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In the past, I’ve called out @fosdem for having Google as a sponsor: https://mastodon.ar.al/@aral/100974215641531155
So this year, they added Facebook also: https://fosdem.org/2020/about/sponsors/
FOSDEM is about open source, not freedom.
Why is this a problem? Read this: https://ar.al/2019/01/11/i-was-wrong-about-google-and-facebook-theres-nothing-wrong-with-them-so-say-we-all/
"Sad but truuuuuue"
To cheer you up: today at work our lunch was paid for by one of 'our' business partner: Microsoft. I took a stand to my measure and did not queue for my burger
@aral but who's put time into finding ethical sponsors?
Calling orgs out is easy and fairly lazy. Its not like they try to hide the sponsors.
FYI time has been spent, especially this year, to try and convince the organization to apply for an european funds and other alternatives to few controversial sponsors.
The organization itself has been hostile to this idea, bringing up arguments like "we cannot lose the support of facebook/google/github for the next editions".
Sponsoring is managed by a few people within the organization, and their actions are not visible by most of the organization members.
Hartmut Goebel @WabuMike
Allowing #GAFAM to have a booth on a conference is legitimizing them. It enables them to look like they are good-natured. But they are not! They are the leads of #surveillancecapitalism. We must not collaborate with these
@aral @fosdem
@kirschwipfel
I totally agree with you. However, "not collaborating with these" will not change status quo. In order to create privacy aware alternatives, we must organize. For me, #fosdem is still a conference to meet people working on the fediverse and alternative messengers such as #matrix @aral @fosdem
@WabuMike I totally agree with "we need to organize". Nevertheless, not cooperating is a must: We need to show that it is not okay (or "normal") to use theri services.
It's like plane flights in the age of climate crisis: You will not change (a lot) when not flying, nevertheless it's not okay (and must become abnormal) to fly.
Niklas @aral I hope everyone in my followers list understands this ironic text,otherwise I'll have a problem 
But yes,you're totally right.I'll just boycott any event sponsored by a surveillance company 
Sometimes I think we should do our own events,made by volunteers and without the goal to earn much money.It wouldn't be easy.Reaching many participants might be the biggest difficulty.But maybe it would be worth the effort.
@aral good stuff. I note that a whole bunch of software freedom advocates have been the subject of character assassination within (and/ or by) some of these same organizations, increasing at about the same rate as Surveillance Capitalist sponsorship of open source and privacy events. Interesting coincidence ...
@fosdem
naii.io I'd rather they give their money away to Free Software conferences than keep it to themselves.
I don't know about fosdem but for example Mozilla had a deal with Google, so they're not *just* taking the money.
@aral @fosdem
Hi! there will be an OFFDEM meeting at the same time as FOSDEM (February 1st and 2nd), "at a location close to the traditional FOSDEM venue"!
An intersectional festival about collective practices & free technologies production.
Conceived as the Off festival of FOSDEM, OFFDEM aims to attract producers and users of free technologies (free software, open source hardware) at the margin of FOSDEM, which is the world’s largest gathering of free software and open-source developers. OFFDEM is set to happen, like FOSDEM, on the first week-end of February, in Brussels, at a location close to the traditional FOSDEM venue. Why OFFDEM: https://ps.zoethical.org/t/why-offdem/2867 FOSDEM Fringe event announcement: https://ps.zoethical.org/t/fosdem-fringeannouncement/3136
Directions: https://ps.zoethical.org/t/directions-to-offdem/3205
Forum: https://ps.zoethical.org/c/cooperation/offdem
Schedule: https://ps.zoethical.org/t/offdem-activities/3204
holly @aral @fosdem Ugh, this makes my stomach churn, and it's sadly familiar from my other life as a Registered Dietitian. We're the nutritionists in hospitals in the US, and our professional organization is sponsored by candy and sweetened beverage companies: https://www.eatrightpro.org/about-us/advertising-and-sponsorship/meet-our-sponsors
There's been an internal movement to drop food company sponsorship for years, but the org won't budge except to reiterate statements about how they get to influence these companies (the opposite happens).
5946 
