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Annual EFF Awards: Alexandra Elbakyan, Library Freedom Project, and Signal

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Re: Annual EFF Awards: Alexandra Elbakyan, Library Freedom Project, and Signal

#2

Post by dredmorbius »

One of the most important factors in changing laws and confronting oppressive forces is to create strong popular awareness and support for those opposing them. Among other things, this makes them far more risky and formidible as targets of opportunity for oppressors.

In this sense I hope very much that the cyberrights movement is maturing to recognise that technical means of fighting such oppression are, whilst necessary, not sufficient. EFF are showing an increased awareness of this (and to be fair, have been aware of this for a long time).

The explicit recognition of Alexandra Elbakyan, a personal hero to me, is not only richly deserved by a functionally useful step in fighting copyright overreach and publishing monopolies.

Re: Annual EFF Awards: Alexandra Elbakyan, Library Freedom Project, and Signal

#3

Post by KennyBlanken »

> Library Freedom Project is radically rethinking the library professional organization by creating a network of values-driven librarian-activists taking action together to build information democracy. LFP offers trainings, resources, and community building for librarians on issues of privacy, surveillance, intellectual freedom, labor rights, power, technology, and more—helping create safer, more private spaces for library patrons to feed their minds and express themselves. Their work is informed by a social justice, feminist, anti-racist approach, and they believe in the combined power of long-term collective organizing and short-term, immediate harm reduction.

I'm really struggling to see evidence of any of this on their website.

All I see, from an org that started in 2015, is:

* A handful of cartoonish, mile-high-overview posters and booklets, most of them formatted for printing, not viewing...none of which have been updated in four years. It's like flipping open your car manual to the section on "driver controls" and seeing: "you should use your vehicle's wipers if it is raining" and nothing more on the matter.

* A huge amount of effort put into listing all their many members and their specialties, dwarfing all their other forms of content - but yet, virtually nobody including the founder seems to have the slightest education, work background, published (or otherwise) papers, presentations given at conferences, projects...nothing... in related fields. Correction: Alison has a wikipedia page which explains more, but that's an awfully thin resume for someone heading a digital privacy project these days

* Two courses, which ran once, for which there is little to no information, no materials for others to run the courses, etc?

* No "immediate harm reduction" resources anywhere in sight; no invitation to contact them for help or to volunteer, except for paid engagements for the executive director

* An executive director who hasn't been on social media in two years?

This really looks like a typical "professional organization" that is little more than a resume stuffer. For an org with a hundred plus members their work product is basically nill.

This is a perfect example of how not to be taken even remotely seriously by anyone, with a cartoonishly exaggerated logo, no citations or references or even the most rudimentary details...not to the mention the accessibility issues from the font:

https://github.com/alisonLFP/libraryfreedominstitute/blob/ma...

Who thought that this was useful, practical advice for your average person? https://libraryfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Green-...

How am I supposed to read this? https://github.com/alisonLFP/libraryfreedominstitute/blob/ma...

This "vendor scorecard" is useless paper-pushing that doesn't in any way, shape, or form help someone interpret their vendor's privacy policies and data sharing policies, which are written intentionally to obfuscate: https://libraryfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/LFP-Ve...

Re: Annual EFF Awards: Alexandra Elbakyan, Library Freedom Project, and Signal

#7

Post by Gregordinary »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #3

> Library Freedom Project is radically rethinking the library professional organization by creating a network of values-driven librarian-activists taking action together to build information democracy. LFP offers trainings, resources, and community building for librarians on issues of privacy, surveillance, intellectual freedom, labor rights, power, technology, and more—helping create safer, more private spaces for l…

Alison spoke at LibrePlanet 2016 on the Library Freedom Project and some of its programs and initiatives.

https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/library-freedo...

Re: Annual EFF Awards: Alexandra Elbakyan, Library Freedom Project, and Signal

#9

Post by downWidOutaFite »

pard68 wrote: post #6

Earlier this week it was a Wired hit piece telling us Signal is full of alt-right boogymen and naziquadroons. Now they're the champions of digital freedom. I'm gonna have whiplash!

different people have different opinions?
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