On Monday the 25th of August the Code Club board gave me an ultimatum, either I have to stop saying negative things about Code Club sponsors, or resign as a director. After careful consideration, I have handed in my resignation.
I've had a great time working on Code Club, from inception and boozy planning with Clare to writing educational materials and seeing them used in the wild, most of all seeing what the kids make. I have really enjoyed user testing lessons with kids, and going around the world meeting like-minded people and enthusing about constructionism. I am lucky to have met so many people who love Seymour Papert as much as I do <3
The board has given me detailed instructions in how I should talk about Code Club sponsors. For instance, if someone asks me about x's involvement in corporate mass surveillance where x is a Code Club sponsor (eg Google), I should answer: "I do not want to get into the specifics of any particular corporation. Nonetheless, it’s worth restating that the Code Club board believe X are a tremendous partner. As a member of the board I am completely aligned with that view."
I'm not comfortable with lying and so it is in my best interest to resign.
I don't believe the the world is black and white. People and corporations are able to do both good things and bad things. Even if Google was mostly good, I need to have the right to call them out when they do bad things. Doing some good things should not give you a free pass. We should not accept that privacy no longer exists, just because corporations doing mass surveillance also teach kids to code. I cannot stay silent about large corporations infringing on human rights, and I believe it is my moral obligation to speak out against it.
At first, I thought I could be pragmatic, that I could play along with things I don't agree with with as long as it was for a greater goal. But there are some things I do not want to sacrifice. And in any case, I can continue to do all the educational work I want to do outside of Code Club. Like working on the new Digital Maker badge for the Scouts, writing educational materials and running free workshops.
I know Code Club's over 2000 (and growing!) volunteers will continue to do awesome work, they’ll have my continued admiration, love and support.
Linda Sandvik
Linda, I didn’t want to speak publicly about this while you where there but, as you know, this is also the reason why I resigned from the Code Club board of directors earlier this year. I cannot help but feel that with you leaving, Code Club has lost the last bit of its original conscience. And it pains me to write these things about an initiative that I loved and supported since the earliest days.
This is what I mean when I speak about “institutional corruption”. I’m very sure no one from Google ever asked that I be asked to leave the board of directors or that you be silenced about corporate surveillance (or spyware) but that is exactly how the hegemonic nature of vested interests works. What we have to ask ourselves is what is the price of sponsorship by spyware companies like Google and Facebook for organisations? Especially those organisations with social missions and even more so those whose work touches the most vulnerable in our society: children.
What does it say when these organisations legitimise spyware by association and help peddle its wares to children? What does it mean when these organisations normalise corporate surveillance?
Thank you for writing this, Linda. And thank you for all of your hard work for Code Club. I’m honoured to have worked together with you on this and to be able to call you a friend. Let’s chat soon, because, as I was telling Doug recently, it’s clear that we need independent alternatives for tech education. (By the way, Doug’s talk from the ind.ie/summit, Raising the next generation is very relevant to all this.)
Take care + chat soon :)