July 2
ted brunner [email protected] > On Jun 24, 2026, at 11:41 AM, Russell Senior <[email protected]> wrote: > > Who: Ryan Sayre > What: Death & Digital Succession, Cloud Optimization, and the Resurrection of > a .US Locality Registrar > Where: 1930 SW 4th Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97201-5304, Room 86-01 > When: Thursday, April 2, 2026 at 7 PM > Why: The pursuit of technology freedom > > Summary: > > What happens to legacy internet infrastructure when the sole technical owner > passes away? When Jon Backstrom (AKA Prairie Nyx) died in 2023, they left > behind critical pieces of community infrastructure under risk of going > offline completely —including the nameserver prairie.net and vital segments > of the geography-centric .US locality domain space (RFC 1480). > > This talk covers the messy, real-world saga of digital succession and > infrastructure rescue. We'll walk through the technical and human challenges > of breaking into systems without passwords, tracking down next of kin and the > remaining passionate user base to keep them informed. > > On the technical side, we will look at how to quickly audit, patch, and > migrate legacy services under pressure. We'll discuss practical strategies > for cloud juggling, lowering operational costs, and eliminating both > technical and human single points of failure by balancing the best of modern > cloud automation with DIY resilience. > > Finally, we will dive into the history, near-death, and possible resurrection > of the Internet for actual human communities. Ultimately, this is a talk > about digital stewardship, service preservation, and remembering why we build > and maintain systems for the pure joy of the craft. > Bio: > > Ryan Sayre is a cloud and storage technologist who enjoys the restoration, > maintenance, and tinkering of vintage computing hardware. In his spare time, > he manages legacy internet infrastructure (skylab.org and prairie.net), > coordinates a Portland school bike bus initiative, and tries to keep good > stuff alive for the good of the commons. > > Calagator: https://calagator.org/events/1250482620 > > With luck, the talk will also be streamed live here: > http://www.twitch.tv/kngbwlf, and later posted to YouTube. > > PLUG is back at Portland State University, thanks to the Computer Science > Department and to Andrew Greenberg. The room is in the basement of the PSU > Engineering Building (also connected underground to the Fourth Avenue > Building, or FAB). Enter through the Engineering Building. The outside door > will be locked, but there should be someone present at the entrance to let > you in starting at 6:40pm until 7pm. There will be a sign on the door with a > phone number you can SMS if there isn't someone there to let you in > immediately. > > -- > Russell Senior > PLUG Volunteer > [email protected]
