Free Software Tools for Activists
Will Rico & Deb NicholsonDigital Media ConferenceOctober 26,
2013
What we're going to learn about today
Why use free software?
User-respecting web services
LibreOffice Writer
Finding pictures for use, reuse and editing
LibreOffice Impress and other graphics tools
More tools you can explore
Made by a
Community
CC.BY Username:EvinDC on Flickr
Vendor lock-in
CC.BY Rennett Stowe on Flickr
For Everyone
cc.by username:laihiu on Flickr
CC.0 by Chris Webber from MediaGoblin
CC.0 by Chris Webber from MediaGoblin
CC.0 by Chris Webber from MediaGoblin
Downloading LibreOffice
Let's go
here:http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/installation/
Choose your operating system...
Open the "system requirements" in another tab
Over to Will for web services while downloading finishes
up...
PROPRIETARY NETWORKS
10 - Linux Mint & Firefox = 8
+
Apple
Microsoft
Yahoo
LinkedIn
BREAKING FREE
http://prism-break.org
Operating System
Live CD / VM Images
Android
iOS & WP (N/A)
Web Browser
Browser Add-ons
Web Search
Maps
Email Service
Email Client
Email Encryption
Instant Messaging
Video Calls / VOIP
Social Networking
Could Storage
I'm not affiliated with the prism-break.org website
I don't consider myself free
I consider myself on the road to freedom
prism-break.org is the website that put me on that road and a
tremendous resource
BREAKING FREE...MORE
http://prism-break.org
Document Collab
Media Publishing
Online Transactions
Digital Distribution
VPN
Web Analytics
DNS
Anonymizing Net
Meshnet
Server O/S
File Encryption
Mail Server
XMPP
SIP Server
Hardware & Software
the problem is...it is overwhelming: covers 30 categories of
software and services
at first, I simply got stuck staring at the page
SEARCHING THE WEB
Corporations and the government can learn a lot about you based
on what you search online
This can be used for advertising purposes, which sometimes I'm
OK with if I'm in the market for a new car, perhaps I don't mind
seeing ads for new cars
Other times this can be intrusive, e.g. when third-party
companies build profiles of you (sometimes inaccurate ones) and
sell them to advertisers
Duck Duck Go using the term "bubble" to mean Google, Bing, etc.
put you into a bubble and only show you results they think you'll
like, e.g. political messages...but sometimes you want to learn
about all sides of an issue or simply not be profiled in this
manner.
STARTPAGE
https://startpage.com
Proxies Google search results
Respects your privacy by not tracking what you search
Imagine if a company kept a database of all your searches
forever
And accidentally or purposefully released that database to the
public or to the government
DON'T LIKE ABOUT STARTPAGE: Ads blend in Don't like this
LIKE ABOUT IT: Date range settings on left are convenient
DUCK DUCK GO
https://duckduckgo.com/
Yahoo search results
Highlights ads better
No date filters, but sort by date option handy
Image search takes you back to Google or Bing
ADD TO FIREFOX
BROWSING THE WEB
http://prism-break.org/#browser-addons
Locking down your browser is probably the easiest thing you can
do
These plug-ins were very well together, in a cascading
manner
Meaning, what one doesn't catch, the next one does
NO SCRIPT ON SALON.COM
Scripts from at least 19 different websites blocked for this one
webpage
BROWSING THE WEB
Chromium without blocking
Firefox with ABE,NoScript, RequestPolicy andDisconnect
Ads are blocked on the right
User comments didn't render because they required Javascript may
be a good thing
DISCONNECT ON SALON.COM
Disconnect blocks 69 trackers on this page.
If I let everything pass through NoScript and RequestPolicy
add-ons unblocked...
Disconnect catches 69 trackers
Disconnect reports 30% faster loadand 18% less data
SOCIAL NETWORKING
DIASPORA
http://podupti.me/
The first step to joining Diaspora is to pick a pod
Friendica calls nodes portals
Start by viewing the pod uptime list
I originally wanted to sign up for diasp.org because of its
rating and it's in my country. There was a Sign In, but no Sign Up
option so I opted for https://pod.geraspora.de. I figured there
might be an advantage to a pod outside the US as well.
DIASPORA
Once signed up...
There was an option to connect to Facebook so that Diaspora
could pull my profile pic and other info as well as allow
cross-posting so I followed the prompts and logged into Facebook to
allow this.
Diaspora asked me for tags based on my interests. I entered
several. Posts with the tags you follow show up in your feed.
Looked for my friends so I could connect with them:Found 2 out
of 13 people (all free software users)One search field, e.g. no
search by last name onlyConvinced 3 people to join with me (wife,
dad, friend)
Problems: can't move pods (need to recreate user and friends
need to reconnect) + pod admin can see everything
SYNDICATING FROM DIASPORA
Botton Diasporapost syndicated toFacebook.
Top Diasporapost syndicated toTwitter.
