Anything?
Yes? Okay.
Fine, then I’m skipping the thank-yous
so we don’t have to get back to it. Okay, I was saying that what
I’m gonna try to talk about in a little while is my personal vision of free software
which, therefore, doesn’t try to be one of those thorough matters
about why free software may be interesting to you or so,
but why it is interesting to me. It may be similar to what's
interesting to you too. And, in the end, if we have a little time
we can talk a bit about it. The first slide is almost
mandatory, lest someone is still up in the clouds
and still doesn't know what free software is.
I guess there's no need now to say that, nowadays, free software
is everywhere, you all know you're carrying several millions
of free software code lines in your pocket, right?
Yeah? Does everybody know? And do you know where they are and so?
And do you know how to log in and so? Careful, because if you don't,
someone does for sure, lest they are logging in on your cell easily.
Okay, anyway, this is free software and we have it everywhere.
Everytime we're using the Internet, everytime we're using a cellphone,
everytime we're using a car, probably a television.
you're using a lot of free software. Maybe you've seen it and it got to you
as free, but at least, originally, that software was free.
When software gets to you as free, that is its definition, this is not
Jesus' definition and it's not accepted, well, a little changed
so it's easier to understand, but it's basically the commonly accepted
definition and for those who've heard the English term, it's the same one
as "open source software" or so.
For Spanish, I tend to use free software.
First off, you can use free software as you please. It may sound silly,
but you know that exclusive or owner software cannot always be used as you like
on devices of your choice. Sometimes, there are time limitations, sometimes
you can use it on just one, sometimes you can just use it for certain things.
Free software has to able to be used in any way, if not, it's not free.
Second, you can redistribute it, copy it, share it on the Internet,
give it away to someone or charge them for it.
Careful, it's not said you can't charge for it but you can redistribute it as you please,
without necessarily being the owner, obviously, but he can do so as well, for sure.
Third, and it's one of the things on which I'll focus today:
"You can modify it". You can change it as you please,
typically to enhance it, many will worsen it but you can do whatever
you want with it. You can adapt it... anything.
Naturally, to do so, you have to count with the necessary technical mecanisms,
which you know that, in the case of compiled languages, for example it's the source code.
In the case of interpreted languages, it's an eligible source code,
because interpreted languages can also be made hard to edit.
And, last, you can redistribute the modifications, which kind of makes it come full circle
and makes it all work with many mechanisms that are combined.
And, obviously, it's said nowhere that free software has to be free.
Maybe, in many cases, it gets to us free, but it's not an essential condition.
There could be a software which was free and cost you a million euros to get it.
So if you're later interested, we'll discuss those details but it's not what I wanted to talk about today.
If you'd like to go deeper, those two URLs down there
are the standard definitions. The first one is by the Free Software Foundation,
and the second one is by the OSI, the Open Source Initiative,
which handles the term 'open source' that, as I was saying, at least concerning
all I'm going to talk about today, is exactly equivalent to free software
in everything I'm going to discuss.
Okay, let's cut to the chase. First, the thing is I'm splitting it
a bit into two different points of view. One is the most professional, let's say,
which is very likely, I think, that I'll share with many of you.
Then, it's the personal one and, being personal, maybe we'll not share it that much.
The first one focuses on something very basic, on this thing, the car's engine.
I'm one of those people who, when their car stops, go and open up the hood, look at it and close it back
because I don't know anything about mechanics, and call someone to come and help.
But you know there's people, this funny people who like to oil themselves,
who go and take a look to what's inside, start pulling out wires and pieces
and, sometimes, fix your engine.
The question is: Can mechanics fix a car's engine?
And why can they do so?
Then one thinks "sure they can". You open up the car and touch here and there
and you can touch anything. Those of us who are computer technicians,
or work with stuff linked to computers and know how to code, can fix programs.
The question is: can we do it? We can but not just because we technically
have the necessary knowledge, but can we do it because we're allowed
legally and technically? In other words, if that Word you hate so much goes corrupt,
can you fix it? You say "you're speaking nonsense,
how am I going to fix a program?" There's people who'll even think:
"Jeez, we spend years in faculties or schools studying precisely
how to make and fix programs". But then it turns out you can't
because you're not given the programs with the ways to be able to fix them.
To begin with, they come in binary, you don't have the source code.
But, also, you legally can't. You know that, legally, that thing
you see around, the license, which we never ever read,
but you should sometime and you'll have a blast, you grab a beer,
start reading, you have a laugh... and you realize it states things such as you can't change
the program in any way, even if you paid for it with your money, even if you're
daily using it and it has a tiny error you could fix, because you know how to fix it,
it's from class 101 if such thing still exists.
Note that that means we learn for doing things
that later, in the real life, we cannot make use of.
Free software changes that radically, because in free software,
as you've seen before, I always need to be given the technical mechanisms to change a program.
And as silly as it seems, professionally it's a whole world.
It opens not just chances of business, because you can make business out of solving problems
that others have because you know about it, you have the knowledge.
Just as a mechanic knows how to fix cars, and many mechanics make business and
do it for a living, fixing cars of others who don't know how,
us, the people who know how to code or know enough about computers,
to put it somehow, we could, at least in theory, fix any program.
It's just a matter of knowledge and effort. I mean, any human
who wants to go for it, has both things. Knowledge can be acquired,
and about effort it's up to you how much you put into it.
Just as any mechanic, at least theoretically, can fix any breakdown
if you give him enough time and enough engine manuals,
so should any computer technician be able to fix any problem
if he has enough time for it and the proper manuals or information.
But, again, in our profession we legally can't do it in many cases
and neither technically, but not because it's hard,
but because technical mechanisms have been placed to prevent us from it.
They basically don't give us the source code.
Note that in the free software world, that does not happen,
hence the much bigger possibilities we have.
And, suddenly, we can do our jobs and
not just be, to put it somehow, consumers
or adapters of third-party products, but we can directly work on it.
And if you're interested, for example, in working on on-cloud software
then you can go and search on the Internet for free products which are being installed
on big enterprises, and learn how they're made and see their source code
and install it on your laptop if you please or on a thousand computers if you're
working for a company that has a thousand computers to install it on.
And, if any problem occurs, you can fix it if you think you'd better do so or you
want to dedicate to it or you're being paid for dedicating it the necessary effort.
And, careful, things are changing a lot.
We said mechanics can fix cars.
Nowadays, that's not so clear. A modern car, of a high range,
has around 50 or 100 million code lines.
To be clear, 50 or 100 million code lines is serious business.
The ISS has between 5 and 10 million code lines that make
every system of the ISS work. Although, on the other hand,
a slightly modern TV probably has around 10 million code lines
without the kernel, because almost all of them have Linux, which has 5 million by itself.
Therefore, well, it looks like a lot of lines but they're really not so many.
But what it really does mean is that if I don't have access to the car's software,
I'll probably won't be able to fix it. Typical issue: I own a kind of modern car
and it stops and first thing I have to do is put it
in the diagnosis machine from the manufacturer which connects with the car's software,
which has made a diagnosis, to see what's happening to it.
