[liberationtech] Liberation Tech would like a word.

Thu Apr 25 21:53:26 CEST 2024

I started lurking on this list over a decade ago. Probably heard about it
when I first went to DEF CON around 2013. Back then I was a journalist who
accidentally inherited sysadmin roles for a large newsroom and was
simultaneously spooked by all the surveillance concerns brought to light by
Ed Snowden. Over the years most of the list's messages skip my inbox, but
occasionally I search for some random term and find helpful info in these
threads.

These days I work at Starling Lab, which was cofounded by Stanford and USC
to explore questions about data integrity and trust in digital records.
Think: How do we know a photo is "real"? Or that evidence posted on social
media won't disappear? We do really neat applied projects in journalism,
law (war crimes accountability), and historical archiving. I also volunteer
as press rights chair for the Los Angeles Press Club. It may surprise
people to hear that many of the nation's worst press rights abuses are here
in California, so it's never a dull moment. All of these interests hit on
issues about the public's right to know as well as the public's rights to
privacy.

Best,
Adam

On Wed, Apr 24, 2024 at 10:31 PM Kate Krauss <katiephr at gmail.com> wrote:

> Looks like there's an RFP for deliberative technologies:
>
> From Michelle Lee (Protocol Labs):
>
> Hey govtech peeps — check out this Metagov RFP for Interoperable
> Deliberative Tools. $250,000 in grants for 2 phases."
>
> "Note that the receiving entity must be a legal entity, citizen, or
> permanent resident in a country that is not subject to US sanctions."
>
> <http://goog_1664406429>
>
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G-2OVyJIvVTcQLPCg_mA3UzohSGZUm9dHPyWKwK4LlA/edit#heading=h.6s0hwgezolbm
>
> -Kate
>
> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 3:00 PM Lorelei Kelly <loreleikelly at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> deliberative technology could take many different forms pol.is  remesh,
>> Zoom, Cortico Fora...online Town Hall Models, Citizen Assemblies, mini
>> publics...
>> what's interesting to me is how the Right to petition function of
>> Congress (First Amendment duty) was basically offshored in the 1940s to the
>> Executive Branch, thereby depriving Congress of its internal barometer of
>> the American people-- it gave the President power at the expense of the
>> legislature, and allowed the public grievance processing space to languish
>> or be privatized (Facebook).   Now much access is purchased via
>> lobbying...and advocacy... the rest of us are left to vote occasionally or
>> protest or spiral into frustration and even apathy (very dangerous)...
>> Grievance processing on top of an advertising platform is one of the major
>> drivers of dysfunction IMHO. And that's not even mentioning the Putin ad
>> buys.   It has been a disaster for democracy, but specifically for
>> institutions like Congress whose communications standards were literally
>> stuck in the Pony Express until 2020.  Here's an article that explains
>> <https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/3985778-to-protect-democracy-from-machines-congress-must-modernize-our-constitutional-right-to-petition/>this
>> big picture framing.
>>
>> We have to actually change alot of laborious and byzantine rules, even
>> laws to allow Congress to function in the modern world.  It has many
>> pockets of Civil War era technology like an 1860s document format.  Fixing
>> this is an institutional long game--the Right Wing has been much more
>> successful at eliminating public infrastructure and then
>> occupying/capturing it, selling it off to friends and cronies or
>> corporations (or flooding the zone with shit aka Bannon's plan)   The Left,
>> as far as I can tell has no competitive institutional plan.  Centrists tend
>> to not be supported by outside or adjacent orgs.
>>
>> our dysfunction re: tech and institutions is partly because the first
>> generation of technologies on social media fit into campaigning needs, not
>> governing, which requires slow moving, slow thinking and deliberation.
>> Its one reason why governing looks like campaigning now. The whole
>> incentive system is streamlined for it.  Citizens United in 2010 allowed
>> unlimited dark money into the blood stream of democracy.  We have to change
>> this incentive.  Americans need to fall in love with their governing
>> institutions again. They are so beleaguered and brittle.   And this needs
>> to be paid for by taxpayer dollars,facilitated by philanthropy,  not
>> privatized.   Democracy is not a pro bono project or a side gig  that you
>> think about while building a Mars rocket-- Scorn for institutions is one of
>> the reasons I left Silicon Valley (where I was born!)  and have never
>> looked back.
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 1:10 PM Kate Krauss <katiephr at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> This is so interesting. Thanks for sharing your fascinating insights
>>> into the dynamics right now in US Congress. I can't believe we've found an
>>> optimist! :)
>>>
>>> What sorts of things are you working on in this regard: "how to
>>> integrate new forms of deliberative technology into the workflow of members
>>> so there is a flow of authentic, productive, constituent driven feedback."
>>> What sorts of deliberative technology?
>>>
>>> In modernizing, what kinds of unmodern things go wrong, and what
