We gave a workshop at the Digital Media Conference introducing beginner-friendly free software tools to social change activists. The slidedeck includes links for all the software we talked about and specific instructions for using pictures in LibreOffice. Many of the web-based projects on the prism-break.org website are described in detail.
37. NEW SETUP / DIRECTION
OpenNIC + TOR
Locked down
with plugins
Startpage &
Duck Duck Go
Self-hosted,
Riseup, or
MyKolab
Syndicate via
Diaspora
Syndicate via
Diaspora
MediaGoblin
(eventually)
OwnCloud
(hopefully)
Jitsi
(when possible)
70. OTHER AREAS TO EXPLORE
●
Document collaboration ala Google Docs
●
Online currencies, e.g. Bitcoin
●
Meshnets
●
Phone rooting
71. LESSONS LEARNED
●
Start simple
●
Can't plug every hole at once
●
Protect yourself when it is important to do so
●
Use free services to syndicate to non-free until
you can leave non-free services entirely
●
Success requires bringing friends along
●
Share the work & fun with communities of trust
72. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
We need federation support, and then we need
more people running servers for their friends
and family...It's really important to get people
using these things en masse... and running
them!
– Chris Webber, Media Goblin
73. WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Get involved with free and open social networks
first. Find ways to connect them to your Tumblr,
Path, LinkedIn, or whatever other proprietary
network. Use them often, and have fun with
them. As your friends, family and colleagues
join you, you'll find you use other networks less
often.
– Evan Prodromou, pump.io
10 - Linux Mint & Firefox = 8
+
Apple
Microsoft
Yahoo
LinkedIn
I'm not affiliated with the prism-break.org website
I don't consider myself free
I consider myself on the road to freedom
prism-break.org is the website that put me on that road and a tremendous resource
the problem is...it is overwhelming: covers 30 categories of software and services
at first, I simply got stuck staring at the page
Corporations and the government can learn a lot about you based on what you search online
This can be used for advertising purposes, which sometimes I'm OK with – if I'm in the market for a new car, perhaps I don't mind seeing ads for new cars
Other times this can be intrusive, e.g. when third-party companies build profiles of you (sometimes inaccurate ones) and sell them to advertisers
Duck Duck Go using the term "bubble" to mean Google, Bing, etc. put you into a bubble and only show you results they think you'll like, e.g. political messages...but sometimes you want to learn about all sides of an issue or simply not be profiled in this manner.
Proxies Google search results
Respects your privacy by not tracking what you search
Imagine if a company kept a database of all your searches forever
And accidentally or purposefully released that database to the public or to the government
DON'T LIKE ABOUT STARTPAGE:
Ads blend in ← Don't like this
LIKE ABOUT IT:
Date range settings on left are convenient
Yahoo search results
Highlights ads better
No date filters, but sort by date option handy
Image search takes you back to Google or Bing
Locking down your browser is probably the easiest thing you can do
These plug-ins were very well together, in a cascading manner
Meaning, what one doesn't catch, the next one does
Scripts from at least 19 different websites blocked for this one webpage
Ads are blocked on the right
User comments didn't render because they required Javascript – may be a good thing
If I let everything pass through NoScript and RequestPolicy add-ons unblocked...
Disconnect catches 69 trackers
Disconnect reports 30% faster load
and 18% less data
The first step to joining Diaspora is to pick a pod
Friendica calls nodes portals
Start by viewing the pod uptime list
I originally wanted to sign up for diasp.org because of its rating and it's in my country. There was a Sign In, but no Sign Up option so I opted for https://pod.geraspora.de. I figured there might be an advantage to a pod outside the US as well.
Once signed up...
There was an option to connect to Facebook so that Diaspora could pull my profile pic and other info as well as allow cross-posting so I followed the prompts and logged into Facebook to allow this.
Diaspora asked me for tags based on my interests. I entered several. Posts with the tags you follow show up in your feed.
Looked for my friends so I could connect with them:
Found 2 out of 13 people (all free software users)
One search field, e.g. no search by last name only
Convinced 3 people to join with me (wife, dad, friend)
Problems: can't move pods (need to recreate user and friends need to reconnect) + pod admin can see everything
Needed help of sys admin to install
Still a "temporary" installation in a Python virtual environment
IRC channel was responsive and helpful
Developer responsive via email
Could not get video plug-in to work
Even though I had the least success with MediaGoblin, it's probably the most inspiring project
A federated alternative to YouTube
Sites like YouTube and Facebook centralize user data and create a single point of failure for an attack or a takedown notice
A federated system like MediaGoblin routes around damage when a node goes out and makes it much more difficult to takedown content because it is distributed throughout the network
Jitsi uses SIP as well as other protocols
Sign up and install were relatively easy
Convinced my Spanish teacher in Guatemala (normally use Skype) and my father to sign up
Both are Windows users and were able to get SIP ostel.co accounts
After about 30 minutes of debugging issues, had a high quality video chat with my Dad who is in NY
Spent 1.5 hours across 2 days trying to get Jitsi to work for me and my Spanish teacher, but never quite got there.
Still hopeful.
Email need to consider both service and client
Currently use Gmail and feel locked in by it
Have had trouble moving to Thunderbird because of overall slowness and unreliability of search
However, use Thunderbird when I want to send or receive an encrypted message with GPG
Tried Sylpheed and looks promising, but not enough experience
I can run my own mail server, but it's a headache, especially with Spam
Signed up for a MyKolab account – calendar, filesharing too, about $10/month/user
Could not get OwnCloud installed in time to report on it, but it looks the most promising to me.
SparkleShare works via git repositories and was relatively easy to setup.
Found synchronization slow, but not enough experience to say for sure.
Sparkleshare: good for file sharing within the context of a project especially when version tracking/history is needed
Not ideal for backing up whole computer or photo libraries because everything gets versioned
Tor is very easy to install
No package to install
Just download binary
I'm not ready to use TOR exclusively, but use it occasionally when paranoia sets in
Best practice is to avoid using external programs to view browser media, e.g. Flash, VLC
Download and then play in a virtual machine without Internet access
Or use a Tors LiveCD such as Liberté Linux or TAILS
I couldn't bypass this warning even when downloading rather than viewing (TOR detects filemanager as Internet-enabled program)
Won't always be the best choice from a technology or user interface or features perspective.
But it's the right choice ethically:
* for ourselves
* for our neighbors
* for our community
* and for those who don't depend on security & privacy as they work on our behalf