If I don't have any access to both things, I can hardly go further.
because most of things that have anything to do with the software is not
working properly in God knows which part: gasoline is not being pumped how it should,
it's not slowing down properly or it shouldn't be doing whatever.
So, not long from now, being able to fix our car
or that a mechanic can fix our car will have to do with
how that car's software is, and it's already happening, as I said
Until the point where models are starting to being planned out where the car
is not sold to us and, hence is not even ours, not even the software
it has is ours, they give us a license of use for the car.
As it widely happens with the Teslas, if anyone's been interested in looking them up.
So, in fact, funny things start happening,
like my car did certain things, I took it to the dealer's for a check,
I get it back and it does different things because they changed its software,
they installed a new release of the software that now does other things.
And, suddenly, it turns out the pumping works differently or, if it's electric,
the acceleration works differently, or the locking of the doors
or any other detail you can think of. And remember that, at this very moment,
cars are starting to learn how to make decisions all by themselves,
and, at a given time, they'll have to choose between "I brake and kill the pilot"
or "I don't brake and kill the guy on the street", and you're the pilot.
So think about if knowing how that software works is of interest to us or not.
This is not theoretical, there are already cars which are doing it,
which are being tested on the streets of many cities around the world.
But note how, what was first the mechanic's analogy, becomes
to people who know about computers, to put it somehow,
in the reality of future, and that you can apply it to any device you want.
So, using or not free software from a professional point of view
becomes something fundamental and completely basic.
If I use free software, I can understand devices, programs, systems
I'm working with because if I'd like, I can take a look at their source code and, above all,
I can collaborate with other people who are interested in the same and we can document it,
understand it, learn a lot from that code.
Note that, in many cases, in computing faculties and schools
we're asking people to learn how to code without having seen programs.
Let's say we asked architects to learn how to make buildings without
ever having seen actual buildings. Not some shack I've built
in some kind of practice, but an actual building, as we know them.
Sure, architects would say: "That's impossible".
However, if you think about it, how many actual programs,
of those which are known, have you seen during all the time you've been studying?
In many classes, they're teaching them bit by bit and, maybe,
you've been lucky to be there but it's not usual.
The usual thing is that you've seen the little shacks you build in practices.
And, with some luck, maybe a more proper shack
your teacher gives to you as a model, and sometimes, not even that.
And that's what you have with you to learn how to code, it's very hard.
But you can read, read the actual programs. If you're interested in word
processors, you can take LibreOffice, three or four millions of code lines,
you can read them all. Obviously you won't,
but you can do a lot with them. In fact, there are ways to look
at a complex program and understand it by looking at its source code if you know how to,
those are skills which are still not being taught nowadays but that we should
probably be teaching. Anyway, you can really learn
about our profession. You can take part, because most
of this software is developed in communities where there are lots of people who know
and who can help you learn, and it's nowadays one of the most clear
ways to learn how to really code, not to learn how to code a for loop,
but to learn how to really code, collaborate with people who know.
To help them, because you help to improve their software and
they help you to learn. And, lastly, reusing.
Reusing software made by others but with a good understanding of it,
not as a black box, which you see down below and it's probably
the most interesting part. There are no black boxes in the world of free software,
you can check anything out, you don't have to believe what they tell you,
you can check it out by yourself. For example, you don't have to believe whether your phone
is sending telemetry to Google or not, so they know right now where you are, you can look
at the code and see whether it's sending telemetry or not. And if you don't want it to send it,
you can disable it, not because there's a default option, but because you,
who knows about it, go and change it in the program and maybe there's someone
who wants to pay you to do this kind of stuff.
And as I said, then there's a more personal vision, until now the professional
one, which maybe lots of you share because, in my opinion,
it's the only real way to become a developer,
if you're interested in working in computing development it's working with free code,
there aren't many more options nowadays.
But the other side is more personal, more social if you'd like.
What kind of society are we heading towards? This is a pretty classic book
by a man called Lawrence Lessig, who's one of the people who started
the Creative Commons project and other stuff. Actually, he's a lawyer,
but he has a lot of technical knowledge and has a very interesting approach,
let's just say he got to the technical from the legal world.
So, he does very interesting analogies and, for example, he has an analogy
which I think it's very enlightening, and it's:
"The code is law", and he means the code from computer programs,
not the civil code. What does that mean?
Nowadays, the things we can or cannot do
are more and more limited by the code of the programs we use than by the laws.
Take a moment to think about it. When you're about to tweet about someone,
what's limiting you the most nowadays, with all we may say about
judges and all, are the filters they may use on Twitter for deciding if that tweet can be published or not,
even if they delete your account because they don't like that tweet.
In other words, the code of the "program", I mean, the mechanism we use
to express ourselves limits us more than the legislation we have in a country such as Spain.
If you're about to do something to your TV that maybe you'd like to but,
perhaps, you can't because, legally, it's not allowed, what's probably
going to stop you from it is your TV's code.
For example, think about what happens when you try to watch a show that is not allowed
to watch in Spain. Maybe, legally, it is, but the producer of that show
won't let you watch it. There are filters on the Internet that check the IP address,
that see you're connected from Spain and won't let you get access
to that series, for example, that you like so much. Even if you're willing to pay,
but there're no distribution rights for Spain, or it has no commercial interests in Spain
or something else. It's not the legislation what's limiting you, maybe it is too,
but it's not relevant in this case, because the very code is limiting you.
You can find examples over and over, and as our lives are
more and more measured by technology, more often what allows us to make
technology is what's really limiting us. But there's a fundamental difference
between technology and the law, and it's that the law, at least theoretically
in democratic societies, is made by all of us, and we have mechanisms
that may work better or worse, but are at least designed
for us to take part in how those laws are, but not in technology.
You have a program that does certain things, and, for example, one may think:
"Why is there on Facebook a thumb-up button and not a thumb-down to state something's crap?"
And one may say "oh, that could come in handy, it would be really nice".
In fact, if you think about it, when one is on a social network,
you have ways to upload content and ways to download it,
I mean, to say "this content is not worthy at all". The kind of content that everyone
ends up watching is different, because you just can't, or maybe you can,
say "I don't like this". But that's a decision somebody made somewhere
and you didn't take part in it and, however, it's shaping the way
you're communicating. If someone would like to read the book,
you'll see many examples of how on many things that, at first, you didn't realize,
the fundamental decision by which you can do things or not
has not been made by you, it's been made at some enterprise which is making
software you're using to make it, even indirectly.
And remember, once more, that software is more and more around us.
Software will be in cars, for examples, as I said before, making decisions
like "in a critic situation, I'm killing the driver or I'm killing the guy crossing the street".
And that's what's it's going to be, and those decisions will probably be
made by someone, somewhere, maybe not with your consent.
So, deep down, the thing is that we're heading more and more towards a society
where the one who's in control of the code, is in control of everything.
For those who like sci-fi novels, read plenty of Cory Doctorow, for example,
where he precisely talks about scenarios where, in different ways, there are people controlling code
that, in the end, is completely influencing in everybody's lives,
achieving from political changes to someone being chased by everyone.
There are movies about it, too, which you'll have seen.
Many people thinks "that's sci-fi". It's reality, and to my generation is still
half sci-fi. To yours is full reality, you'll be living in that world.
