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Posted in Free/Libre Software, Security at 7:49 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
> Image: Andy Farnell and friends
Summary: A new security-centric show was recently started; it deals with ethics, software freedom, and digital rights
I RECENTLY learned about the launch of a new show by Andy Farnell and friends/colleagues. He told me he had quit Solent University on ethical grounds, so a new “Cybershow” has been his focus. “We’ve got a remarkably productive and talented little team who are all minded towards technology in the public interest,” he told me.
> “While preference for GNU/Linux and BSD is a given (at least in Farnell’s case), it helps to ‘rope in’ people who are on the fence or the other side of the fence.”
For those who are longtime readers of Techrights Dr. Farnell needs no introduction. But for those who aren’t familiar with his literature and articles, let’s just say he’s a specialist in tech ethics, not just a lecturer on topic like cyber security and audio. Now he combines his passions and specialty. His “Cyber Show” (or Cyber|Show) is well worth subscribing to.
“Friday was international sysadmins day,” he said last week, “so we released a special episode for that. My hope was to contrast a mainly Unix/Linux organisational system with a commercial Microsoft/Apple set up.”
“That didn’t work out with the interview schedule, so instead we ended up contrasting two ages/career stages – but there will be more in that mini-series and the Linux vs Microsoft one will be surely be fun and of interest to you when we run it.”
> “Companies or universities which abandon ethics are doomed to fail.”
While preference for GNU/Linux and BSD is a given (at least in Farnell’s case), it helps to ‘rope in’ people who are on the fence or the other side of the fence.
Then there’s investment in the “undecided” or the young.
“We’ve also started a Cybershow Kids, with loads of amazing stuff in the pipeline for that,” he told me.
“And you might like some our “On the Go” and psychoanalytical forays like these ones [1, 2]”
> “It seems like the education sector and the private sector (even contractors for the public sector) get a lot worse over time.”
Everything I’ve listened to so far is very good and neatly relates to topics we routinely cover. Even before I knew about pension fraud my wife and I left our job. In fact we both left our job on ethical grounds, just like Dr. Farnell did. Sirius ‘Open Source’ has since then lost about half the remaining staff. Companies or universities which abandon ethics are doomed to fail. They will quickly lose critical staff and resort to desperate measures that cannot live up to past reputation or expectations.
Despite its age, I strongly recommend this episode from one month ago. “A big clue is in this episode when Ed and I talk about how I felt like the flight instructors before 9/11 who were concerned about students who wanted to learn to take off but not landing,” Dr. Farnell told me. “For ages I raised serious concerns about the national security problems of us training overseas students in red-team, who didn’t want to learn defensive… and admitted they basically were sent by their governments to probe UK cybersecurity and gain the what they could through learning.”
“Universities are morally bankrupt and concerned only with taking money from kids. I think they are no longer fit places for teaching and learning. So I quit to build something better. Cybershow is one step along that path.”
I worked as a postdoc for a couple of years a decade ago, so I understand universities as staff, not just as an undergraduate and postgraduate student. I left to join Sirius in 2011 and that too was a bummer. It seems like the education sector and the private sector (even contractors for the public sector) get a lot worse over time. It’s not just about the money; the working conditions deteriorate. Those who can afford to quit just quit. Health is more important than financial rewards/compensation.
> “They’re a relatively young show and they want to know their listeners.”
Having reached out to an older friend, he said that he had similar experiences and recalled “when the administrators tried to give out passing grades to students who had never set foot in the classroom and probably never set foot on the campus.”
He also recalled “when the administration tried to force faculty members to fill out their time sheets such that project money was burned on unrelated administrivia.”
“These comments are pretty much describing my ex-university,” another person recalled. So we all saw more or less the same thing.
If you choose to listen to any of the above episodes, be sure to provide them with some feedback. They’re a relatively young show and they want to know their listeners. █
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