Movement hosting I

Movement hosting I

Movement hosting conversation

What is Values aligned hosting, aka movement hosting?

Hosting – website, servers, data + stuff you do online – that is aligned with your values - Where you are hosting now, does it align with your values?

Your data that is in some data server that is not yours. It limits to how much you “own” and may not consider how close the corporation/organization/person is/ are aligned to your values

Server is a computer, a box that then then connects to the wires to send your data. We can own our servers but even so, cables are owned by corporations, so hard to own the whole thing

We can control our hardware, code, software but providers of the services that carry the data are not usually “values aligned” – so it is about minimizing harm, increasing control.

Risks

Even with end to end encryption and with a box you own – there is a physical box that others can access, steal, or it could be seized, hacked or otherwise attacked, attack can be physical or via software.

Corporations can be subpoenaed by the state, and most of those large orgs who host or carry data have close relations with state. So they will not fight for your data or your privacy. Also concern is the backup of the server data – that backup is somewhere and it also could be compromised

Reality for most who do use large corporate servers – from gmail to Microsoft tools to Amazon Web Services (AWS) is that the corporations are deeply disconnected from the reality of nonprofits who need to be aware of the implications and lack of alignment with values when using these tools

Challenges

Challenge for grassroots orgs with no tech person – how do we make this type of hosting accessible and usable for under resourced organizations?

Often open source/values aligned tools are not easy to understand or use by users

Mayfirst (https://mayfirst.coop/en/), riseup (https://riseup.net/), and other hosting orgs who do this type of work are under resourced and under funded

Trying to move off corporate tools is difficult

We are trying to understand if we can we at least move folks off of gmail for example – what are the obstacles, what will it take?

Can these movement hosts deal with all of the data and labor and resources needed to provide the user experience, reliability, etc.

Understanding how far does hosting extend – email, docs, all of the tools that are used

Currently not values aligned if you are an ngo that protects human rights or the environment and you don’t support or fund this work, don’t work to have your tech aligned with your values

Another layer to an ngo using corporate hosting – huge environmental impact – how can you use the water, space that displaces people, electricity, etc. how can you do that work and not recognize this paradox?

Harm reduction & Changing minds

Who do I/my orgs want to support with my tech and operations dollars

Scalability – that while most don’t need large scalability, that is a concern

Corporate providers are constantly surveilling the data they hold

Many different levels to talk about around this issue with ngos

Educating people about privacy, security and values aligned online presence – not just using facebook, need at least your own website.

Usability and reliability are important to folks – need things to work – can be issues on the server or a software bug. When it doesn’t work, it hurts their trust – “paper cuts” that lead folks to not like or trust some of these tools

Reliability, scale, accessibility are all important

Hard to change minds. Example given of typical conversation with IT Manager Jane who does not have capacity to do the extra work to change to and support using these tools – there is not the tech comfort within the org or leadership, she is under resourced, etc. Wished she did care and she may care/agree in theory but the reality is too hard to make a convincing argument.

Hard to humanize – movement hosting is bad at storytelling and sharing about the why of this, we are working on it and trying to get there

Athena alliance is trying to work on issues like this, focused on Amazon (https://athenaforall.org/)

Tech underlays all of the work of nonprofits – we know the impact but the folks doing program work on the ground need to get work done, they don’t have capacity or need to understand all of the complications of tech that we are discussing

First steps/ tactics

Optics – if you do immigration work and use salesforce, know that they provide software for the immigrant detention centers – that doesn’t look good to your donors and to your funders, etc.

First step – contextualizing tech in political education – tech is not neutral – why it is important to move off of corporate tech

Case studies like Signal, journey of making it a fully functional tool so that it is useful and works

Better at explaining why move and how movement hosting could use resources and documentation

Funder conversations - Funders don’t realize they are funding tech that is not aligned with the values of the funder or the grantees. – Infrared funder ideas

Transparency

Overcoming bad experiences folks have had in the past

Continue making improvements

Center privacy and other concerns important to users