In a world where the one who's in control of the code will be in control of much more, probably,
than who's in control of the Parliament. Unless we socially do things
against it, I mean, for example, that the Parliament takes care that those things
can't be done or they'll be done with control by all society.
So, all of a sudden, there free software starts playing a role,
because, to begin with, if you don't know what software that's doing those things looks like,
you don't even know what you're exactly doing. As I was saying before,
if we had to see here how many of you, someone in a building
in Silicon Valley knows where you are sitting now... it's probably impossible to know,
because you have several millions of lines in you phones that perhaps are
sending a detailed telemetry signposting. In fact, maybe one of them
is streaming this talk live to someone over there who's very interested
and it's applauding us right now. There's no way for us to know.
Or, to be precise, it would be very hard. We'd have to do a black box analysis,
check if any phone around here is sending a bunch of signals,
perhaps ciphered, check if it follows a certain pattern to see if that's what's being recorded in here.
But there's no easy way to know because you don't have any access to the source code of your own phone.
Again, as this happens more and more, look how far things can go.
So, to sum it up a little, free software is a mechanism
which helps us in this scenario, it helps us much more than it may seem
because very basic things like, for example, if I could remake all the software
of my phone from scratch and install it again, I could feel reasonably safe
about what my phone does, and you could have business based off of it.
And there are people who does. Remember there are Android versions
which are free, there are companies that are in charge of going through all the code of Android,
certifying it for you and generate versions from it that are theoretically clean.
And you can install that on phones or buy phones that have it installed.
But you could do it if you wanted to, a coordinated group of persons could do it
if they cared, but you can extend that to any other aspects of life,
but you need the possibility to access to the code and to be able to modify it, redistribute it...
In other words, you need free code. Note that free code,
free software, is not the only requirement to be able to do this. There are others.
But without that, you can't do anything. Because of that, my point of view goes like:
"We need free software to be an integral part of this
so called by people 'the society of information' ". It really is our daily life.
And we need that whoever that wants to, is able to at least handle it.
There'll be people who don't care about all this, but there'll be others who may want to handle it,
and it's necessary that that person has access to that code to do so.
That's why I said, from my personal point of view, that free code is much more important,
or will be, in the next years, socially,
than it's ever been before in the whole history of free software, with its 40 years by now.
And in the end, anyway, as I said, all of this is just a personal point of view.
What's important is what it means to you. If all goes well, we'll later have some time
to talk about it. If it's okay, as English people say, let it soak in
and see if someone really thinks some of these things are worrying
and thinks free software could or could not help
or this is all just irrelevant.
Thanks very much to you all.
Well, while I look how and where to plug this,
I'm skipping the greetings and thank-yous parts.
Thank you all for coming.
So many people... and I feel shy about this kind of stuff,
and feel overwhelmed when seeing that many people... thank you very much, especially for inviting me,
for bringing me here and because I've been told they're buying me lunch later, so...
I've got all I need.
Okay, I've come to talk a little about free software and its demons.
To begin with, I gotta say that the title of this talk has been infamously taken
from a book by Sagan, I don't know if you've heard of it, "The Demon-Haunted World".
And Sagan, in this book, intends to talk about the things he considers menacing to the world
in the future. I'm talking a bit about the little things that are menacing to free software
in the future. Okay, to begin with,
this guy is me, looking better there because I'm less visible.
Eh..
My name is Pablo Hinojosa.
Although I usually use the name "psycobyte".
because I’m a kind of funny guy.
This is my blog where I write some nonsense.
This is my twitter where I write some shorter nonsense.
This.. well, my github account, where I give proof of my disability of programing.
And this is the free software’s office and his blog where i work.
¿All right?
The free software’s office is called Granada.
Eh.. it’s a place where there are a lot of people who work and try to promote free software
inside of Granada’s,
to try that people use free software, help to people free theirs things,
and we all say: "Dude, please free this, really, it’s very cool".
etc.
Even though it doesn’t cool we say: "Yeah man, it’s really cool, do it”.
Em..
The fact is that the most interesting is that have contact with... what we call "community".
Although, it would really is best communities of free software. yes?
EH... let's just say the contact out here.
I found all kinds of people.
Good.
Let’s see a little..
Free software faces, in the near future,
Already.
In fact, it’s facing now.
It faces to a lot of huge demons, of large problems.
They are going to face to... above all, the intellectual property legislation,
There are people trying to impose legislations that can be very harmful to free software,
patents... that sort of things.
It faces to the DRM, that sort of things.
We can see them alter, more calmly.
It faces to things like, well, the software as service or the cloud,
they are problems for free software because they force it to reconsider itself.
and to face to new perspectives, to new ways of seeing the software.
Eh.. but I haven't come here to talk about that.
I'm going to talk about the little demons.
Eh.. the small problems that software free have,
Now and everyday.
The small mistakes of conception,
and the small confusions we have with free software.
I start with that free software is very cool.
Now I'm going to say problems, I’m gonna say bad things and say:
"Dude! wht’s up? Are you against..?"
No, free software is very cool, but it has its imperfections as all things.
And we have our problems and we will see some of them.
To start, I want to see it from the point of view of "the newcomer"
The newcomer is the person who is knowing the free software.
And he has not very clear what is it or what is not that.
Here I was told that everyone has more or less clear what is the free software, isn’t it?
Those who don't know what it is free software, raise your hand.
Good.
In addition, Jesús has mentioned the four freedoms before.
So, I save to mention that. Is wonderful.
People say to me: "Dude, you're a tiresome, your are again with the four freedoms".
Good. I save to mention that.
But, reaches many people to the world of the free software, and we face, often, to the first demon.
The first demon of the free software is this:
"This is free".
We always say. Free software office we say:
“No, free software is like the sun when it rises, not like free bar”.
Even so, always, always there are people that say: "Hello, I came to see if you can install a free windows for me"
You have not understood what is "free", haven’t you?
That is to say.
Of course he has not understood. In fact, he doesn’t have why to understanding.
People don’t have why to know this, It doesn't appear just like, it doesn’t come an angel and he shows you
and he says: “dude, free software is this "
Don’t, we must to explain them.
Certainly is difficult to explain, above all, because, also, we..from the point of view of the free software,
we use free as a low.
When we say: "dude, you have to put a free software in your collegue"
or "you have to put a free software in your business"
Those kind of weapons, we often use. is saying: "It’s just free".
It is not really free, actually it costs money.
We have to do it.
We have to pay people because programmers eat.
Dude… I mean, fuck, they need to pay also those children’s schools.
And yet, by that reaches people saying "install me a free windows"
or better, reaches people saying:
"It’s just I have a project, a very good idea, and I need to people program codes for me".
Okay, those people who program codes, eat.
People expect that we program things for them just for the sake of it.
Actually, in fact, We usually do free things.
We work voluntarily a lot of hours at day, we do a lot of projects and things.
But that doesn't mean that we are a free workers.
¿All right?
The next most important thing and it was mentioned by Javier, and it’s very important.
This is a mere technique question.
No.
In fact, if you look the first sentence I wrote, in the phrase of Lessin.
