Aral Balkan @aral@mastodon.ar.al
Cyborg rights activist. Leading the Internet of People initiative at DiEM25. Making the web better.fyi
GitLab raises $20M from Google (Ventures) – the key word here is “fork”
Today, on Venture Capital Ruins Everything, we have the lovely folks at GitLab (which we use and love at Ind.ie) raising $20M from GV (née Google Ventures).
Investors invest in the exit so imagine what GitLab’s exit will look like after this. If any competent folks are thinking of a fork, now is a good time to start doing prep work. Think ownCloud/Nextcloud…
https://techcrunch.com/2017/10/09/gitlab-raises-20m-series-c-round-led-by-gv/ https://mastodon.ar.al/media/6ESFuEQKOl2W3uqLqcs
AI in the age of surveillance capitalism: who’s getting smarter about whom?
Will be engaging 500 students today at Copenhagen Business School on ethics in AI.
http://cbswire.dk/events/ai-ai-affecting-future/ https://mastodon.ar.al/media/YBLB1hr2wmSmHRNKMbA
Silicon Valley Dictionary
Onboarding (n): the process by which the livestock are introduced into the factory farm.
#SurveillanceCapitalism https://mastodon.ar.al/media/w1v-hPZW8s-j5g2Zw-E
Digital cooperation: platform cooperativism
Attending the panel before ours at Ecopolis with Aleksandra Przegalinska, Josef Davies-Coates, and Joachim Jacob. https://mastodon.ar.al/media/1fC91dng1MyV4-5gDGw
Dear Tim O’Reilly,
You’re like the doctor in those old-time tobacco ads…
Please stop legitimising #SurveillanceCapitalism https://mastodon.ar.al/media/3wcA6dSpJFZC76GR7GY https://mastodon.ar.al/media/qYeWG_fmy96v5wn4IFc
All Your Content Are Belong To Us
Article 13 of the current copyright legislation proposal from the European Commission would result in de facto ubiquitous Internet content filtering. Basically, this would kill the Internet as we know and empower autocratic institutions – whether corporations or governments – with absolute control over nearly all human communication.
All Your Content Is Belong To Us
Article 13 of the current copyright legislation proposal from the European Commission would result in de facto ubiquitous Internet content filtering. Basically, this would kill the Internet as we know and empower autocratic institutions – whether corporations or governments – with absolute control over nearly all human communication. #fnf17
Freedom To Tinker
Sebastian, assistant to MEP Julia Reda, presents at #fnf17 https://mastodon.ar.al/media/NZRZi3wv1fgWb2otTwA
Freedom Not Fear Session Wall
It’s filling up with really interesting sessions.
Freedom Not Fear Day 2 Kick Off
Setting up the session wall.
Tegenlicht Documentary on Smart Cities: The English Bits
@Marjoline extracted the English bits from last year’s Tegenlicht program on Smart Cities. Thank you so much! :)
https://youtu.be/ZcdzJeqR8Co https://mastodon.ar.al/media/2abrbWi55WrShRgHxtw
Freedom Not Fear & Ecopolis
Looking forward to my opening keynote at Freedom Not Fear and to speaking at Ecopolis this weekend in Brussels.
• Freedom Not Fear: https://www.freedomnotfear.org/fnf-2017/opening-keynote-by-aral-balkan
• Ecopolis: http://ecopolis.be/
https://mastodon.ar.al/media/KRbvAuv6h-MEKKplFMY https://mastodon.ar.al/media/bDki3yt1MjYW-9iGMS4
Accessibility for Everyone
For the past three years, Laura Kalbag has been writing a book on accessibility. It’s called Accessibility for Everyone. You should read it.
Basic how-to guide for preserving fundamental rights on the Internet by Xnet
https://xnet-x.net/en/how-to-guide-for-preserving-fundamental-rights-internet/
“What is happening in Spain these days in relation with the situation in Catalonia is a very significant milestone in the defence of freedoms and rights around the world in the digital age. The reaction of the Spanish government has clearly shown that the entire population – not only those living in Catalonia – needs to have tools to guarantee their fundamental rights…”
Breakfast
A little simplicity and calm before tackling a chaotic world.
https://mastodon.ar.al/media/n4rntbcv73kIqRNCeUw
Had a wonderful reception for my proposal to kick off the Internet of People with a City of People in Ghent last week. (Watch this space—this is momentous!)
Next week is going to be busy: flying to Malaga on Monday to be interviewed at EmpoderaLive (http://empodera.org/en/empoderalive-2017/#agenda) and then I’m off to Vienna on Wednesday to present the opening keynote at Internet Summit Austria (http://thelink.is/internet-summit-austria-2017).
Smart Cities – VPro Tegenlicht documentary (2016)
Ahead of my talk this week to the city of Ghent (http://foreplay.gent), watch this Dutch documentary I was in last year (my bits are in English/start ~17:30) in which I learned that the city of Amsterdam shares the license plate information of its citizens with Google (& their “CTO” sees no problem with it)
https://www.vpro.nl/programmas/tegenlicht/kijk/afleveringen/2015-2016/slimme-steden.html
Our cities: homes or prisons?
The title and opening slide of my talk this Thursday for the city of Ghent.
Key points:
• Steer clear of public-private partnerships & de-facto privatisation of citizen data (you can commission services but you are not a partner, you must be in control and protect citizens’ rights/data)
• Never take candy from Silicon Valley
• Invest in decentralised, free/open, interoperable technologies
http://foreplay.gent/ https://mastodon.ar.al/media/naNKMctyBN9b-oHZkj0
Ghent: a city of people
Ghent’s foresight team are organising a conference for their 400 civil servants “to teach, facilitate and encourage long-term thinking (especially on technology)”
I’m presenting the opening keynote there this week and will be warning them to stay away from partnerships with surveillance-based Silicon Valley companies and to embrace decentralised, free/open, and interoperable democratic technology.
http://foreplay.gent
https://mastodon.ar.al/media/LFYhsnFINodt7kwr610
Freedom not fear
“Cyborg rights activist Aral Balkan will hold the Freedom not Fear 2017 opening keynote! At Freedom not Fear, activists and NGOs plan action and take action against increasing surveillance and other attacks on civil rights. We want to live in freedom, not in fear. Come and join us!”
6–9 October 2017 (Friday–Monday) in Brussels
https://www.freedomnotfear.org https://mastodon.ar.al/media/j8mFxFOWHeLV0A_AYY0