**Aral Balkan** @aral · 2018-02-03T09:43:16Z

Aral Balkan @aral

I walk into a talk on HTML5 video. Look up the speaker’s company. In their privacy policy, they state that they share personal data for advertising, do not honour Do Not Track, etc. I think I was just confused about #FOSDEM because they mention “free software” and “libré” alongside “open source”. The love affair with #adtech I’m seeing makes sense if they’re just an “open source” conference. So, my bad, it’s just not what I thought it was based on how it brands itself.

#surveillancecapitalism

Feb 03, 2018, 09:43 · Amaroq · 26 · 17

**Sem Schilder ✅** @xvilo@mastodon.org.uk · Feb 03, 2018, 10:01

**Sem Schilder ✅** @xvilo@mastodon.org.uk · Feb 03, 2018, 10:01

@aral Too bad the talk was full :(

🐙 @tierce@mastodon.pirateparty.be · Feb 03, 2018, 10:02

🐙 @tierce@mastodon.pirateparty.be · Feb 03, 2018, 10:02

@aral

One man to #FOSSTHEM all! Go Aral Go Aral ! 😜

**Esther Payne** @onepict@fosstodon.org · Feb 03, 2018, 10:12

**Esther Payne** @onepict@fosstodon.org · Feb 03, 2018, 10:12

@aral
It's a shame, because most of us see #Fosdem the way you do.

megfault *｡✧mostly harmless✧｡* @megfault@chaos.social · Feb 03, 2018, 10:29

megfault *｡✧mostly harmless✧｡* @megfault@chaos.social · Feb 03, 2018, 10:29

@onepict @aral So true, what Esther said.

related: I think I wasn't the only one finding it awful that Google is one of the main sponsors.

**Esther Payne** @onepict@fosstodon.org · Feb 03, 2018, 10:55

**Esther Payne** @onepict@fosstodon.org · Feb 03, 2018, 10:55

@megfault
I think that looking for sponsorship makes you take any tenuous connection for money. When I started a fencing competition with friends we solicited donation from the offshore crane company I worked for. So I understand the challenge for the organisers.
@aral

megfault *｡✧mostly harmless✧｡* @megfault@chaos.social · Feb 03, 2018, 12:30

megfault *｡✧mostly harmless✧｡* @megfault@chaos.social · Feb 03, 2018, 12:30

@onepict @aral Yep, it's hard to fund an event of this size. But I would rather have a system of "pay what you can" to cover the remaining costs than to accept money from organizations that do not align with our values, no matter how much make up they use to cover it up.

**onreact** @onreact@mastodon.at · Feb 03, 2018, 11:43

**onreact** @onreact@mastodon.at · Feb 03, 2018, 11:43

@aral The term open source has been completely coopted by big data and is meaningless by now.

Google Chrome is also "open source".

It just means that Google is exploiting free work from developers.

**Gabriele Lucci** @gabriele@social.lucci.xyz · Feb 03, 2018, 12:53

**Gabriele Lucci** @gabriele@social.lucci.xyz · Feb 03, 2018, 12:53

@aral really disappointing.

**Tinker** @tinker@infosec.exchange · Feb 03, 2018, 13:09

**Tinker** @tinker@infosec.exchange · Feb 03, 2018, 13:09

@aral - One of the main sponsors is Google. Another is Cisco. Google is nothing but a tracking and ad company. Cisco has Lawful Intercept backdoors in all of their products.

**wohali** @wohali@octodon.social · Feb 03, 2018, 17:22

**wohali** @wohali@octodon.social · Feb 03, 2018, 17:22

@aral FOSDEM CoC is still a joke, too.

Most of my friends are boycotting it.

**Adrian Cochrane** @alcinnz@mastodon.social · Feb 03, 2018, 20:34

**Adrian Cochrane** @alcinnz@mastodon.social · Feb 03, 2018, 20:34

@aral Anymore it's all a matter of where we draw the line at defining an Open Source company, as otherwise it's meaningless. So my advice is to be always cogniscent of that.

Also: I bet that company uses EME/DRM?