Kia ora koutou katoa, I'm liking the new energy and framing!
I'm Julian Oliver, an artist, infrastructure activist and Critical Engineer [1] recently returned to my home country of Aotearoa New Zealand after having lived abroad for a couple of decades. I'm generally between three worlds, my techno-political art practice [2], on-the-ground rainforest conservation and my ongoing support of at risk individuals and groups. This latter work is done in the form of deploying server infrastructure, alongside any needed operations and information security support. Particular focus has been on protecting environmental and human rights defenders from the surveillance of corporations and statecraft. After many years of such efforts my partner and I formalised our work into Nīkau [3], a consultancy channeling our experience and skillsets. Tens of thousands of activists worldwide have used secure infrastructure deployed by us, some of which are active in very hostile operating conditions indeed. We have also worked with large NGOs in a security auditing capacity. Movements, too - Extinction Rebellion is one of the movements my partner and I supported from the outset, getting them up and running on carefully secured server infrastructure, running on renewable energy. Free and open source platforms spanning all aspects of activist work were deployed. The past year has seen a rapid rise in requests for operational security from frontliners in life-threatening operational contexts in LATAM and African countries. Here, helping the at risk develop best practice information security habits has been mission critical, communicated across language and literacy divides. What keeps me up? A few things. The increasing loss of techno-political agency and literacy; the rise and subsequent normalisation of Extreme Right agendas and their projects; the bacterial creep of socio-technical disinformation machinery; the increasing criminalisation of the fundamental right to non-violent protest; the traversal of planetary boundaries, its impact on present and future generations of all life. Ngā mihi maioha, Julian [1] https://criticalengineering.org [2] https://julianoliver.com [3] https://nikau.io ..on Sun, Apr 21, 2024 at 09:43:07PM -0400, Kate Krauss wrote: > Hi, > > > We’re writing about the future of the Liberation Tech list. > > At its best, it’s been a forum where very smart people of many kinds have > discussed digital rights, hacktivism, online privacy tools, the future of > FISA, how to circumvent national internet shutdowns, and a myriad of other > topics. > > > Current subscribers include policy wonks, artists, CTOs, cypherpunks, > reporters, government officials, bloggers from the Middle East, China > experts, and at least one former rock star. > > > In recent years, participation has dwindled. > > > We want to bring it back. > > > As before, we think the list should be grounded in democracy, freedom, and > human rights. Anarchists and Pirates (the party kind) are welcome, too. > Nihilists, trolls, chronic naysayers, and people who write nastygrams on > lists are emphatically not. And as before, our goal is to create a space > for thoughtful conversation for people from across the tech ecosystem. > > > This time around, we also want the list to be fertile ground for collective > action. We’ve fixed some technical glitches, we've kicked off some trolls, > and we're going for a kinder atmosphere, where an inexperienced person > could bring a promising idea for feedback, support, and constructive > criticism. Unlike some social media platforms, you can explain your > controversial idea completely and get thoughtful feedback. Unlike some > other places, we've got a wildly diverse group here, many with a decent > sense of humor, who are, in general, actually doing the work they discuss. > > > Consider re-engaging with this list--post, comment. What are you > working on? What are you obsessed with? What is keeping you awake at night? > > > We’re also recruiting new subscribers who are creative, smart, technical > (or non-technical) and affable, so please spread the word. > > > We're re-launching the list starting now. > > > > To subscribe: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt > > > Your in liberation, > > > Kate Krauss > > Digital rights advocate > > > Yosem Companys, PhD > > Stanford Researcher > -- > Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major commercial > search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: > https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, change to digest > mode, or change password by emailing [email protected]. -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable. List rules: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, change to digest mode, or change password by emailing [email protected].
