@JamesVasile@fosstodon.org (@jamesvasile) profile picture

To freedom! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems. Open Tech Strategies | EFF | Brave New Software | Horizons he/him @jamesvasile@fosstodon.org

NYC
Joined January 2010
EFF stands with technology users and I'm proud to serve on their Board of Directors: eff.org/yec
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“How do you include a voice for all the people affected by the technology you build?” EFF board member @jamesvasile asks in @TechReview. “These are big questions. ... No one was working on this 20 years ago, because that just wasn’t part of the scene.” technologyreview.com/2023/08…
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My job is offering an 11-week internship program for anyone trying to get into Cybersecurity, especially if you do not meet the traditional background requirements. It’s fully virtual at $28/hr at no cost to you. Please reach out!
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I always tell people there is value in being open source from day one. What are your favorite projects that started as open from the initial design phase and a bare repo?
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What are your favorite examples of gov open source software and creative commons materials? Bonus points if they originate or get uptake in the global south!
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Companies torture themselves and their devs to avoid accidentally licensing away vital patent rights via open source contribution. I'm seeking case studies of this happening. How does it play out in practice? Who has seen this in the wild?
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A new paper belies this early research into online civility. It turns out that for a lot of users, anonymity isn't required. They're proud of their uncivil behavior, not ashamed. It would be a mistake to design moderation systems without understanding that.
This quoted post is unavailable.
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30 years in, it is hard to identify a more tenacious fighter for our online rights than EFF. Add your voice! Support EFF at whatever level makes sense for you at supporters.eff.org/donate/30…
I can't attend the @EFF 30th Anniversary "Fireside Chat: Founders Edition" livestream tonight at 5pm Pacific. But I *can* donate $300 in honor of EFF's 30 years. Ten bucks for each year from founding until now? Sure, that's a bargain! Want to join me? livestream.eff.org/
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We'll open-source it later.
Write a horror story for your industry using just four words
I finally finished @jilliancyork's Silicon Values. It captures the history and the complexity of doing content moderation at scale in a world full of bad actors and vulnerable users. I highly recommend it to anybody trying to get on top of platform censorship issues.
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If you frame open source effort as pooling labor expenses and writing proprietary code as capital investment, you're really misunderstanding how FOSS actually operates in the world.
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I am a child and couldn't help giggling at one particular hyperlink in this article. theguardian.com/us-news/2021…
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Mastodon is really top-notch at providing a twitterverse focused on free software where people assume I know nothing about free software and then they lecture me about it.
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This is so true it hurts. "Imagine a CS degree where you never read or write code, only read compiler error messages. That’s law school." -- @luis_in_brief
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Held: Google’s copying of the Java SE API, which included only those lines of code that were needed to allow programmers to put their accrued talents to work in a new and transformative program, was a fair use of that material as a matter of law. supremecourt.gov/opinions/20…
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Some FSF people are resigning but sticking it out, trying to help stabilize the org before they leave. That dedication is a reminder that no matter where you stand on the issues of the day, there's good people there doing their best for software freedom. fsf.org/news/statement-from-…
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This is not a helpful statement. It doesn't address any of the concerns, hints that the board sees the current problems as stemming from defamation without really engaging the topic, and invites another round of hand-wringing from people hoping for resolution. We can do better!
Replying to @fsf
While our primary mission is freedom for software users, we want to be clear, the FSF board unanimously condemns misogyny, racism,and other bigotry as well as defamation, intimidation, and unfair attacks on free thought and speech.
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Will FSF's transparent process for identifying and appointing board members include identifying the eight people who are voting members and have the power to appoint board members?
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You know what's worth more than points to buy things I don't want? Less hassle around managing vendor access to charge my credit card. The first credit card company that lets me generate single-use numbers and per-vendor numbers gets 100% of my cc activity.
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