"The Code is Law"
This is very important.
From DRMs, the managements of digital rights and so, they are software applied.
But it’s an ideology implemented into software.
There are several ideas, political ideas or ideas of how things should be done,
that they are implemented into software.
¿All right?
In code.
The Bitcoin
[He comments about a mistake...]
The Bitcoin, the virtual coin, is a technique implementation of an ideology very concrete.
¿All right?
People who have done the Bitcoin they was thinking some way to manage resources,
and some way to manage richment wealth very very very concrete.
¿All right?
Open Data etc.
When we, in the office of free software, for example we say that...
We decided to do... we started to do the portal of information ***
We decided that we were going to do about a portal of open data.
Of course, and you are thinking that is something logic. If you want transparency you should free the datas.
Fine, is logical, but it doesn’t the only way of do it.
And there are many who do so.
The do in a very different way.
There is an ideology there. There is an approach of how things should be.
This is very very very important.
Not is a mere technical problem.
¿All right?
Free software is ethic, free software is philosophy, free software is politic.
¿All right?
But, I step to the next because...
It is logical that people coming out of the world of free software,
they aren’t sure what is free software.
That is not actually a problem.
That is to say, it is the reality. Is that just so.
From the point of view of who releases.
That is, when people say: "dude, I want to release something"
Or when I say to someone: "man, release this". Or whatever, yes?
Ok.
The daemon: "It doesn’t ready for release yet".
It fails.
That is, dude release that.
"Pff... "
"Man pfff... is that I can’t, is that you'll see, the code is very dirty".
It's that man, I have to debug it first. I'm going to put it, is that it is poorly indented. It's just..
No.
“No, but is that I have that check that it’s good because I have shame to show it so”.
"It is not commented, is that I have to split it into modules, is that..."
No.
Let’s see.
The right moment to release the code is already.
Already implies already.
He says: "But is that I still haven’t written code"
Fine, you can start releasing.
First thing is a license and then we can talk.
The ideal moment to release code always, always is already.
It is never tomorrow, it is never within a minute.
It’s already.
¿All right?
While you do it go releasing.
You will have all the advantages.
It will be the right way to do it.
And it'll be the way more efficient, more comfortable, easier and less traumatic.
¿All right?
Well, this is continuous, systematic.
Next. The demon of:
"I don’t need a license".
I don’t need a license because: "Agg, is that of a license is very seriously".
"Ah, it doesn’t have license?" "I upload it on Internet and people will copy it".
No.
If you... Let’s see, Law says:
If you don’t say explicitly: "Hey, I share this so you can use it".
That’s same to say: This has all the rights reserved.
¿All right?
If you don’t put license expressly.
At the end a license is a text Where you are saying:
"Hey, I let you to do something with this”.
If you don’t put a license that allows people do that, you are not releasing.
Even though you think you do.
Because I try to use that code for my own work, make a development, make a fork.
To do something like that.
And I say: “Oh shit, it has no license, now I cannot use because...
and if tomorrow I have with a lawyer, what? " What do I do?”
I mean, I cannot.
I have my hands tied. All right?
It’s a danger, it’s risk to me.
So that, if you don’t put license to your code, you are not releasing.
Put them license!. Cm’on.
And now..***
I'm trying to be very fast, very summarized. There are much more things, well.
And now the most interesting part:
The bad habits.
The bad things that we have in the community.
Or rather, in the communities.
We have many bad.. and we have a few demons enough crappy.
The first one is the "purity".
The demon of purity is horrible. We have a lot of people who are really infamous.
Eh.. or we are infamous. Perhaps I should say so.
It is: "dude, I am more free than you".
Yeahh..
"How can use...? I don’t know... sorry".
"How can you use Windows?"
"This way you think you make free software on Windows?".
"For God's sake: how do you do it?".
"It cannot be, it’s not free enough".
" Impure, get out of here! "
No.
I mean it. No. It’s a complete mistake.
The fact that you use free software does not make you purer, more suitable, more wonderful, better person
No.
The fact that you use free software makes you a guy more fortunate.
All right?
It make you more lucky.
Why?
Because you have the control of the code, of the software that you are using, etc.
But it doesn’t make you a better person in any case.
However, there is a certain attitude, often, within the community of the software free or
Communities of free software .
Of that, of lashing those who don’t use free software, or those who use a free software a little less,
Or to those who use repositories as Unity of Debian.
I mean, that kind of things
All right?
And this is a horrible demon, because the truth turns us into guys enough assholes.
I didn’t come to speak about that, but well.
The "obstacles of entry".
This is very important, it has a bit of relation with the previous thing and it has a bit of relation
with next thing I’m going to say:
Sometimes it’s not easy to get in a project.
You have a project. Normally in the small projects you do something,
and you have your project, you do your things. You are wishing that people come to participate.
"Come guys, lend me a hand".
And someone send you an email: "Eh! I made a patch for your thing" and so.
And you see it and you say: "Oah! Yo, they sent me a patch,
how cool!, I’m happy, finally"
And he answers to the guy: "hey thank you very much for the patch, look I‘m going to apply it..."
or “I have applied it, look I’ve put here and I've put your name here and so…”
That’s for small projects.
When a project starts to get bigger... course there comes a time when you cannot manage it
to receive 15 patches daily, to check that patches are OK, that they work and so...
And you have to invent a system to manage how is that handles
Some important communities have made those systems, mounted, etc, to manage this kind of things.
Others have it worse managed, others don’t have any and they do it on their own.
And everywhere there are usually kind of guys a little... complicated that make hard to solve that task.
The typical thing: "I would like to make such such..."
"-Then search it in google, dude".
That happens, I mean , you don’t solve anything saying to the guy To search it in google.
You are not helping him. He already knew that he had to search it in google.
And if he has not done it is because he has not been able to Or it has not occurred to him, or whatever.
Or "is that this forum is not for that, You had to post it to another forum".
What other type of forum?
That kind of things.
We often encounter obstacles to enter in projects.
I insist, the projects more important, bigger they already have people dedicated to them
to manage that kind of things and to facilitate that kind of things.
But we often find with projects that people don’t do it, and it’s very complicated.
We put them obstacles and we stop people who might have contributed something to our project,
at the end they just get tired and aren’t into contribute us anymore.
And this has a very important relation with what I was saying in the following point:
The "assholes".
I have been thinking for ways to say it more diplomatic, more so...
How would say this... people who has soso...
But at the end it comes into my mind... assholes.
They are many in the free software, sorry. I don’t know if more than other projects.
I don’t know if more than another software.
But there are people, that we say, they have a little complicated social life.
I'm not going to mention any of the great gurus of free software, but without mentioning any
I’m going to mention something very important and.. We have people that we know they are assholes,
We know that they have a complicated character, that it’s difficult to work with them,
that they have managed to get people out from their projects because they didn’t bear them.
All right?
But what’s up? As he’s a great guy,
as he’s a very good guy, who code program very good, even so we can bear him and we don’t say him:
"Dude, you’re an asshole".
Eh.. of course this is a problem because, again, that’s why I said that it related to what we saw before,
we create obstacles to people to enter, again, we create difficulties to them.
