Controversial Statements 2015

Read Statements

• it is always awesome when corporations give software to nonprofits for free!
• Tech firms are under an obligation to hire underskilled, low-opportunity workers
• Trolling can be good
• We are all under surveillance right now
• We need tech corporations
• Profit is evil

Top Statements

• Tech can be decolonized
• Digital divide doesn't exist
• security is a privilege
• nonprofits pick up the slack when government services are cut
• increased use of encryption hurts law enforcement
• every tech project should involve a majority of non-straight cis white men
• tech nonprofits should only be started by "tech-people"
• journalists should be licensed (like doctors)
• Encryption is too hard to use
• Social change starts in the cultural space first
• Cost and convenience over values
• Drupal 8 is awesome
• It's good to track users
• Social change orgs should use Linux operating system
• The internet has become the master's house
• Technology enables the forces of hate to coalesce disproportionately
• All data should be online, no paper backups
• Facebook/Twitter/Instagram are essential to organizing
• The media is more open and democratic now than ever
• There isn't enough emphasis on family in the tech industry
• It is necessary to attack ISIS in their home territory
• Clients know best
• VC funded companies cannot promote the public good
• Uber is evil
• Social movements should use tech built oNLY for social movements
• Slack is better than IRC
• Activists who communicate insecurely are irresponsible
• Internet access is a human right
• Smartphones are our friends
• Separate nation states are no longer serving us
• Solicited data collection inherently supports movement building
• Mass movements like #BlackLivesMatter should never rely on corporate-controlled tech
• Users can never be trusted
• Coloring your FB photo is meaningful activism
• Advocating voting is a useful strategy for social change
• Tech will dismantle white supremacy
• Open data > open source
• You shouldn't collect data from your donors or people you help if you can't control or protect it
• Encryption helps terrorists
• VC money has been good for software
• Campus activism sqashes discourse
• Encryption helps terrorists

Other statements

• Corporate cloud is necessary for nonprofits
• The main use of the internet of things will be revenge porn
• Software patents should be banned
• Quieting the speech of the privileged is worth hearing marginalized voices
• Collectivism
• Journalists are unbiased
• Every child in the world should have a laptop
• Social justice groups should NOT use googledocs
• Never-EVAH build your own software
• Open Source is ALWAYS better
• Everybody needs to reduce screen time
• The media is open and democratic
• All advertising should be made illegal
• Technological surveillance is at least as important as cultural outreach in reducing * violence around the world
• For nonprofits, it's better if a tool is free even if it is not safe
• Tech is democratizing
• Teaching digital security is the equivilent of telling women not to walk the street in a miniskirt
• Google is evil
• People in the streets are far more powerful than technology
• Having children today is irresponsible
• Interdependence is more real than independence
• There's no such thing as "independence"
• All activists should be using PGP encryption
• It's impossible to push tech without an agenda
• We have a good idea of what we're doing
• Geo engineering is a solution for climate change
• The internet has been a net gain for human liberty
• the "cloud" is evil
• Every org needs a website
• Public schools are private space
• Schools should not use donated chromebooks
• Salesforce free is great
• "Free" tech services (ex google apps for nonprofits) are evil
• Facebook is great for doing social good
• Feminist perspective is super important for information-comm policies
• Free (as in beer) is always better
• Drupal is the best content management system
• Computers cause more problems than they solve
• Put your data in a CRM, instead of using lots of tools and creating data silos
• The role of government is to promote profit
• Dropbox ISN'T evil
• The internet has made it harder to be a child
• Political technology never exacerbates marginalization
• CiviCRM rocks!
• Nonprofits should strive to use only open source software
• Capacity building is over-rated, just get it done.
• Wordpress > Drupal
• Chromebook > Mackbook
• Tech is not the answer
• Google docs is better than etherpad
• Privacy is dead
• Wordpress is better than Drupal
• The role of government is to promote equality
• Encryption only helps terrorists
• The internet has benefitted life on earth
• Tor only helps criminals and terrorists
• Activists should never use google or FB for organizing
• It's better to get on an airplane to attend an event than attend virtually
• Dropbox is safer than the likely alternatives
• Email is dead
• Drones will be a useful technology for activists
• Every nonprofit org NEEDS their own cloud
• Google for domains is a great resource
• I am out of spectrogram questions
• Technology is helping anti-immigrant forces become more powerful
• Online organizing is the BEST form of organizing (this century)