behaviour."

Some more thoughts on FOSS Sustainability

I do think it's better to signal our values widely and openly. Freedom of association in Safety is as important as free speech.

The thing to bear in mind with any centralised biometric ID system in the UK is: 1) Do you really want palantir (Peter Thiel) whose secondary market is insurance to get their grubby paws on it? 2) Do you want Farage and his group of nerdowells to get their grubby paws on it? 3) Bad actors including The US and criminals around the world? They aren't qualified to handle that data.

I wrote this on November 6th after the results of the US election were announced. Movements can't really be mobilised unless you have a sense of community and the support that comes with that. You have to find solidarity. When folks went on strike, the community around them supported them and kept them and their families fed. We've been socialised in the last 50 years to be isolated. Now's the time to start building, that starts with kindness and mutual aid.

Solidarity in the times of Fascism

I need to find a new Domain Registrar preferably in the EU but the UK will work too. We used to use Gandi, but then they turned Evil. I'm on Porkburn but I don't approve of them putting domains we release out to auction. It encourages Domain squatting. Any suggestions for an ethical registrar? :BoostOK:

It's bad enough that LLM and the industry that pushes it are trying to alter the perception of reality on-line. When we do it to "fight against ai" by suggesting that we poison alt text it's a harmful fucking move. It's ableist as fuck and you are trying to distort the perception of reality for those folks who need alt text. Just to "fight against AI". Readjust your logic FFS. Don't leave folks who need that alt text in the dust in your crusade. Fuckers.

"By supporting the fedipact we are signalling that we don't consent to interacting with a known abusive actor who revels in their power. Mark Zuckerberg revealed that to us over a decade ago. He revealed what he can do with his power again and again. You should not trust a company he owns with anything of you. Not your posts, not your contacts, not your metadata." Me - 2023

Consent and the fediverse

#fedipact #threads #AI

Our world and our societies at the moment seem to be doomed. It is changing drastically, however we do have hope. Where that hope is, starts in us and the communities we build. But we must have solidarity with each other. Which is something that it takes a lot of us in Tech some time to learn. We can't save the world with code. We build solidarity which changes us and what we code. We build community and code to reflect our communities needs.