September 29th, 2021 IRC Meeting

Decisions/Endorsements

Platform

Planks: https://github.com/masspirates/planks

Started work on two new planks:

• https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPPImmigrationPlank
• https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPPDigitalFreedomForAll

Party Budget

Start discussion of 2022 party budget.

Currently have $1800 in bank account. jokeefe renewed web hosting fees and will need to be reimbursed $200.

Projects

Outreach

Leader: Malt

• Next pirate moot?
• Setup local video meetups by region with people who said they were interested in organizing a local chapter
• Organize candidate trainings

Video Newsletter/Podcast

Leader: Joseph

• Pirate news recording scheduled for Sundays, 7pm with go-live at 7:30pm. Unless changed

Other To Do

• Application to PPI

Participants

• jokeefe: James O’Keefe, Somerville
• Joe: Joseph Onoroski, Lowell
• malt: sam capradae, worcester

Observers

• davidd
• hvxgr
• slerman

Summary

Started work on https://masspirates.org/blog/ourissues/healthcare-is-a-human-right/

Approved Digital Freedom for Everyone! plank

 

Digital Freedom for Everyone!

1 Free, democratically controlled technical infrastructure

Modern society is hard to imagine without digital communication. The state’s actions should be geared towards securing and promoting public access to all forms of communication, including internet, radio, and television. The only way to ensure public participation in digital space is to own the hardware through municipally-controlled internet service providers. Furthermore, the transmission hardware itself, paid for by tax dollars, should also be owned and maintained by publically owned co-operatives.

2 Open standards

Universal access to data can only be ensured if information is available in an open standards format.  Open standards decrease our dependence on individual manufacturers and enables free competition between technical solutions. One only needs to look at the early days of cellphone chargers to see what happens when proprietary formats are given reign. We support the promotion and use of open standards and government policy must further this goal. An open standard is a protocol or format which meets the following criteria:

All participants have full, equal and public access to the standard and can evaluate and use it equally;
There are no components or extensions that depend on formats or protocols which do not conform to this definition;
There are no legal or technical clauses that restrict use by any party or business model;
Development is beyond the control of any one company;

3 Free software

We support the promotion of Free Software that can be used, analyzed, disseminated and changed by everyone, without restrictions. Free Software guarantees users the basic freedom necessary to take control of their own technical systems and to develop them collectively and democratically. It provides a significant contribution to strengthening the autonomy and privacy of all users. Particularly educational institutions and governments must work towards switching their entire technical infrastructure to free software. Doing so will reduce public expenditures, government's dependence on individual manufacturers and provide the public with better access to government documents. The digital infrastructure must operate equally across all major operating systems.

4 Access to digital communication

It is undeniable that children of poor and working class families lose out when educational materials are only accessible online. If we expect people to participate in a digital economy, we must provide them with the access to do so. Libraries across the state have started offering laptop and wifi access bundles to loan, this is a good model to replicate until a broad public takeover of the telecom industry takes place.

5 Possible uses of digital communication

A small number of financial companies exercise an effective stranglehold over private commerce, acting as censors and decency police over the sale of completely legal, adult material. We cannot allow private companies to control the conduct between consenting adults. 

6 Learning how to use digital technology

Media literacy skills, especially related to identifying and resisting misinformation, must become an integral part of social studies curriculums. Furthermore, we owe it to our seniors to teach them to protect themselves online as well. Schools must be encouraged to use open source software, both institutionally and to teach digital media creation.

7 Digital society worldwide

Free communication through digital networks allows our society to reinforce classic freedoms such as freedom of speech and free personal development. It creates informed citizens and strengthens democratic discourse. It also helps create new economic sectors and contribute to the wealth of society. Therefore, efforts towards the establishment of free communication networks in the United States and in other countries must also be welcomed and supported. They enable more democratic forms of government around the world, more informed and tolerant societies and, consequently, more stable structures. The establishment of free communication networks must become a part of development aid all around the world, wherever feasible. Even if there is limited range or technical support, robust systems that can be implemented will give disadvantaged communities a chance to not only learn from the greater world but be enabled to take their place in the greater digital world.

Free communication networks around the world have time and again been threatened by censorship. These attempts are usually directed against the country’s own population and against the freedoms of its own citizens. Under no circumstances must Massachusetts support censorship in other countries. The technical prerequisites for censorship must not be tolerated, even if they are created at home or abroad. Initiatives, political or technical in nature, for undermining filtering systems must be supported. These policies should be spread as far as foreign relations permit. 

8. Ending the social media oligopoly

Big Tech companies such as Facebook and Google have grown so large that they can stifle competition either by buying competitors or preventing competitors from growing large enough to challenge them. They exploit human biochemical reactions in order to maximize user engagement to fatten their profits, and have an unprecedented ability to shape human society. They are unfit stewards for our digital commons. Our belief in democracy and decentralization convinces us that they should not have this much power. Such companies must be broken up using the anti-trust laws we already have. A pirate government will also require that users be able to take their data with them to other services easily and that all services must be able to interoperate. 

