Notices by Dave Lane 🇳🇿 (lightweight@mastodon.nzoss.nz), page 7

For folks still using #MailChimp or ConstantContact, etc. & finding it insecure (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/mailchimp-discloses-new-breach-after-employees-got-hacked/) or crazy expensive, we've been using #Mautic (https://mautic.com - acquired by #Aquia, the company behind the #Drupal project) for several years now. It's #FOSS and we moved from the SaaS version (cost similar to Mailchimp) to self-hosted, resulting in a 97% cost savings (yes we're paying %3 of the SaaS cost without per-contact costs). Full story here: https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/5763/5600

I've been using #NextCloud for years now (previously used #OwnCloud, too)... but it's never been quite up to replacing the proprietary heavy hitters... but it's got a LOT better: https://tilvids.com/w/5219e88d-7de8-4dc8-97ca-e370744a05f5 Also, the "heavy hitters" have gotten a lot worse - the implications of having ALL your data in the hands of Apple, Microsoft, or Google should now be clear - and damning - to most people. The confluence of those things means people should jump to #FOSS and reclaim data sovereignty.

The only ones who really benefit from patents are IP lawyers and a few shareholders. And enriching either group is not likely to be in any of our interests. Paywall are somewhat less comprehensively risible, however, I'm troubled by the entire idea of artificial scarcity-based business models. There are other ways of doing things, and we need to coordinate to make them work better. And we need to get rid of artificial scarcity models along the way.

Tonight, I'm gonna have a crack at using #FairCamp to create a Bandcamp-esque static website of music I've had a hand in creating... If anyone else wants to experiment (and use some rust!): https://codeberg.org/simonrepp/faircamp Cool project!

Boom. Yes. We need to drop patents and paywalls (and 'IP' in general). They don't 'drive' innovation like we've been told. Quite the opposite. https://theconversation.com/why-we-need-open-source-science-innovation-not-patents-and-paywalls-192484

Every time I hear Stephen Jacobi being interviewed on RNZ on the topic of trade, I find myself getting annoyed wondering why we indulge all this "Trickle Down Economics"-based policy. Because that's what these trade agreements are: sacrificing national sovereignty for the benefit of rich people who profit from exporting (especially when production is shifted off-shore).

Tonight (8pm #Aotearoa #NZ-time) we're having our first monthly #FOSS virtual #Gathering of the new year. All are invited - you can find the details here: https://events.nzoss.nz/events/a0afaaee-25c4-4ad4-a520-6e37e20c5696 #BigBlueButton #Fediverse #Mobilizon

@ByronCinNZ yes, that's true, although the infrastructure required to keep it current and authoritative does carry ongoing costs. And I think there's a justification for making it require active confirmation of continued interest...

With their own domain, they'll never again have to 'update their email address' with correspondents. From then on, those people can then delegate that domain to any commodity email service provider - or provide their own - and change provider at their whim.

For people in Aotearoa NZ, it's the email analogue to the 'number portability' that we now enjoy for phone numbers here. (Thanks to Hayden Glass for getting that over the line here!)

The status quo, where many (most?) people have a primary digital identity (their email) which carries a corporate brand. Once they're established (often without any forethought), people are loath to change them. They then have to put up with whatever crap that corporate dishes out.

We need an easy way for people (e.g. families) to manage their own identity and communications, like email addresses. I think everyone should have their own domain name & email that uses that domain name.

Thanks @pluralistic This sound about right (and, from my perspective, almost entirely positive!): https://locusmag.com/2023/01/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/

One mate of mine who had a crisis of conscience (he worked for Microsoft) was so badly affected when he finally quit, he couldn't take on full time work, and ended up working for a pittance at an ed tech company far way from the PNW where I knew him. He was devastated by the experience. Interestingly, he also took up sky diving and writing dour music. Lost touch with him eventually.

A couple of my most idealistic uni mates have been in Silicon Valley for many years. They suggested when we visited recently, that I'd probably want to take my kids to see the Apple, Microsoft, and Google HQs there, & were amazed when I explained why that wasn't something I wanted to celebrate. One of them said he remembered when he felt like me (his look suggesting a mix of nostalgia & pity for my naivete), but, he said, they're all his customers & he has a mortgage to service... 1/2

@lispi314 they have to be less despicable for him to feel ok about his work.

@lispi314 sorry, no, the one who left was different and pretty scarred by the whole process. To make matters worse, his talents were totally squandered by Microsoft (he was the top student of 35,000 at his university). The other one just felt he needed to give his clients ('all nice people' but working for 'big (nasty) tech') the benefit of the doubt, presumably because it then allowed him, working for their benefit, the ability to do the same.

... the other friend wouldn't hear a bad word said about their employer... I felt really bad being honest about how I felt... but I couldn't think of a good reason not to be, especially if I want the world to change. Silly, I know.

I know we all want to think of ourselves as 'good people'. Problem is, we're very adept at changing our definition of 'good' so that we fit into it. And I guess I'm saying that cognitive dissonance has a real cost, and a victim can be self respect. 2/2

Most now (like on my recent visit to Silicon valley) will congratulate you for being such a committed idealist (with a barely perceptible eye roll) but they'll say stuff like "well, here in the *real world*[R], things just don't work that way". Because, at this stage, they're experts in the world. They've bought the myth of wealth/US exceptionalism. And, when you take money from the worst players, you're complicit in their actions in proportion to how much they pay you... 2/2

Over the years, I've heard many idealistic young (and no-so-much) tech folk say, after accepting roles at Microsoft or other predatory tech corporates, that they were going to "change the corporation from the inside". Initially, I thought that 'infiltration narrative' had some merit. 20 years later, however, I've seen how that's worked out for those folks. A couple quit & dropped out of tech entirely, but most stayed. And most had their idealistic edges well rounded by 'the machine'... 1/2

@webmink I'm based on the other side of the earth, but all the promo out of LF and MSFT among other self-avowed "open source-friendly" mega corporates that always references #OSS, never #FOSS (don't recall seeing the OSI refer to FOSS) which seems to implicitly exclude #Copyleft which those player all obviously see as anti-business (which is clearly code for exploitable in *proprietary* software). @osi @msw

@webmink I think you'll find that most people with an opinion about software licenses are partisan. Some, however, have $billion marketing/sponsorship budgets, and others don't. There's a marked skew in that playing field. @oemb1905 @larsmb @msw @osi