The Cyberunions Podcast: Episode Two

Welcome to the second episode of the Cyberunions Podcast.

A ‘strike’ against Skype.

Cyberunions Talk Show Episode 2 ogg

Cyberunions Talk Show Episode 2 mp3

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Show notes

As Skype disappears behind Microsoft’s walled garden, Free Software activists are working on alternatives

• Microsoft buys Skype – what will we do?
• Skype alternatives: Ekiga and Jabber/Jingle – Google Talk uses the Jingle protocol
• GNU call

2:10 – Free and Open Source Software, free beer and free speech

• In FOSS nothing is hidden from you
• Microsoft is anti-union and opposed to workplace democracy, and their software is a bloated mess
• We’ll keeping testing FOSS alternatives to Skype
• Escaping the Microserf Gulag – starting out with Linux
• Linux treats you like an adult – use is a learning experience

5:41 – Is Apple any better?

• Better software – it’s Unix based
• Apple also infantilises its uses
• The app store has been a feature of Linux for years
• Linux repositories – in the Linux ‘app store‘, everything is free
• At least Apple mostly works
• Apple controls your computing experience

8:22 First steps in Open Source – were to start

• There’s help and support available
• Linux has got a lot easier to use
• Linux is now easier to install and configure than Windows
• You can run it from a CD or USB to test it first
• Ubuntu is the most popular, but we think Linux Mint is the best place for a new user to start -it’s easier to  use and more reliable
• For more advanced uses, we like Debian Testing or Linux Mint Debian Edition, which is Testing neatly packaged by the Mint team
• Ubuntu netbook is great for netbooks

12:02 Social networks – Facebook

• Using Facebook for union campaigns
• Good thing about Facebook – everyone is there
• Low barriers to access – people new to the online environment learn to use it quickly
• Metcalfe’s Law
• Problems: Privacy – Settings are complicated and change often. Facebook does not respect your privacy
• We see more and more Facebook-related cases in white collar workplaces
• Facebook leaks data
• Facebook is a timesuck – it encourages discursive activity and dissipates activism
• Do people actually turn up to your Facebook events?
• Use with caution and have an exit strategy.
• Keep your data on servers you control – build your own website
• A Facebook purge could seriously undermine your campaign

21:45 Alternatives to Facebook

• Some problems with twitter too – being forced to hand over user data
• StatusNet is a growing option – running StatusNet on your own site would give you control of your data
• OStatus is an open standard for social networks – if this is adopted, you’ll be able to communicate with people on other social networks without having to join them.
• With Ostatus, you would be able to interact with friends on Facebook or Twitter from StatusNet or Diaspora
• Diaspora – runs on autonomous pods. Try London Diaspora or Diasp.Org if you need an account. Different pods can communicate with each other. Still a bit of a lonely place, so join us.
• Diaspora aspects are great
• More on Diaspora next week
• Decentralised networks are more secure and less likely to fail
• We’re keeping an eye on Incliq, a new peer to peer social networking service
• Thimbl is developed by the venture communists over at Telekommunisten

30:02 Bringing together two distinct communities with common interests – FOSS and unions

• Union activists should contribute to the FOSS community
• Many programmers and developers don’t like multinational corporations either, and support unions
• We’d love to see a genuine networked and global Cyberunion for IT workers
• The union movement is changing – young activists are getting involved in Wisconsin and London
• Unions should support organisations like ORG and EFF
• Open formats rather than proprietary ones like .doc

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