And that’s not what we want. We want people are able to contribute,
We want people work.
That a guy is a great programmer, is a super guy and programs fantastically
it doesn’t mean that we have to bear your bullshit.
All right?
Or that should be allowed.
Very good.
And notice a thing. I have been saying it all the time,
Since I've started to speak, in all the time I've been here.
Perhaps someone has thought that it was strange.
[a technic comment]
I have been saying all the time: "A programmer "A guy" and I have spoken in masculine.
Because in fact, first, because there are many more men in proportion.
And secondly, because we have a serious problem of sexism in the communities of free software.
In fact,it’s a problem most of software in general, but is applied as a minimum, equally, to free software.
I talk especially of things as I'm saying now. Say: "a guy", "a man", "a such..."
There are women programmers, there are many women programmers Who are great doing very great things,
they are partners who are very marvelous.
But mostly I talk of things of put in my slides.
I ‘ve seen many times, practically, in any Congress about software that I usually assist.
And specifically I usually go to congresses of free software , and not another type of Congress.
I find with that someone has showed as symbol, Idk.. to represent a award,
to show a girl in a bikini...
Dude!, I mean, but I no longer say that you're not sexist or you’re so...
It not looks like any sense. For God’s sake.
And that happen to us very often.
It’s not a serious problem. Serious... I mean as you look at it,
It’s not a serious problem as for example sectors of construction.
Which is a sector where there is a very serious problem in that sense.
Or as in other sectors, ...
There are no people telling her: "women go to the kitchen" at least not in public.
But really there is a problem. To ignore this problem and say: "No, that doesn’t happen here,"
It doesn’t solve anything.
Ok?
It’s there.
Which take to the next demon: "The gender breach ".
That’s to say, we have very few women in free software,
basically because we have very few women in the software.
All right?
If you don’t enter to our world, If 50% of the population doesn’t enter to the software,
we are losing 50% of talent.
Ok? And it’s a problem.
There’re tons of people working, trying to find out what the problem is,
Why they don’t enter, why we’re lack of women in the free software.
Obviously related to what I was talking about before.
And there are a lot of people trying to see what solutions we can give to.
Doing activities, doing things, etc. Looking for tools to try to give that jump we have.
It’s not much less easy obviously. It’s not a thing you do from one day to another.
But we are trying and we are getting things.
It’s something that we don’t have to forget, because really, I insist, I no longer talk about an equality topic,
a solidarity topic, or topic of... I’m not talking about those topics, I talk simply
about pure pragmatism.
We are losing half the talent, They are going to other places.
People perfectly qualified.
And finally. He didn’t want to make it so serious, as I am getting myself...
Let's not be serious, let's take it with a little of laugh, with a little relaxation.
Emma Goldman said: "If I cannot dance, I’m not interested in your revolution"
It’s not that Emma thought that revolutions are a party,
or that she thought that revolutions should be a party.
It’s really just that, in a context we are, obviously, is not the same as Emma’s,
In a context we are, that we do a work which our will, our motivation,
self-interest, personal interest to doing something, to getting something, is so important,
it’s very very easy that, simply, our own effort, the small advances that you make to flow
in the big obstacles that you have.
If we don’t take it with a bit to laugh, it won’t get itself any more...
We need to laugh, to take with a bit of humor...
Ok?
And finally, in any case, and despite everything, I insist. It’s worth.
I mena, free software is very cool. Participate, get into, do something
because it’s worth, really.
I’ve met the most qualified people, to more intelligent people, to the most motivated people
within the world of free software.
Despite everything I've been saying right now, I’ve seen the best atmosphere of the world of job,
the best atmosphere of... I mean it, to be happy and to be well on free software.
More than any other. Yes?
If you don’t work in a project with free software, get into it, get into whatever,
participate in projects that they are running, release things… translate if you want, whatever...
But it’s really worth it, it’s much worth.
And that’s it.
Thanks very much.
[applauses from public]
Do you hear me?
Yes?.
Ok, it’s not necessary to shout...
Well, firstly thank you very much for... No?
So not, you didn’t hear me...
So I have a good voice, haven’t I?
First of all, like all yes?, to be thankful for your invitation in Madrid, in the College.
It has made me very excited that they invited me. And I’m going to talk a little bit about...
I have not done almost ever but I’m going to talk a little bit of me.
I'm not narcissistic, I think, but sometimes I think that with the experiences we've lived and now years have passed yes?
and someone perhaps they can be useful to you
I'm going to talk a little bit of me, briefly, so I can tell you a couple of anecdotes
and later I’ll talk a little bit of Debian yes? because I have to sell my improvement way.
Well, who am I? Maybe you will not know me Because we are usually behind the keyboard
Mainly took about 10 years Becoming a teacher teaching programming
And always from almost always I have used Free software both to tell my
Students, in fact the little template I make For them to write their code already carries the GPL
If anyone tells me this, but this I say is what there is
And on the other hand as catching code and being able to Show, as a teacher is a source of inspiration
And incredible creation
I have not been doing it for a few months now Teacher, but I got into a challenge
Very curious that is that I am working In a syndicate for public education
In Catalonia and I'm trying to convince them To see if they hear me, this is going to be published not?
To see if they hear me to move everything Your project to free software both the web
Like your entire network
But hey I think I've been invited here not for being Teacher that there are 500 if not because I am
Since 2012 I am developing in Debian I carry a few packages is very little
But this is the grace of free software too That if we all do a little we get
Great challenges right? Collaboration and work On the net what gratifies is what we get
I suppose, is there anyone who does not know what Debian is? Does anyone dare to tell me that they do not know what Debian is?
Well no one dares, in case there is one that does not dare I commented that it is a distribution of GNU / Linux
Of the perhaps there are like several branches of distributions Large Debian is one of which deriban
Many of the best known then I will speak a A little more of him
But if I had to define I do not think so I will identify myself as a developer
There is forgiveness neither as a teacher nor as a developer Debian but would define me as passionate
Software and technology and that's what I'm going to Well I would like to focus the talk a little with that
As my partner has explained? The advantages of free software
At a professional level because you can reuse, You can modify on a personal level you can
You can see if they're cheating you But I have come to talk about passion
Passion for technology, I do not know how many Are you passionate about technology here?
Motivates you, you would have to raise everyone's hand, Please, it's worth more
Okay, how many are you passionate about technology? And you all make a huge wave there
And I, I, because otherwise you would not be studying This, I guess you did not get in here.
