Inspired by the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee's [Technology Policy](https://incarceratedworkers.org/resources/iwoc-technology-policy), I've been advocating for groups that I'm involved with to take stock of their technology choices and how they work in alignment with - or against - the groups' stated values. But it recently occurred to me that I could do the same thing, as a valuable personal exercise and a practice run for how groups can do the same.
My first step was to consider how well the principles used by the IWOC fit for my personal framework. For the most part I agree with their assessment and their value criteria. It's not so simple as applying their example point-for-point, though. An organization in some ways has more latitude to take an aggressive, principled stance and make commitments to improve these conditions over time. Indeed, I believe that the ends can't be made to justify the means, but that the means must reflect the desired ends, and that this becomes moreimportantat greater scales of organization. At the personal level we have to acknowledge our limitations in skills, resources (including time), etc. I believe when it's possible, it's good to "vote with our dollars," but I also believe voting is just one small tool out of many in the fight for collective liberation. These problems are too large and complex to be solved by individually opting out of things like Facebook or Google Search. At the same time, when we learn something new, we can do it for others or teach them! So, for me, it seems worthwhile to pursue these goals up to a poorly-defined point, provided that I can share my findings or otherwise help others along the path.
My first step was to consider how well the principles used by the IWOC fit for my personal framework. For the most part I agree with their assessment and their value criteria. It's not so simple as applying their example point-for-point, though, for a number of reasons.
So, I've tried to catalog my personal "tech stack" - apps, devices, and services that I use regularly. I've drawn the line pretty closely around computing; while there are some obvious opportunities for improvement as an ethical consumer in other areas of my life, without limiting the scope it's simply too big a task.
An organization in some ways has more latitude to take an aggressive, principled stance and make commitments to improve these conditions over time. I believe that the ends can't be made to justify the means, but rather, the means must reflect the desired ends. This becomes more important at greater scales of organization -- at the personal level we have to acknowledge our limitations in skills, resources (including time), etc. But larger organizations have more resources and therefore more responsibility to use them appropriately. I believe when it's possible, it's good to "vote with our dollars," but I also believe voting is just one small tool out of many in the fight for collective liberation. These problems are too large and complex to be solved by individually [opting out of things like Facebook](leaving-facebook) or Google Search. At the same time, when we learn something new, we can do it for others or teach them! So, for me, it seems worthwhile to pursue these goals up to a poorly-defined point, provided that I can share my findings or otherwise help others along the path.
I would like to do a more thorough post about personal ethics and politics, but since I haven't yet, here's a quick outline of my ethics in relation to technology:
> I value privacy, accessibility, and decentralization as matters of personal safety and autonomy.
> I support the creation and maintenance of media and software commons for the benefit of the people, but oppose the current paradigm of Open Source that is designed for benefits to redound to large corporations, and take great issue with the largely value-neutral ideology of Free (Libre) Software.
> Planned obsolescence of a device composed of plastics and rare earth metals is an act of horrific violence committed against ourselves, the web of life in which we're embedded, and future generations.
Below I've tried to catalog my personal "tech stack" - apps, devices, and services that I use regularly. I've drawn the line pretty closely around computing; while there are some obvious opportunities for improvement as an ethical consumer in other areas of my life, without limiting the scope it's simply too big a task.
Then I started work on a "detailed evaluation" of those list items, like IWOC has on their website. I quickly discovered that evaluating each item on my list against their criteria was beyond my expertise and the time I wanted to devote to this project before taking some real action. I also noticed that internally I was evaluating a very important additional criteria that I hadn't considered up front: whether I had a reasonably actionable choice in whether to continue using that service (Gmail) or not (Discord).
@ -22,7 +32,7 @@ As a result, I've decided instead to make a smaller list of services and devices
## The potentially actionable list
- Google Drive
- My NextCloud server is broken, but when it's fixed and running again, it will meet all my personal needs for Google Drive. I can even try to use it for some collaborative use-cases - it could be a way to start conversations about tech ethics and related issues, or invite folks to start making some better choices of their own.
- My NextCloud server is broken, but when it's fixed and running again, it will meet all my personal needs for Google Drive. I can even try to use it for some collaborative use-cases - it could be a way to start conversations about tech ethics and related issues, or invite folks to start making some better choices of their own.
- Apple iPhone
- This also depends on fixing the NextCloud server; I won't be ready to get out of the iOS ecosystem until I've exfiltrated my roughly 15,000 (and growing!) iCloud photos into NextCloud.
