Hackers In Shackles

Adapted from a presentation given by Diggity

“Hackers in Shackles”? WTF?

By “hackers”, I mean three things:

1. People who creatively modify or circumvent systems, devices, or even social arrangements.
2. A culture of software makers that develops almost all the software we rely upon (Cyberspace! The Internet!)
3. People dedicated to breaking into computer systems (“crackers”, “black hats”)

Software Is Everywhere

Food for thought:

• Every machine with a screen is a computer. Cellphones, televisions, DVRs, GPS devices, cameras, “smart” boards, etc.
• Passive entertainment is not just movies and television. Familiar problems with those mediums now apply to new areas (“trolling” YouTube, Facebook, Yahoo! News, etc.)
• As people get more connected, fundamental changes are occurring in the way people interact, the way they learn, and the “bedrock” of societies (how money is made and transferred, how people come to power).

What We Want From Software

hot dog cart photo

Free/Open-Source Software (FOSS)

Free as in freedom (libre) not as in cost (gratis):

• Freedom 0: The freedom to run the program for any purpose.

• Freedom 1: The freedom to study how the program works, and

change it to make it do what you wish.

• Freedom 2: The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help

your neighbor.

• Freedom 3: The freedom to improve the program and release

your improvements.

Who Violates The “Four Freedoms”?

• Freedom 0: Freedom to run the program for any purpose:

Apple, Microsoft, your television ISP limit just running programs.

The DMCA won't allow DVDs to play on certain devices.

You can't install your own software on your own phone.

• Freedom 1: Freedom to study and change software:

Restrictive licenses, even covering “reverse engineering”.

It's virtually impossible to write software that doesn't violate patents.

• Freedom 2: Freedom to redistribute copies:

Obvious problem for anyone who has “pirated” software.

• Freedom 3: Freedom to improve, release improvements:

Non-disclosure agreements. Academia. Anti-science.

How Are These Freedoms Protected?

• Cyberspace! The Internet! The Web literally needs FOSS.
• Communities now connected all over the world
• A concept called “copyleft”
• Licensing/Law: The primary license for FOSS is the GNU GPL

(“General Public License”).

• Remix culture (Creative Commons)
• Our institutions, who now rely upon this software
• Software activists (yes, they exist). The EFF, FSF, SFLC, etc.

Sharing Is Caring!

• “Intellectual property” is an invented concept, not natural law.
• The “network effect” is a big deal for societies.
• Academia needs to take the maxim “publish or perish” seriously
• Sharing supports innovation. It increases the pace tremendously
• Education = Sharing
• We have no excuse. The Invasion of the Gadgets is here.

FOSS Is Important for Activists

• Activists need freedom-respecting software that doesn't spy on them
• FOSS is empowering for individuals and communities
• FOSS opens doors, solves problems with little monetary investment
• Software developers have invented entirely new ways for communities to interact

FOSS Is Important for Schools

• Students and teachers need freedom-respecting software that doesn't spy on them
• FOSS is empowering for individuals and communities
• FOSS opens doors, solves problems with little monetary investment
• Software developers have invented entirely new ways for communities to interact

FOSS Is Important for Everyone

What I'm getting at:

• Everyone deserves free software and media.
• This is a civil liberties issue.
• Free societies need free software.

Is FOSS Evil?

NO! But...

Google uses FOSS for evil (the cake is a lie!)

Apple uses FOSS for evil

Facebook uses FOSS for evil

POINTS:

• Software is a tool, like any other.
• FOSS developers aren't benevolent angels
• If we care, we need to build bridges with software developers

What's That In Your Pocket?

Is that FOSS or are you just happy to see me?

Odds are good that the software running on your phone is FOSS with a thin proprietary “layer” on top. Examples:

• Apple's iOS
• Google's Android
• Others (Remember WebOS? Symbian, Maemo/Meego, Tizen/Mer, Ubuntu, Firefox OS)

These devices open up doors for smart teachers and activists

It's a Wiki Wiki World

“Hi, I'm Wikipedia. Maybe you've heard of me. I'm kinda a big deal.”

• Wikipedia exemplifies the original dream of hypertext (remember HyperCard?) and the World Wide Web (thick mesh of links, quick publishing, multimedia, community editing)

• Wikipedia exemplifies the original dream of Encyclopédie (Enlightenment, Humanist, Scientific ideals)

• Search engines would be awful without Wikipedia.

• Britannica's got nothing on it (and it incorporates the public domain, respectable 1911 version)

I Want A Wiki Too!

Quick publishing is an important educational tool

• Moodle, MediaWiki, Drupal, other “content management systems” bring the Web to classrooms
• Wiki markup is really easy
• Students need to know how to publish on the Web beyond

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.

• Don't believe me? Well, try it yourself:

getlibre.org

So, “Hackers in Shackles”?

I've gone over mostly hopeful things, however:

• The software that surrounds us is a surveillance system
• Information is “volunteered” as well as traditionally spied upon
• “Hacktivists”: “crackers”, “pirates”, etc. who have some crossover with the FOSS community but are not one in the same
• “Hacktivism” has real consequences (Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, Aaron Swartz)

But the hackers I'm really worried about are...

All of Us

• Computers are becoming crippled at the hardware level.
• Without modification, there's no freedom
• If you can't see the source code of a program, you don't know if it's doing something malicious
• The upcoming generation is living on computers but will be in “shackles” without freedom-respecting software, hardware, media, and mediums (they need free machines and free pipes).
• The Global South really, really needs this stuff.

Quick List of FOSS for “Desktops”

• Firefox Web Browser
• LibreOffice (formerly OpenOffice)
• Thunderbird E-mail
• InfraRecorder
• Pidgin IM
• GIMP Image Editor
• Inkscape Drawing
• Scribus Publishing
• VLC Media Player

Quick List of FOSS for the Web

• Moodle
• WordPress
• MediaWiki
• Drupal
• StatusNet
• Friendica
• Etherpad
• MediaGoblin

Quick List of FOSS for “Phones”

• CyanogenMod
• Replicant
• ClockWorkMod
• Ubuntu
• Firefox OS

Resources

• Free Software Foundation – fsf.org
• Electronic Frontier Foundation – eff.org
• Wikipedia – wikipedia.org
• Trisquel – trisquel.info
• Sean O'Brien – sean@webio.me
• getlibre.org