To be millionaires, because maybe you are mistaking
You are here because you like it, you like it The software, like to program
And that is what has always moved me Sorry I jumped I'm going to count a couple
Of anecdotes
The first is when before being a teacher I was working in service companies
I was in a little business Software and such
And I to my little programs at home, my games I was not going to say which operating system
Which gives me as repellent and ... but I was like Restless with the subject saw computer science as
Something neutral something pff, and talking to a I told the guy at work that my computer
I love it, I love it, but I'm missing something. I lack something a social point, a political point
With the computer this world is going to move It is much more important and he tells me
But come, come to the hacklab of Barcelona KernelPanic we do courses
We used GNU / Linux and I looked at it as What are you telling me? I went
And from there on because first skin of goose Okay the second comes later, I saw that there were people
Like me, that there were passionate people, I saw Really physical
I saw people as passionate as I And that got me good curiosity
That they did not use The nameless, used another operating system
Of which I knew nothing and learned it I learned what GNU / Linux was the 4 freedoms
That I was going to tell them, but there's no need Because the first speaker saved us
5 minutilles all, and I saw what was a license of Free software, which was viral
I say I give but I force you to give Okay, and it was one of, the first anecdote I wanted to explain
Of passion for software and the second Was that after a few years, well sorry
With the whole theme of hacklabs that I started with Meet people not only from Barcelona but all
The state that made hackmeeting hacker with The ... when I speak of hacker I speak of
The people who are passionate about the software, not the People who are passionate about breaking bank accounts
If not the passionate people we enjoy Knowing how things are done
With proprietary software this is impossible
With which I got in touch with a lot People, have spent many years spreading free software
Giving away CDs until there was a moment to say I have spread a lot
I used a lot, I want to return something To the community, and I still do not know how I
Started to bring Debian that was the Distribution of GNU / Linux that I had always used
And one day, well, I started sending some Patch, talk to developers
Which for me was also amazing, I found this error And at 5 minutes I had answered the developer
Of that package and it was like but, well But this where he is and we will call you later
No longer was it was completely a communication Completely fluid
And well, I got going Until one day I start to pack
A little and I uploaded my first package, I remember completely To be in the metro to take the email to me
Your package "has been accepted" and I wow Goose bumps again, without charging anything
A packet that was worthless, but you Full of brutal satisfaction
That the rest of ... whoever goes is going to Be able to use, it will be able to improve and
Do what suits you best
And now you could tell me: but that has To see the passion for technology with
Free software?
Because I think it makes it very easy Obviously you can be passionate about
Technology, but you already see the fans of all Mac products do not?
They are passionate too, but as a technician Eh free software makes it very easy
And I will put as an example, I will tell a little bit How the Debian community works
So that you see that the freedom he gives you and The community that gives you can help you a lot
That you develop and be able to do what you want With what you generate as code
Some time ago, just like the four freedoms I decided that Debian had the 4 spirals
The Debian symbol is a spiral and I'm going To relate a little bit each what it means
And see if you can understand a little of what I was talking
First of all the community, what is the Debian community?
The Debian community is huge is not a Small project is a very large project
With which to enter costs a lot, costs A lot if you're shy, if you're not shy
You throw yourself but if you're shy it costs you a lot Because it is very big
All mailing lists on which, Most of the communication is done there
Are less any specifically public Less one that is only developers
To discuss private things, but all The others are public therefore what you write
It stays in public and it's embarrassing, but I'm going to Explain a little how it works
The community have different profile, The first is a user, the first thing that
You could do is use it and therefore And you are part of that community
Then there are people who make collaborations Such as writing a patch or writing a bug
Because he finds an error and reports it If you go further and there is one of the ...
Well I do not know if you know how distributions work But in general all the software is packaged
In packages ie we take the source code of Free software that exists and we put it in a special way
We package it so that it can adapt to the Distribution then you when you are using Debian
Do you install packages
Eh then if you have a package that you are developing Long ago you can become a Debian maintainer
That is to say you are given the permissions so that your Keep that package and upload it to the Debian repository
without any problem
And finally they are Debian developer that these We are people who have already become more involved in
The community we have done a whole process To enter, there are basically two parts
The first part is very philosophical is wanted Ensure that you are committed to
Free software and with Debian and the other more technical So good to see that you know what you do, right?
Debian is characterized by its quality and safety and is not Can put any package that is wrong
Then you have to check that you really Are you doing things right
Which I would like to comment also on the community Is how Debian works, you do not have to go
Asking for permissions if I do this or do the other We have a few guides and from there you are doing
And talk about democracy when you are Debian developer you can vote
That is you can propose things and vote But also the "docracy" "do" of doing
Do not come with rolls this would do it like this or that Because it is best to do this does not code
Do and we already see how everything else Debian spiral would be freedom
Freedom in that sense, because on the one hand we have The freedom that the software will always remain
Free, in fact as I commented before when You become a Debian developer
When you become Debian developer these According to the Debian Social Contract
Which is a contract made with the Debian users and this agreement says
The first thing he says is that Debian software Always remain free
Says other things the truth is that I do not know Of memory but I can comment them
Says that we will always give back to the community Everything we do bone that we consider
To the community, that we will not hide problems That's brutal is not it? Go look at this bug
As it is all free you can see that really There is no problem and everyone can fix it
And fin, not finally, that our priorities It is people users and free software
And finally trying to remove one of the fears That comrade commented that if your
You need proprietary software even if you are not In repositories that would be official
Of Debian if there are two repositories that can Have proprietary software for if you want to install them
That's one that the Taliban would say Debian is not purely free because it has
Two repositories that ... well it's true Is purely free because the repository
Main is all free, but if you can Install private things if you need them
Also freedom as a person when you are In the community, because you can do whatever you want
Freedom and independence Debian does not depend on a company Is a community of volunteers with which there is no
Guidelines apart from the social contract and the Debian guides That they tell you you have to go here or you have to go there
Everything is decided in community and democratically
To talk about good quality in free software Quality is relatively easy if there is sufficient
People like to go fix things But in the case of Debian I think that if
That we could assure that it is a project Which takes into account the quality of the
Software, in fact there are Debian Policies That when you start with Debian it's a bit
A torture that is when a package enters In the repository you have to fulfill them
If you are not sent bugs or do not go to the stable version Debian and well we have many tools
I'm not going to roll up with this if someone Have doubts I will explain, but we have tools like
"Piuparts" or "Lintian" that he does is that when you have Finished making the package you check that package
Do not misrepresent yourself and have the copyright for example What do you say or what, I'm a programmer, I do not want
Because if you do not have a well-placed copyright Also tells you
And finally as the flavors we have In Debian, Debian as well as being the main source
Of many distributions known as Can be Ubuntu or Linux Mint or many others
Also has flavors inside for example You say to me that I really like Debian.