Scheduled Pirate News for Sunday 7:30pm

Minutes

 


[9:02pm] jokeefe: Agenda: https://masspirates.org/wiki/September_29th,_2021_IRC_Meeting
[9:02pm] jokeefe: ids
[9:02pm] jokeefe: James O’Keefe, Somerville
[9:04pm] Joe: Joseph Onoroski, Lowell
[9:05pm] jokeefe: anything to add?
[9:05pm] malt: sam capradae, worcester
[9:05pm] malt: nyet
[9:06pm] Joe: Planks: individual autonomy and abortion rights
[9:07pm] malt: should we start with abortion?
[9:08pm] jokeefe: We already have:
[9:08pm] jokeefe: Affirming Individual Autonomy
[9:08pm] jokeefe: Democracy can only be sustained when individuals are able to exercise autonomy over their own lives and bodies to assure their well-being and happiness, while respecting the autonomy of other individuals. We call for fully participatory political and social systems, vastly more equitable access to resources, and minimal intrusion by government, corporate and other private interests into the lives of individuals.
[9:09pm] Joe: I would start with our piece on individual autonomy and use it for the basis of our stance on both abortion and victimless crimes in general.
[9:10pm] jokeefe: We implicity cover abortion with https://masspirates.org/blog/ourissues/healthcare-is-a-human-right/ I think, but being explicit in our support for it is important
[9:10pm] Joe: Yes, that. But coded into our platform as well.
[9:10pm] malt: maybe the abortion platform could be more explicit that anti-abortion laws are theocratic control methods
[9:12pm] Joe: Also with an ever exploding population, why would this even be an issue?
[9:12pm] jokeefe: https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/ReproductiveFreedomIsAHumanRight
[9:13pm] jokeefe: population growth has fallen a lot around the world
[9:15pm] jokeefe: BTW: I updated 8. Ending the social media oligopoly in https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPPDigitalFreedomForAll
[9:16pm] Joe: I shared our(mostly you guys) work with USPP. They love it.
[9:17pm] jokeefe: happy to help. sharing is caring.
[9:18pm] Joe: May I just withdraw the money in cash to give to you? Would be a reason to stop by and grab that hard-drive
[9:18pm] jokeefe: malt - hopefully you are ok with it since I replaced a bunch of stuff you wrote
[9:18pm] Joe: I think he is busy creating. 🤔
[9:18pm] jokeefe: nope. I believe it must be in a check form
[9:19pm] Joe: Ok.
[9:19pm] Joe: Guess I am on a treasure hunt for the checks tomorrow. I will message you when I aquire them.
[9:20pm] jokeefe: ok
[9:21pm] malt: haha I'm okay with it!
[9:21pm] jokeefe: Is https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPPDigitalFreedomForAll ok then?
[9:22pm] Joe: Yeah, everyone loves it the way it is. Lets post it.
[9:25pm] jokeefe: malt, you ok with the full text?
[9:27pm] Joe: malt21:22:00
[9:27pm] Joe: haha I'm okay with it!
[9:28pm] Joe: He was happy with the changes, so I think it is safe to assume he approves.
[9:28pm] malt: all good with me!
[9:28pm] jokeefe: Any opposed?
[9:30pm] jokeefe: Renamed Digital Freedom for All! to Digital Freedom for Everyone!
[9:30pm] jokeefe: just to switch it up a bit
[9:31pm] jokeefe: Plank adopted
[9:31pm] jokeefe: will post it.
[9:31pm] Joe: How about just digital freedom?
[9:32pm] Joe: Meh, I am not wild about my suggestion
[9:32pm] jokeefe: ok
[9:34pm] malt: digital freedom or else
[9:34pm] malt: frankly i think we should add "or else" to the end of ALL our planks
[9:35pm] Joe: I don't have much more to add tonight. Still
[9:36pm] jokeefe: We still good for recording Sunday night?
[9:37pm] Joe: Yes, and we may be able to interview Bradley too
[9:38pm] Joe: That would be a treat.
[9:38pm] Joe: He is still a Pirate.
[9:39pm] jokeefe: Glad to hear it.
[9:40pm] Joe: Yeah, it fills me with hope too.
[9:43pm] malt: i'm around
[9:49pm] jokeefe: malt - I like connecting the effort to ban abortion to trying to overturn every social victory since 1960, but it seems long.
[9:50pm] Joe: Motion to adjourn?
[9:52pm] jokeefe: 2nd
[9:52pm] jokeefe: all in favor?
[9:53pm] Joe: Aye
[9:53pm] malt: aye
[9:54pm] jokeefe: aye
[9:54pm] jokeefe: thanks all. have a wonderful night! talk with you on Sunday.