Many advances in technology ultimately reflect and sustain systems of inequity and oppression, whether directly or indirectly, deliberately or unintentionally. And the lack of accountability for how these technologies are deployed makes us particularly vulnerable to coercive forces online.
Realizing the potential of the web to democratize the advance of human knowledge requires more than a begrudging (and often patronizing) nod to “global perspectives” interpreted through the lens of the Silicon Valley ethos.
After a 26 year career in engineering, I'm devoting myself full time to the fight for justice and equity in tech.
In a world of asynchronous communication, it’s more important than ever to create inclusive and remote-friendly collaboration, decision-making, alignment, and documentation processes.
The insistence that software under an ethical license ‘isn’t open source’, stood in stark contrast to the growing sense of unease in the community. If ethical open source wasn’t truly open source, why couldn’t it be? And why shouldn’t open source aspire to prioritize social good over 'evil' uses?
As contributors and maintainers see their work being leveraged to commit human rights abuses at an alarming scale, they’re starting to become aware of the significant impact of the technologies they create on the broader world.
There is widespread apathy toward our ethical responsibilities as software developers, and it's is nowhere reflected so dramatically as in the practice of open source. Is there something fundamental about open source that encourages us to ignore the consequences of our work?
The open source community has a strong desire to evolve, and if necessary, to redefine itself, to ensure that it can address the magnitude and complexity of today’s social, political and technological challenges.
After a strong showing by Ethical Source Movement candidates, I have some suggestions and requests for the newly elected board.
As new business needs arise and new technologies emerge, we needed to consider how we our engineering organizations innovate in a responsible way.
I had to figure out a way to process and store email attachments with ActiveStorage, which turned out to be An Adventure.
It's time to put to rest the idea that all significant technological advances spring fully formed from minds of lone geniuses.
Securing database relations from inspection using built-in Rails encryption and a little magic.
Historically, technology companies have been party to every kind of human rights abuse, and this trend continues today.
Meritocracy is one of the four pillars of open source, but it’s become a subject of increasing debate.
I cannot in good conscience support OSCON in any way, and I have withdrawn from my speaking opportunity.
The important point here is that a job listing isn't just about communicating qualifications. It's a critical part of expressing what a company truly is and what it values.
A look at how to use the notification infrastructure that allows objects in Swift to share information with each other through message passing.
Emotions can be defined as “neurological programs that require action.” This metaphor may resonate with us as programmers and provide a foundation for developing critical skills in identifying and positively expressing a rich range of emotions in healthy response to our interactions with other people in our lives.
I am increasingly of the opinion that in hiring me and other prominent activists, GitHub was attempting to use my name and reputation to convince the world that they took diversity, inclusivity, and social justice issues seriously. And I feel naive for having fallen for it.
All political movements start with an ideology. But when they are set in motion this ideology may become obscured. It is crucial that we constantly scrutinize the manifestation of our principles to ensure that the lofty goals of our ambitions are in line with our actions.
Although we can rightly celebrate the progress that we have made thus far, we must also recognize just how far we still have far to go in making this phase in our cultural evolution a success.
Is it enough to be measured by the quality of our code alone?
The idea that the software industry benefits from an unwritten law of unconditional and mutual respect is an extension of meritocratic thinking: it’s as unrealistic as the meritocracy itself.
Every one of our classes is an ambitious creature that seeks power through an accumulation of methods; knowledge through willful ignorance of the Law of Demeter; freedom by resisting testability; immortality through complexity. In short, they all strive for godhood.