Surveillance is an instrument of control. It’s designed to produce chilling effects, to effect our behavior. I’m concerned about how we internalize the future unknown consequences of our digital artifacts, both when we act in the public sphere and in private communications. What are the implications for political organizing and collective action when our digital personhood is not ours to defend?
Issues like combatting climate change and criminal justice reform hinge on the effectiveness of networked activists. We don’t need to abandon tools like Facebook, but we should recognize they’re designed with specific ideological biases and are not accountable to users. Developing alternative online spaces is a worthy civic investment, even if these models don’t fully displace what exists today.
The goal is not be to build another Ello, but to Wikipedia (yes, as a verb) more of the Internet. To borrow a popular political slogan, we should build a networked future worth believing in.
This hasn't really gotten started yet. Please get in touch if you are interested in help realize the idea!
Here is a diagram that may help illustrate how this might actually work:
At your place At Dan's place
+----------------+ +----------------+
| | | | Optimum Business
| Raspberry Pi | SSH tunnel | A web server | ISP w/ static IPs
| with your +------------->+ that’s set +----------+
| data on it, | | up to proxy | |
| looking all | | your RPi | __| __
| smooth with | | to the 'net, | _( )( )_
| a custom 3D- | | but only the | (( ))
| printed case | | stuff you | (( Internet ))
| Aww yiss. | | want public. | ((________))
| | | | |
+----------------+ +----------------+ |
|
“Oh hey, there “I can see your |
is my data on awesome website <----------+
my own device” from here!”
~o/ o
/| -|/
/ \ / \
you your friend
See also: Smol Msg Svc (SMS chat)