But it is that I am very involved in the medical world As there are "DebianMeds" or I'm involved in education
Because "DebianEdu" or I really like children "DebianJunior" there are as flavors that are compilations
Of software in that particular field therefore We have to choose in fact Debian is defined as
A universal operating system so you like everything the world
Finished this mini presentation of Debian I would also like to comment
Because in the projects of free software It is easy to enter and as not, I already commented it my partner
And I really liked that a man Talk about women and not a woman talking about women
What is always what happens I would like to know how many people here
It's a woman or a woman
It's okay, though, right? Now everyone is watching, where are they?
where are they? In the ... a clear example even Is very worrisome in the world of free software
This issue is worrying because statistically There are more women in the technological field than in
Free software, the Debian case about 1000 Developers, women or sitting
Wife did not arrive at 20 ok What are we doing wrong
I do not know, I've read a lot of books Of people who say no
Video games, but it's now girls They play video games is complicated
I think it's not just about women That we focus on this if not also
Of how men receive us and why Debian Women is not a project that people who are
Inside are women, but they are men and women That what they want is that in Debian there are more women
I hope it will cease to exist because that would mean That is not necessary, but it is simply a
Entrance door to that: I'm ashamed That they are all boys here, well, I'm starting to talk here
How can I collaborate and such and then you're already inside
But not only women because sometimes the criticism But because only communities that encourage women
As it was not long ago in Debian the Diversity Statement It's going to be the only slide that I put with text
In English but I will translate it into which Debian animates To anyone who can collaborate
And says: the Debian project welcomes and encourages To anyone's participation, no matter how you identify
To yourself or as others perceive you, We welcome you
We welcome contributions from anyone Provided they interact constructively
With our community, although the majority of Our work is technical in nature
We also value and encourage contributions from Those who have experience in other areas
And encourage them to enter our community
With which we try to get people to come To the project, welcome
No matter what gender, gender, race, religion Have and that is why I say that entering into
Free software, if you have passion in principle It would have to be much easier
And with this thank you And well if you have questions and you will do them to me later
Well, good morning to everyone And all
I am Pablo Soto I am the participation councilor Citizen transparency and open government
Of the city of Madrid, you will discover in the Next few minutes I do not talk like a politician
That I speak more like a developer And I will try to live or surf the thin line
Between the two things, I really have been A hacktivist all my life
And I am part of those hundreds of new Political experiences, political parties
In the case of Madrid is called Ahora Madrid But there are in hundreds of cities and
Govern in fact in the most Large throughout the state
Barcelona, Valencia, Madrid, La Coruña Santiago, Cádiz, Zaragoza
We could spend so much time, right? In a country where everyone is always
I knew who was going to be the next president Of the government, right?
Notice that more special things have had to happen So that nothing less than in the capital
One of the most important countries of the World and a large European capital
Find a hacker in the government deciding How are public policies made
Well sure many of you Remembers it but I would like to know
Who knows what happened in Madrid the night Of May 15, 2011? You can raise your hand
Those that you know happened that night What little, well that night
That day, on the 15th of May, there was a series Of demonstrations in 50 cities in Spain
It was the first time a large demonstration was called Without the support of any traditional political party
Not traditional, no political party no Trade union, no traditional civil society organization
And rather through social networks moving In small groups of activists a high percentage
Of them were activists who came from the world Of free software, a mobilization was moved
We are talking about 2011 when There was a very serious crisis problem in Spain
We still have it but if you go back to May 2011 Unemployment was shooting up millions of people
Hundreds of thousands of people were starting to Lose their homes because they could not pay the mortgages
Million Spaniards and Spanish went out to Other countries have sought the future
Cutbacks in health and education began. and a mobilization emerges and the slogan,
the main banner did not read "Work, roof, bread" if you remember it was "real democracy now".
And that responds to an analysis that emerges from many places in society, which say
well maybe the problem is not so much this specific problem that can be with housing or
this specific problem that we can have with education if not that we have a collective
problem with democracy, it seems that democracy is not finishing giving everything
that came to give, and it seems that surely we can improve it and it seems that we are at a crucial moment,
we are in a moment where, well, I do not know if maybe sounds a little grandiloquent
but the work done by the most important human genre in history is before us
and it's the internet, we are in a moment where if we think of history in something similar
we can think perhaps in the printing press, to notice that the printing, the effect it can have,
that it has been able to have in humanity comparing it with the internet, that the internet is as if we put
steroids to the printing and we had one in each house, well, look what the printing caused,
because it provoked, it contributed to that generated a very interesting thing in Europe
which was called "Illustration", which in turn triggered a cycle of revolutions that in turn brought us
the parliamentary democracies we now have systems where society could not be
more pyramidal, and fix what brought the press, well Now it turns out we have internet
and we do not have it now, we have for a few decades and we are still with
those same democracies, where we have decided in some way that we are unable to agree
all of us and then we appoint a few and they agree,
we gather them in a building, we call it parliament, that they decide and we will obey,
well then, this analysis that we can be at a point where it is very important what
we can do collectively arise these mobilizations and fix it is not only in Spain,
have occurred throughout all continents, have occurred since:
"Occupy Wall street" until the revolution of the sunflowers, we have the Arab revolt
not everywhere has worked the same in each place is different but there is a common element
that is civil society making a very intensive use of technologies, go out to
the street, in some places with bloody dictatorships and I am thinking of Tunez, had decades
with a dictator who murdered them if they go out on the street, agree through
social networks, there is a spark that is a street merchant who arbitrarily,
the police demanded his post and set himself on fire. The new is obviously not given by the official media
but through the internet people are getting the news and a manifestation
is generated that is growing every day, every day it is growing, every day it is growing and there comes a time when
Ben Ali, who was this dictator has the distrust of his own bodyguards and decides to ride
a helicopter and leave, and since then There is democracy in Tunez, there they call it
the Facebook revolution, Facebook is a company and yet there they do not live it
with that sadness. Well let's talk a little bit about how free software can transform all of this.
When we talk about democracy, we are sure that many of us think of a political key, and when we think
of a political key, for many, I am sure that it is also a bit, it is a bit of a roll, this has to do
with if you stop someone on the street and you questions that what is the policy, because maybe it responds to you
of course if the leaders discussing on TV that maybe Albert Rivera
and Pablo Iglésias argue a lot and who put a fatter "zasca" on the other and then
wins the election, as that is politics, democracy and politics are something else,
democracy and this is very important, this is where we touch what is really important, is that
democracy is that you decide, democracy is that all of us here can decide in practice
that we can decide what the city is like the country where we live, as is the world.
And that's how, if I ask you which is the most democratic country in the world?
Who knows?
to have heard there some name of a country,
Switzerland, Very good!