PHOTOS AND MEDIA
Media Goblin
Needed help of sys admin to install
Still a "temporary" installation in a Python virtual
environment
IRC channel was responsive and helpful
Developer responsive via email
Could not get video plug-in to work
FEDERATION
vs.
centralized + vunerable
distributed + resilient
Even though I had the least success with MediaGoblin, it's
probably the most inspiring project
A federated alternative to YouTube
Sites like YouTube and Facebook centralize user data and create
a single point of failure for an attack or a takedown notice
A federated system like MediaGoblin routes around damage when a
node goes out and makes it much more difficult to takedown content
because it is distributed throughout the network
HANG UP ON SKYPE WITH JITSI
1. Get free SIP account: https://ostel.co/2. Download Jitsi:
https://jitsi.org
Jitsi uses SIP as well as other protocols
Sign up and install were relatively easy
Convinced my Spanish teacher in Guatemala (normally use Skype)
and my father to sign up
Both are Windows users and were able to get SIP ostel.co
accounts
After about 30 minutes of debugging issues, had a high quality
video chat with my Dad who is in NY
Spent 1.5 hours across 2 days trying to get Jitsi to work for me
and my Spanish teacher, but never quite got there.
Still hopeful.
EMAIL
Email need to consider both service and client
Currently use Gmail and feel locked in by it
Have had trouble moving to Thunderbird because of overall
slowness and unreliability of search
However, use Thunderbird when I want to send or receive an
encrypted message with GPG
Tried Sylpheed and looks promising, but not enough
experience
I can run my own mail server, but it's a headache, especially
with Spam
Signed up for a MyKolab account calendar, filesharing too, about
$10/month/user
CIVICRM
https://civicrm.org/go http://vimeo.com/52770520
CLOUD STORAGE
Could not get OwnCloud installed in time to report on it, but it
looks the most promising to me.
SparkleShare works via git repositories and was relatively easy
to setup.
Found synchronization slow, but not enough experience to say for
sure.
Sparkleshare: good for file sharing within the context of a
project especially when version tracking/history is neededNot ideal
for backing up whole computer or photo libraries because everything
gets versioned
CONNECTING TO INTERNET
https://torproject.org
Tor is very easy to install
No package to install
Just download binary
I'm not ready to use TOR exclusively, but use it occasionally
when paranoia sets in
TOR
Even safer: use Libert Linux or Tails
Best practice is to avoid using external programs to view
browser media, e.g. Flash, VLC
Download and then play in a virtual machine without Internet
access
Or use a Tors LiveCD such as Libert Linux or TAILS
I couldn't bypass this warning even when downloading rather than
viewing (TOR detects filemanager as Internet-enabled program)
NEW SETUP / DIRECTION
OpenNIC + TOR
Locked downwith plugins
Startpage &Duck Duck Go
Self-hosted, Riseup, or MyKolab
Syndicate via Diaspora
Syndicate via Diaspora
MediaGoblin(eventually)
OwnCloud(hopefully)
Jitsi(when possible)
Finding Pictures
CC.BY.SA username: bytehead
Creative Commons
Creative Commonshttp://creativecommons.org/
A word about Public Domain
and Fair Use
Picture Resources
http://www.flickr.comhttp://en.wikipedia.orghttps://archive.org/details/prelingerhttp://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtmlhttp://www.publicdomainpictures.net/http://www.public-domain-photos.com/
How to use Wikipediafor pictures
Make note of the Licensing
Right click and choose "Save Image As..."
How to use Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/search/advanced
Check the licensing and name of the photographer
Include both in the image title
Annotate wherever you use the image
Let's open LibreOffice
Insert Picture From file...
The arrows allow you to reshape stuff
The hand allows you to move stuff
Right click Picture Type tab
Select "Keep Ratio" and then change the picture size
Right click Picture Wrap Spacing
This lets you choose how close the text will wrap next to the
image
Adding a picture in Writer
Let's open LibreOffice Impress
Insert Picture From file...
Again, the arrows allow you to reshape stuff
Again, the hand allows you to move stuff
Using a picture for your slide background:
Select "Keep Ratio" and then change the picture size
Slide Set Background Picture for Slide
Adding a picture in Impress
Tools across LibreOffice are similar
Other LibreOffice Tools
Calc spreadsheet
Draw graphics and diagrams
Math formula editor
Base for coding Basic
GNU Image Manipulation Program
...basically a free replacement for Photoshop
Download: http://www.gimp.org/
Tutorials:
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/gimp_video_tutorials/
Inkscape is what many people use in place of Illustrator or
Corel Draw
Download: http://inkscape.org/
Help and discussion: http://www.inkscapeforum.com/
Orca is a free, open source, flexible, and extensible screen
reader
Download:https://projects.gnome.org/orca/
Help and documentation:
https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/
CC.BY username: Orin Zebest on Flickr
OTHER AREAS TO EXPLORE
Document collaboration ala Google Docs
Online currencies, e.g. Bitcoin
Meshnets
Phone rooting
LESSONS LEARNED
Start simple
Can't plug every hole at once
Protect yourself when it is important to do so
Use free services to syndicate to non-free until you can leave
non-free services entirely
Success requires bringing friends along
Share the work & fun with communities of trust
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
We need federation support, and then we need more people running
servers for their friends and family...It's really important to get
people using these things en masse... and running them! Chris
Webber, Media Goblin
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Get involved with free and open social networks first. Find ways
to connect them to your Tumblr, Path, LinkedIn, or whatever other
proprietary network. Use them often, and have fun with them. As
your friends, family and colleagues join you, you'll find you use
other networks less often. Evan Prodromou, pump.io
THE WORLD COMMUNITY
Participate
Contribute
Bring a friend
Won't always be the best choice from a technology or user
interface or features perspective.
But it's the right choice ethically:* for ourselves* for our
neighbors* for our community* and for those who don't depend on
security & privacy as they work on our behalf
YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY
[email protected]
[email protected]
http://www.blu.org/desktop
THANKS!Now let's http://prism-break.org together
