[liberationtech] What Makes a Liberation (or Repression) Technology?

[Steven Clift]

I'd add ...

5) It must allow for public and private group communication.

Why does China try to require real names? Because the "freedom of assembly"
allows the public or small groups to generate new public opinion, set
media/political agendas, organize and coordinate action, etc.

Mailing lists, blogs, Facebook pages, Twitter hashtags, etc. are subversive
because by their very nature they allow group communication which has the
potential to threaten power.

Steven Clift
E-Democracy.org
On Feb 4, 2011 3:49 PM, "Rohan Dixit" <rohandixit86 at gmail.com> wrote:
> I don't think the requirement to maintain privacy is necessarily a
defining
> characteristic of this type of technology.
>
> One could imagine a completely open system that is equally susceptible to
> surveillance by anyone at any node of the network. Changing the paradigm
> from the informational asymmetry that historically state or
> corporate-sponsored surveillance has benefited from, and transforming into
a
> "sousveillance" model is worth looking at more closely.
>
> Thanks Mary for bringing this discussion about.
>
> warmly,
>
> Rohan
>
> On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 4:12 PM, Yosem Companys <yosem at joindiaspora.com
>wrote:
>
>> There's some great work done by Jeremy Weinstein (I believe) -- who is a
>> Stanford prof and a member of this list -- on making paper ballots more
>> transparent for illiterate people in Africa and the use of SMS to
>> communicate corruption info to disconnected villages. I can't find the
>> paper anywhere on my desktop, so if anyone has it, could you please share
it
>> with Sheila? She may be interested in reading it.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 4, 2011 at 1:05 PM, Sheila Parks <sheilaruthparks at comcast.net
>wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Mary Joyce,
>>>
>>> Thx for sending this. I think it is crucially important to define what
>>> liberation technology is
>>>
>>> I am very interested in this group because of its name Democracy and
>>> Technology - the Stanford U dept or program
>>>
>>> And on this list serve name, liberation comes first too
>>>
>>> My question is, why would u want it 2 b accessible ONLY to a large
segment
>>> of the population, and how would u define large?
>>>
>>> For me, and many of us in the hand-counted paper ballots elections
(HCPB)
>>> voting rights activists, I want third grade student to understand how
our
>>> votes r counted.
>>>
>>> No experts who have 2 explain it. No statisticians, no mathematicians,
no
>>> computer geeks,
>>>
>>> Democracy means EVERY PERSON understands - I draw my line in the sand at
>>> third grade. I could go to 5th, if pressed, but not higher than that.It
>>> It is not totally transparent democracy, then the process belongs to an
>>> elite.
>>>
>>> That is not democracy. That is what we have now, everywhere, including,
>>> of course, the US
>>>
>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Sheila
>>>
>>>
>>> At 03:10 PM 2/4/2011, Mary Joyce wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi All,
>>>
>>> I'm interested in feedback on a list of characteristics I've developed
to
>>> define a "liberation technology"
>>>
>>> The short version:
>>>
>>> 1. It must transmit POLITICAL INFORMATION.
>>> 2. It must be ACCESSIBLE to a large segment of the POPULATION.
>>> 3. It must allow for EFFECTIVE UTILIZATION.
>>> 4. It must allow for protection of PRIVACY.
>>>
>>> ...and a repression technology has the reverse characteristics. Full
post
>>> here: "What Makes a Liberation (or Repression) Technology?"<
http://www.meta-activism.org/2011/02/what-makes-a-liberation-or-repression-technology/
>
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Mary
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> MARY C. JOYCE
>>> Founder | The Meta-Activism Project | www.Meta-Activism.org
>>> Digital Activism Consultant | www.MaryJoyce.com
>>> Mobile | +1.857.928.1297 <tel:+18579281297>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>> Sheila Parks, Ed.D.
>>> Founder
>>> Center for Hand-Counted Paper Ballots
>>> Belmont, MA 02478
>>> 617-932-1424 <tel:+16179321424>
>>> DEMOCRACY IN OUR HANDS
>>> www.handcountedpaperballots.org
>>> sheila at handcountedpaperballots.org
>>>
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>>
>>
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