Conversation

remember folks: tech is politics. you cannot keep one out of the other. they are inseparable.

the technical problems you choose to solve, and the way you choose to solve them, are an expression of politics.

building open source software indicates that you think information should be free, which is a political stance. building closed source software indicates that you think information should be controlled, which is a political stance.

building software that discriminates against people of color is a racist action and reflects upon you as such, regardless of your intent in building that software (hint: that's how racism works everywhere else, too)

building software which can be used to remove control from the masses and give it to corporations and rich people, indicates that you think that corporations and rich people should amass power, and regular folks should not have freedom.

it does not matter if a company for whom you work paid you to do that thing, or if your intentions were good, or if you were only trying to see if a particular technical challenge could be solved. technical problems are political problems. business needs and decisions are political ones.

if there is a mismatch between the politics you express via your actions, and those you express via your words, the actions are the ones people will care about, not the words. you cannot fix bad actions by saying good words.

do good actions.