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Open Everything

Manifesto for a Sydney FOSS and FOSH advocacy group

An anti-capitalist FOSS (free open source software) and FOSH (free open source hardware) advocacy and skillsharing group for tech demystification in radical spaces of Sydney. Contact me if interested.

Aims

Providing the following services to anti-capitalist activists and working class people.

1. Spread knowledge and justification of FOSS+OH ideas.
2. Encourage and provide resources for the personal use of FOSS.
3. Encourage and provide resources for the sharing of FOSS services through remote and self hosting.
4. Encourage the free sharing of information.
5. Teach sound privacy and security practices.

Structure

Consensus-based decision making as a loose-knit affinity group. This document is not sacred. Members are encouraged to fork this project where disagreements cannot be resolved. Members of all abilities, ages, nationalities, ethnicities, and genders are welcome. People currently holding an occupation as a landlord, law enforcement, or military personnel are not welcome. People currently holding fascist or bigoted beliefs are also not welcome. People holding leadership positions in any company will be considered for membership on a case-by-case basis.

Principles

1. Members of this group are expected to demonstrate some level of commitment to using FOSS software in their daily life where possible (i.e. put your freedom where your mouth is).
2. Members should be open to skillsharing within and outside the group as their capacity allows for it (i.e. no elitism or gate-keeping).
3. Members are expected to be reasonably confident at answering some questions regarding the content of any resources they've shared outside the group (i.e. no public talks by someone who read one article on the subject).

Example services

The following lists possible ways of achieving the aforementioned aims (but the group is not limited to these examples):

• Holding online and/or in-person talks (theory driven)
  • What is FOSS?
  • Why use GNU/Linux?
  • Where does my data go?
  • Alternatives to the Internet(TM) (Gopher, Onion, I2P, Library boxes, HAM, and Meshnets)
  • The legalities on torrenting in Australia.
  • Accessibility and ableism in modern web bloat.
• Holding online and/or in-person live demo's (showing the final product)
  • What can a server do and why should I get one?
  • Reasons for running a custom Android ROM.
  • Why you should wipe your hard drives before putting them in a dumpster.
• Holding online and/or in-person workshops (small-group step-by-step tutorials)
  • How to torrent.
  • How to make your own website.
  • Building a remote camera with a BeagleBoard.
• Providing services as proof-of-concept.
  • Self-hosted Peertube instance (which also holds recordings of previous talks).
  • Self-hosted XMPP or Matrix service (which is also the platform for group discussions)

The following lists things that this group does not aim to do:

• Be a replacement for existing pre-recorded video tutorials (but instead encourage questions and be ready to answer them).
• Be fanatical about FOSS and privacy to the point of debilitating activist movements or hindering people from daily life.
• Demonstrate on camera, illegal practices (such as pirating)
• Avoid discussing the limitations of any endorsed FOSS or OH.

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