This Week Fedora Celebrates Diversity, But It is Pushing Proprietary Software and Censorship
IBM openwashing, perception management, and reputation laundering gone awry?
I've just checked the latest in Matrix.
There is not much happening there (less going on there in a whole month than happens in a single day in #techrights IRC), except pushing people to use proprietary software that records people for the NSA and now... Slack:
So they're urging people to use surveillance and proprietary junk (Slack)... and at the same time censoring people or comments like this:
Just to be clear, that statement is false. I disagree with it.
If this is what they are trying to delete, and assuming it's just a troll, then OK. But showing it to everyone in Matrix would only increase visibility. Seems like a tact deficit.
As a community, they seem to be failing, but at least IBM gets to tick some "DEI" box and pretend all is well in the Kingdom of Eurasia. Check out this new thread:
Signs of IBM corporate death spiral
How many of these do you see?
Here are things to look for with an organization that may be in trouble – some before the obvious red flags appear:
Isolation. Top leaders isolate a bit more and communication is reduced.
Vendor payments are slowed down or stopped. This usually means that to make payroll, vendors are left waiting for money owed them.
Vendors become more inflexible. Vendors will not ship or deliver product without payment first. Work delays. Projects are delayed or canceled.
An exodus by integral staff. Top performers, particularly those most likely in the know, leave for other jobs. Yes
A purging of leadership. The most senior leaders announce early departures. Yes
Uncommon expense cuts. Things like training and travel are curtailed. Yes
Tools become hard to find. Gradually supplies to complete the job are not available.
Frozen growth. Replacement positions and new hires are frozen. Yes
No paycheck. Payroll late or missed. The most obvious.
Given IBM's past and present, it always seemed cynical when IBM promoted diversity. Way to distract from the real IBM problems.
Only this past week (or month) a trans lady died who rose to fame after she had been discriminated again by IBM and left, becoming an activist instead (the journal of record published an obituary). IBM has been bad to biological women too, not to mention religious and ethnic minorities (IBM profited from eugenics).
IBM is one of the laest tolerant companies in the world. So having half a dozen "useful idiots" in some Matrix room (a box-ticking exercise) helps IBM. SFC goes as far as censoring IRC for IBM, eliminating critics of IBM. We covered this before. █