[sudo-discuss] It's Unconscionable

Sat Mar 2 13:37:00 PST 2013

Not sure how to append or collate this with Daniel's section, but included
below is a draft of suggested comments I tried piecing together. I think
that if we are to have a statement, that we should merge our various
contributions to represent one voice. I'm not sure what platform is best to
do this kind of thing on, but have had some positive experience with
http://www.co-ment.com/.

sent from eddan.com

---

To our community –

It is in good conscience that we, the members of Sudo Room, host the
Lock-Picking session at the Workshop Weekend taking place at 2141 Broadway
[and Tech Liminal] today. As even a quick glance at the rest of the program
would make clear, we are a diverse community of technologists, artists, and
activists joined together by the ambition of figuring things out for
ourselves and teaching other people how to do it.

A further step back would reveal a context of free and open to the public
educational opportunities covering everything from sewing recycled fabric
into sustainable clothing; making vanilla extract to experiment with new
flavors of ice cream; creating a transparent and democratic corporate
governance; and indeed yes – taking locks apart and reverse engineering
software.

Regarding the option of calling a locksmith, an Oakland resident locked out
of their house or car should be advised to read through the peer review
websites carefully for reputable services before calling their number. It
is our general belief that public safety is better served when the skills
necessary to be hired as a locksmith, for example, are taught in classrooms
rather than by picking it up in the actual commission of crimes.

We share in our city’s mourning of the death of Kiante Campbell at the Art
Murmur last month. Collectively and as individuals, we are also aware of
and concerned about the alarming levels of crime in our neighborhoods. It
is in fact those concerns that have made for the greatest challenges in
offering an openly accessible entrance to our building. Being a
horizontally-governed organization, the compromised option of only several
people having the keys is problematic. We are now experimenting in our own
space with ways that can increase security while preserving the privacy of
the general public. We intend to share our results publicly on our website
and wiki, as with all of our other projects, so that public safety in
Oakland can be more effectively enforced.

We regret that Mayor Quan stepped back from her support of the event,
though we appreciate her support for our innovative programs that are
bringing about an emergent start-up technology culture in downtown Oakland.
We can certainly sympathize with the overwhelming task of responsibly
editing a large amount of information such as what is in the Mayors’
newsletter. We intend for this unfortunate series of misunderstandings to
be yet another incentive for us to work on some of the projects we’ve
already started – those aimed towards more efficiently sorting through
large volumes of information to allow for making editorial judgment calls
more fairly.

We would like to take this unsolicited opportunity to make our intentions
clear with Police Chief Jordan and Mayor Quan. We have among us people who
can contribute a great deal to solving our law enforcement technology
problems and addressing the cyber-security concerns of critical
infrastructure such as the Port of Oakland. We hope to get a chance to work
together with our city’s leaders in bringing cutting-edge capacity building
to the people of Oakland with sustainable and equitable economic
structures. We are trying to be very conscientious about it – we welcome
you to drop by one of our many events or visit our website for information
about our initiatives.

On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Daniel Finlay <namelessdan at gmail.com>wrote:

> Anca's right, this is a huge opportunity.
>
> Lower dues, anyone?
>
> Here's my caricature of opportunism, feel free to tune down the tone to
> your tact level of preference:
>
> The admonition of lockpicking classes by the Mayor and Police Chief of
> Oakland are as unconscionable as the thefts they purport to be in fear of.
> While the alarmists claim that publicly available lockpicking classes may
> promote criminal activity, they lose sight that this class is in the
> context of a larger public enrichment.
>
>
> Despite being only a few months old, Sudoroom has already made itself host
> to a wide variety of educational, cooperative, and even marketable
> skill-building classes and events for hundreds of local residents.  From
> programming computers and 3-D printing to curing cheese and modifying DNA,
> Sudo Room is a free, community sponsored place for fostering the
> collaborative creativity that comes with groups full of intellectual
> curiosity in a time of as much change and development as this one.
>
>
> In a time where people's opportunities might lead them to crime, perhaps
> we ought to provide better alternatives rather than stupefying the public
> as a form of self defense.
>
>
> Let us address the cause of this sickness rather than try to snuff out its
> symptoms, and give ourselves access to an unfettered flow of knowledge and
> opportunity.  We encourage you to participate in this local renaissance, by
> visiting the Sudoroom yourself, and taking part in any of the classes of
> your interest.  You can always find the upcoming events at
> sudoroom.org/calendar, or just stop by almost any time to join your
> neighbors in their curious pursuits.
>
> Feel free to fork it at https://gist.github.com/flyswatter/5070131
>
> -Dan
>
>
>
> On Mar 1, 2013, at 11:27 PM, Anca Mosoiu <anca at techliminal.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 6:35 PM, Michael Scroggins <
> michaeljscroggins at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>
>> The sentence implicitly draws a difference of kind between the lock
>> picking class and the other Workshop Weekend classes. Doing so invites the
>> question: What is the difference that makes broadcasting this workshop (in
>> the way it was) regrettable?  In an environment where the mayor, the chief
>> of police and the media have all given the same answer - the class breeds
>> criminals - allowing that question is regrettable.
>>
>
> It's regrettable because it gave some easy pickings for the people who
> want to portray Oakland, and the current administration, in a certain way.
> Many of the people who are upset about the workshop aren't upset about
> lockpicking, they're upset that Jean Quan appears to encourage crime in her
> newsletter.
>
> It's regrettable because it sucked up airwaves and mental effort that
> might have been better spent.
>
> Drafting a reasoned and reasonable response lowers the blood pressure of
> the people who are up in arms just because they aren't informed.  Some of
> them will come around, especially if they understand the actual intent of
> the class.
>
> Eddan, I'd like to participate in writing a statement. I was really taken
> aback when I read some of the emails and talked to some of the people who
> were actually upset.
>
> The media storm will blow over with the next foot-in-mouth opportunity
> from a local politician, but we have a great opportunity to reach out while
> the world is looking.
>
> Anca.
>
>
> --
> -=-=-=-
> Anca Mosoiu | Tech Liminal
> anca at techliminal.com
> M: (510) 220-6660
> http://techliminal.com | T: @techliminal | F: facebook.com/techliminal
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>
>
>
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