[Request for Comments] FOSS United Public Policy Roadmap for FY 24-25

Whew, that’s such a weird take.

What have state services like Aadhaar or eKYC got to do with FOSS/FOSS devs or tinkering/hacking? Why not the adverse effects of climate change then? One of the biggest issues threatening everything out there.

Openwashing is a FOSS-related issue and the letters that we’ve attempted to send (like the NPCI one) were hoped at addressing them specifically. Directly related.

DPG is a vague and overused buzzword umbrella term like AI/web3/big data. If stuff gets openwashed, it may make sense for FOSS United to address that.

Apart from the FOSS angle, FOSS United “calling out” specific state services like eKYC or Aadhaar or the centralised systems like the income tax portal or the vehicle database or IRCTC or N number of other things that central and state governments, I don’t know how that falls in the purview of FOSS. Rights, privacy, surveillance etc., are a different ballgame altogether and I don’t see how all of them fit directly into FOSS United. There are orgs out there with people who understand those issues deeply involved doing good work. What’s that got to do with FOSS United?

Can @knadh take a stand against Aadhaar.

I can’t/won’t take a stand on plenty of things, technology or otherwise, for various reasons. I don’t see how that’s relevant to FOSS United which focuses on FOSS stuff. Also, I don’t see the relevance of Zerodha using these services as mandated by laws/regulations prescribed specifically for financial intermediaries like it.

By what framework does intellectual property become more important than violation of our freedom of expression and privacy rights? You are just side stepping the elephant in room.

Anything that does not address this just sounds like hypocrisy to me

Um, I don’t get this. These are huge fundamental issues indeed, but really, we’re talking about FOSS United, an org that works on stuff directly pertaining to FOSS, not broad societal issues, no matter how serious. I can’t make sense of this.

Also, by that logic, any org that doesn’t work on the existential problem of climate change doesn’t make sense either, right? Should FOSS United work on climate change issues too? The Supreme Court just the other day declared “right against the adverse affects of climate change” a fundamnetal right.

Software patents on the other hand, they directly affect FOSS, software, code, FOSS innovation, and FOSS developers.

unless. unless. unless, there is a membership and voting mechanism.

Please feel free to attempt this again. In our past attempts, we haven’t seen participation or strong interest from a critical mass in the community to get involved in governance, ironically. There were also a number of unresolved questions if I recall correctly. Perhaps that is the nature of community that has formed around the org.

Finally, the entire point of talking about tech/policy related matters in the community (via community partnerships, talks, the policy scholarship etc.) is to increase awareness, hoping that people take an interest and pursue various issues that they relate with, be it tech/privacy, or tech/rights. Can’t think of a more democratic approach than this!

We just become a platform to whitewash DPG by not talking about it.

What? Anything that FOSS United doesn’t talk about, FOSS United whitewashes? I don’t understand.

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