>>> direction are you going in fixing them? Also very interested to hear about
>>> AI and LLMs in the House (seems like a Saturday Night Live skit, but also,
>>> the future!).
>>>
>>> Thanks again,
>>>
>>> -Kate
>>>
>>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:33 PM Lorelei Kelly <loreleikelly at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> hi, thanks for the note.
>>>> I'm glad to see this list momentum effort!  We need it!
>>>> I lead the modernizing Congress portfolio at Georgetown and I'm still
>>>> working adjacent to the US Congress with the members and committees who are
>>>> behind this effort-- The House has passed 202 reform and modernization
>>>> recommendations. It is truly an unprecedented and historic push forward.
>>>> I'm now helping implement the more difficult ones that include a social
>>>> cohesion aspect. (i.e. how to we integrate new forms of deliberative
>>>> technology into the workflow of members so there is a flow of authentic,
>>>> productive, constituent driven feedback)  Also we have gotten ahead of the
>>>> curve on AI and LLMs in the House at least. I'm proud of this old
>>>> institution, even though its looking like a three ring circus in the news.
>>>> I think the Mike Johnson success on Ukraine funding is a very interesting
>>>> turning point for looking at democracy as transcendent critical
>>>> infrastructure (backed up by pandemic measures to go remote and then J6
>>>> reactions to look at the information systems on Capitol Hill as national
>>>> security priorities)  We have begun to marginalize deviant behavior through
>>>> the process and this is a good, emergent, systems way to make sense of it.
>>>> Very interesting time for all of this.
>>>> LK
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:19 PM Kate Krauss <katiephr at gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi!
>>>>>
>>>>> We didn't move the list, or change its name (Liberation Tech) but we
>>>>> did supply a link which works (after fixing a technical glitch) that you
>>>>> can share with new people who might want to join.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>
>>>>> Kate
>>>>>
>>>>> On Mon, Apr 22, 2024 at 12:12 PM Undescribed Horrific Abuse, One
>>>>> Victim & Survivor of Many <gmkarl at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> > > Hi, I’m confused, what about the list this email was sent to (
>>>>>> lt at lists.liberationtech.org) ?
>>>>>> > >
>>>>>> > > What does the “subscribe” link in this email have to do with that
>>>>>> list?
>>>>>> > >
>>>>>> > > Is it a different list? The same list? Is
>>>>>> lt at lists.liberationtech.org still alive or being moved?
>>>>>> > >
>>>>>> > > Very confused,
>>>>>> > > Greg
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > I'd like to relate that some communities have been both disrupted
>>>>>> and
>>>>>> > defended by influences skilled in social manipulation, and that one
>>>>>> > attribute of that is changing the environment.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > Changing an environment can help change, whether overt or covert, be
>>>>>> > adopted more readily. It can separate both from harm and fear as
>>>>>> well
>>>>>> > as familiarity and community.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > It's pleasant that changing the list name could help people feel
>>>>>> safer
>>>>>> > from any trauma associated with the old list, and help anything
>>>>>> > targeting the old list have a little trouble finding the new people.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > I hope that everybody who was affiliated with the old list succeeds
>>>>>> in
>>>>>> > finding the new one, but I know there will be people who don't.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > Some communities often have to move in order to survive well. This
>>>>>> > does sadly often mean leaving people behind.
>>>>>> >
>>>>>> > Crazy Karl (I think I have OSDD from technologically-facilitated
>>>>>> abuse!)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Apologies, I did not realize it was the _same_ list the subscribe link
>>>>>> was sent to.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I had assumed by context that this was a new list.
>>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major
>>>>> commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you
>>>>> moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe,
>>>>> change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
>>>>> lt-owner at lists.liberationtech.org.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>>
>>>> *Lorelei KellyResearch Lead, Congressional Modernization
>>>> <https://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/project/modernizing-congress/>*
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> *Founder, Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)*
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>> --
>>
>> *Lorelei KellyResearch Lead, Congressional Modernization
>> <https://beeckcenter.georgetown.edu/project/modernizing-congress/>*
>>
>>
>>
>> *Founder, Georgetown Democracy, Education + Service (GeoDES)*
>>
>> --
> Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major
> commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you
> moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe,
> change to digest mode, or change password by emailing
> lt-owner at lists.liberationtech.org.
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.ghserv.net/pipermail/lt/attachments/20240425/430c84a4/attachment.htm>