Since college, I have been involved in protests against the Iraq War, G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh (where I witnessed the LRAD sonic weapon used), a potential war against Syria, and warrantless wiretapping. There are many takeaways from protesting, especially how normal it is to be involved, and how essential it is to speak out loud and make demands.
Not everything is going to come true because someone spoke out, because you marched, because the paper publishes a photo of injustice. But peaceful assembly and free press are huge components of our democratic process, the core of so many successful changes in our country. I think a lot of people see protestors as extreme. My brother once asked me, "how can someone ask for $15 an hour to work at McDonalds?" and I said, "If he asked for $12 he'd never get it." A protest establishes that not only is the status quo unacceptable, but that you want a changed world.
How can we help peaceful protestors? How can we make a technology group or fellowship that aids free speech? I don't want this thing to be just a gimmick. It has to have a listening component. It has to help normalize protest in society, help get messages across, help get people organized. It has to steer clear of tracking protestors or the police. This is not an app incubator or some crap. This is about the right to assemble peacefully.
There were projects like this before, for example Sukey, the app to avoid "kettling" where protestors are surrounded and then arrested for not moving. I like this example for three reasons:
- it's proof that technology can and has been applied in this space. It got a good deal of press and attention
- it's no longer around, partially because it wasn't trusted by hackers (the open source code was always behind/different from the actual service) but mostly because there was no sponsor or organization - they had no model for sustainability
- it's irresponsible. A peaceful protestor could use it to avoid kettling, but nothing keeps non-peaceful protestors from using it to track police movements, coordinate actions, and destroy property where the police are busy elsewhere.
A new generation of free speech technology would need to address these issues by pinpointing:
- what information do first-time protestors or freelance reporters need to know?
- how can protestors communicate important events (for example: an inspiring speaker, an injured person) without opening a channel for negative use? Potential solution: use icons and emoji instead of words
- when there is indecision about what to do (for example: community leaders in Ferguson debating whether to respect a curfew) who do I know, who do I trust, what is their quick message for me?
- how can the apps be 100% open source, with code verified by users?
On Day Zero, this team probably won't have free speech groups helping it develop. That's frustrating. But there are still apps which can demonstrate the useful of technology before partnering directly with an organization:
- protesting in remote areas (Chelsea Manning trial, death row protests, abusive farms)
- what signs are most effective at reaching traditional and social media? (OCR)
- who speaks at these events? are there people with compelling stories who belong at protest events?
- can a video have its location and content timestamped in a distributed blockchain-like datasource?
That's what I've got so far.
love this train of thought 👍 would love to see this idea developed more