09.26.13

Software Freedom and Accountability

Posted in Free/Libre Software at 8:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: Justice can only be served if we are told the truth and for that we need a full trail leading back to the source

As software becomes more sophisticated, its methods of controlling users and giving control to developers (or their employers) become highly sophisticated as well. Restricting and observing users is important to those who wish to keep society in check (i.e. enslaved). What they want is obedient workers and consumers. Non-conformity — in their view at least — needs to be identified, caught, reprimanded or even punished for. Proprietary software is to Big Brother what fishing is to a fisherman. Proprietary software is the facilitator of social injustice through imposition. The proprietor is usually misusing code as an instrument of subjugation.

“Proprietary software is the facilitator or social injustice. The proprietor is usually misusing code as an instrument of subjugation.”Globalists have been using outsourcing as a tool for driving wages down. Minimum wages have fallen over time as in recent decades the minimal rates hardly caught up with inflation and some public services got withdrawn. Workers are trying to get a pay surge, leaping to $15 per hour in the United States [1], but they are up against executives who are essentially above the law [2] because they enjoy immunity from the police, at least here in the UK, a key part of the financial empire [3]. In this age of class war we are being distracted by politicians who use possibly false pretexts to ‘sell’ us war in Syria [4] and in Iran [5]. The state-run or corporate media, which is controlled by the globalists, helps demonise people who deal with social/domestic affairs and put on a pedestal those who take us to wars based on lies, killing foreigners for private profits [6,7]. Here in the UK we have lobbying by the rich to control our policy [8-10] and in the US too there are lobbies which serve plutocrats [11,12], including Bill Gates, who actively funds such lobbies until caught (at which point the cost of “doing business” with bribery is too great).

It is probably time to accept the fact that the biggest war in the world and the most concrete threat is class war. Many other wars are motivated by greed, are the side-effect if greed (like imperialism), or are manufactured to help distract from the real struggles.

Going back to software, if we want justice, then we are going to need transparency, which is necessary for accountability through truth. Free software is not enough through. Free access to data is also required and new developments in this area (e.g. [13,14]) are definitely noteworthy. █

Related/contextual items from the news:

1. Wisconsin Workers “Fight For Fifteen”

   Wisconsin workers are joining the “Fight for Fifteen” — better wages for those at the bottom of the U.S. payscale. Three cities in Wisconsin were among 58 across the United States where thousands of low-wage fast-food workers walked off their jobs to demand a living wage, safe working conditions, and the right to unionize without being penalized. The coordinated actions on August 29 constituted the largest fast food strike in U.S. history.

2. Neil Wallis: Why no 6am raids for city execs?

   So why not those City executives? Why not the crisply-shirted bosses from City finance firms, the rich celebrities, the expensively-dressed solicitors from world-famous law firms?

   What is the difference between me and other journalists arrested on conspiracy charges but never accused of actual phone-hacking, and these “respectable” businessmen from blue-chip firms?

   Ever since the Independent’s excellent young reporter Tom Harper revealed SOCA’s secret list of shame several months ago, I and many others have struggled for an answer.

3. We Can Rule the World – Err, No We Can’t

   I worked in multilateral negotiations in both the UN and EU and found colleagues from countries like Ireland, the Netherlands and Canada to be professional competent and influential. The Scots certainly can be all of those. Small countries contribute to policy, to peacekeeping and to humanitarian effort.

4. Anti-Assad Death Squads Responsible for Gas Attack

   Assad’s wrongfully blamed for Ghouta’s gas attack. Evidence shows insurgents bear full responsibility. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was clear and unequivocal, saying:

   “We have the most serious grounds to believe (Ghouta’s attack) was a provocation.” Assad had nothing to do with it.

   “There is no answer to a number of questions we have asked, such as where the weapon was made – at an official factory or using homemade methods,” Lavrov added.

5. NBC’s News on Iran and Nukes Is Old News

   But an Iranian president saying Iran isn’t developing nuclear weapons isn’t new–though it might seem that way to a U.S. corporate media that constantly refers to Iran’s “nuclear weapons program” as if there were proof that such a thing exists.

6. Unfortunate BBC moustache for Nigel Farage

7. Gordon Brown

   I have a guilty political secret. I do not detest Gordon Brown. That is such an unfashionable opinion that I don’t really expect any comments at all to agree with it. And yes, I do realise that he went along with the Iraq War and all the other horrors of the Blair era. Interestingly, I don’t remember the question of what Gordon Brown really thought about Iraq ever being discussed; he deserves condemnation for having not tried to stop it, and perhaps he was indeed an enthusiast. And I am well aware that the Private Finance Initiative is a terrible disaster, and that he oversaw creeping privatisation in the health services, and – worst of all – the introduction of tuition fees.

8. An Open Letter on the UK’s proposed Lobbying Bill

   ORG joins organisations working for greater government transparency and openness in the UK and around the world in an open letter to the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister about the UK’s proposed Lobbying Bill.

9. This Lobbying Bill must not pass.

   Ladies and Gentlemen, we give you the “Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill” Specifically, Part 2 of the Bill, which covers non-political party campaigning.

10. Part 2 of the Lobbying Bill should be withdrawn

    Part 2 of the Lobbying Bill is a significant change and proposes regulating a broad swathe of those most active in public debate. It poses a major threat to freedom of speech and public debate, and must be considered in the most delicate manner. It has already achieved unprecedented cross-party, non-partisan agreement in opposition to its current drafting.

11. $500,000 Sweetheart Deal for Koch-Tied GOP Lobby Group Moves Forward

    A Republican-dominated committee voted Thursday to recommend a half-million-dollar grant for promoting hunting and fishing to a group with no record in outdoors training, but with plenty of lobbying experience and close ties to outgoing Assembly Majority Leader Scott Suder. The group, United Sportsmen of Wisconsin, will spend most of the $500,000 in taxpayer dollars on salaries for Tea Party leaders who have long railed against government spending.

12. Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas Files Brief in Opposition to ALEC’s Effort to Evade Open Records Law

    The Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas has filed a brief with state Attorney General Greg Abbott in support of the Center for Media and Democracy’s request for records pertaining to the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), and further refuting ALEC’s effort to declare its communications immune from the state public records law.

13. NC Datapalooza 2013: Why publicly available data is innovative

    If you live in the southeastern US (aka the Bible Belt) as I do, you’ve probably been to a church revival or two (or twenty). Revival is an event intended to light a fire under the ‘faithful,’ as opposed to the newcomer. As I sat at NC Datapalooza last week, I felt that I was in a revival, without the obvious religious overtones, of course. I was amazed at how far the Raleigh area has come in terms of understanding and accepting open data principles.

14. Response to Royal Mail PAF licensing consultation

    The Royal Mail has asked about new licensing approach for the ‘PAF’, or Postcode Address File. We have responded by calling for the PAF to be published as open data under an open license.

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