Is the gold standard of democracy, it is like no one on the left or right dares
to say that there is no democracy in Switzerland, notice that there has not been a very chaotic system either
And yet if we look at what is in Switzerland when we are going to fill the contents
of what the "Real Democracy Now" banners said and see what is in Switzerland, it does not seem to be
a constant revolutionary process either, are some mechanisms that
allow citizens to take control of politics whenever they want, when they want to pass a law
that politicians do not agree to approve, citizens can propose it and in a
referendum decide it and politicians obey or when politicians want to pass a law and approve it
with which the social majority disagrees, Signatures are gathered, there is a deadline to gather the signatures and
already then that law goes to referendum and if the people are against it undoes that law,
what simpler mechanism, the census percentage in signatures, is very similar to the ILPs, what happens
is that it works well and takes a referendum, well, that mechanism that is so simple
at the same time is very powerful, It is very powerful because it is a legal mechanism that allows us
to stop wars, for example, we always laugh at the Swiss because they are very neutral
and it's like the topic, as we ridicule it, but to fix you is a country capable of stopping
anyway when there is an impulse of a minority that wants to impose a war, look at you, and it's a country
where things like income are already being talked about Universal, that is to say that everyone has a non-theoretical real right,
we are not talking about a theoretical corpus that we build on Marxism, not, in practice
in Europe, in a country besides culture rather conservative center we could say as Switzerland
are posing the reality that everyone has the right to have the minimum to live
and that implies having a basic income independently of all the conditions
that we can put. You can see that the most powerful mechanism, well, we go back to 2015,
it turns out that there are these municipal elections in which there are a lot of new governments
and we arrived at the city hall of Madrid and we say, from this we have learned in civil society
that fundamentally has to do with mechanisms of direct democracy that can be put
into action and are known to work, are already known to work, the swiss had already in 1848
because they do not put it here and there are a lot of difficulties because "tachán" arrives the greatest challenge that has the
democracy, the biggest challenge that has direct democracy and the citizen participation that is, is none other
han the politicians, the Biggest challenge ever for People can take control of the institutions
and political control are the politicians, I do not know any survey at a global level
where people say they do not want to have the ability to decide what the laws are like, there is no way
I know that survey and yet when asked to The politicians systematically say
well that they do not agree that according to which mechanisms, what to see, what to see
is very striking the case of Holland where a survey was made on the one hand to people,
citizens and ordinary citizens and on the other hand council councilors and 80 percent
of citizens agreed that the popular initiative was introduced to a binding referendum
which is this mechanism and 80 percent of councilors were against fixing you,
because they basically understood the importance of this mechanism, a mechanism
capable of expropriating the minorities who are in command to distribute it among a lot of people,
all over the world. There are a lot of arguments against these mechanisms
But we had some trick and a very good trick that we knew was working
in civil society was free software, so we decided to take this mechanism if the swiss
had it in 1848 and it worked because they did not try it in 2015 in Madrid
and what we said was, well if the Swiss have been doing it for centuries, collecting signatures on paper
and voting exclusively in ballot boxes that are very similar to the times from which
this mechanism was born, to think of what type of printing presses were formerly everything
as very mechanical with wood and pieces and with things and so clear envelopes, urn papers, signatures,
pens but it is that we are in the 21st century so let's think as you join now people
signatures sure you all know platforms of signatures I do not want to say any, we do not have to
advertise Change, but you all use truth, people use those digital platforms
to collect signatures because we do not make that legal mechanism through which
a group of people can agree to propose a law and that is voted and made through the page of the city council.
The initial response is because that page does not exist, so we said good then
let's do it and we will do it in free software.
I do not know if you have the city of Madrid but
if I tell you that the city of Madrid has about 500 people in the computer department,
say, Wow! That's a lot of people, but if I tell you that in total there are more than 30,000 employees maybe
not so much, because it is difficult to find organizations where only one in 60 is the computer
and that at the same time it is an organization where all the procedures can be done online, everything is
automated, it is very difficult to find organizations so, although it seems that an organization of
500 computers, not all are computers, but the computer branch of Madrid city council
are 500 people with a budget of about 100,000,000 million euros a year seems to be a powerful machinery
in fact the opposite happens, they are very heavy machinery
where it is very difficult to produce innovation, it is very difficult and then we decided to do what
Pablo recommended that is to open an account in Github first and from the first line of
code was free, then we said: "Hello world we want to make a mechanism of citizen participation
for direct democracy in Madrid," these are the rules, if 1 percent
of the population supports a proposal, which anyone can do it we take it to a vote, the whole city
votes and if the majority agrees the government carries it out.
Now we are going to develop it, then as you know the elections were in May 2015 sorry
in June 2015, we form government in July 2015,
I think it was July 27, 2015
we launched the mechanism with the portal, connected with the register , with secure connection, with verification,
with electronic voting on September 15, 2015, this would have been absolutely unthinkable for
any administration and there were not many people contributing to the code yet.
We knew we had planted a good seed and that people were going to start using it and that
it could already be spread to other places.
At the same time that we understood that this project is something that surpasses Madrid because it is free software
what we did was something a little radical in quotation marks that was something radial in the sense that it had never
been done, that is to launch a department In a town hall whose sole purpose is
to serve all institutions other than the city council, the outside world and call it
the institutional extension service, a series of departments that are dedicated to call others
places to get in touch with citizens of all the world, to receive when they contact us and tell
we have these tools, we have this code and when we talk about code, we talk
about the Code Decide Madrid, which is what is called the platform, but also the legal code of laws,
regulations, ordinances, everything that we have needed to go approving, decrees to implement
these democratic mechanisms, we have done the same, we have licensed GPL
nothing else to the code, because the laws already have it by themselves, they are public domain, but the idea is the same
let's to use these licenses to spread democracy, after all, what has been the result,
after a few months Barcelona joined, shortly after Coruña, shortly after
Santiago are now more than 30 cities, which use it.
In Barcelona they called it Decidín Barcelona, in each place they have called it in a way and in some
places they are exactly Decide Madrid modified the look and feel, the appearance but in other places
they have opened their own lines of development, Around 100
repositories where there are commits usually and we do not have a census
but there are dozens of developers full time, not only in Spain, also for example is
using Nariño which is a region of Colombia,
They are installing it in the state of Jalisco (Guadalajara)
We are talking about millions of people, Buenos Aires, I do not know if they have called it Decide Buenos Aires,
well, multitude of cities around the world.
We return to the case of Madrid, as well as working, well one of the things that has had this project of
novel, is that in Switzerland as you know you have to collect all the signatures on paper in the street
to get the number that is and when the You have achieved, present them in the institution
and the referendum is called, here, not here a proposal with only seven supports, actually
with only one support, you put it and that proposal the council has already published and
is only one support , what are you and you have the same conditions to get in this case is 27,064
supports, that is one in 100 madrilenians over the age of 16 have to agree
With your proposal.
That radically changes the way in which this mechanism of democracy works because in Switzerland
most of the citizen initiatives manage to collect the necessary signatures to reach
referendum, here there have been 15,000 proposals, obviously it is a minimum percentage that will
get those firms , Why ?, because at the end That threshold for what it serves is to regulate that
we can not be voting one hundred things constantly all the time if not that we are going to vote X things a year.
In Switzerland they vote 2, 3, 4 things every year,
you can see that there are maybe 8 initiatives or 6 initiatives and get the signatures
Only 4 or 2, here there have been 15,000 proposals but at the end of the first year they have obtained
the signatures 2 or be that although the mechanism has very different flows and this
works with a logic of very rapid change, new things on the platform
people can make and disseminate their proposals in networks in a much simpler way but
finally we arrive at the same result, which is that every year an affordable number of proposals
are voted, in this case are 2 proposals that are going to vote of 13 To the 19 of February, they are going to vote
in the same platform and with this I am going to enter in the detail
I do not know how I go about time, I still have,
I do not want to go over a subject that is that the code is law and here you will understand very well
because here it is true that it is law
From February 13 to 19, these two proposals will be voted on in Madrid, one of which is Madrid
100 percent sustainable and is promoted by the climate alliance. There are 400 organizations
that include people of all types, trade unions, Catholic Church, Greenpeace
And is the profile of proposal that gets through a mechanism that has nothing to do
with free software, nor with the internet, they would have managed to collect the same signatures,
but if you see the other, only ticket of public transport.
Proposes that there be a modality of
public transport that is that with a ticket you can for ninety minutes ride as many times as
you want in things, to make a trip maybe you catch bus, subway and bus
or something, this proposal has been put by a specific person, an individual person,
any one, you have In other debates, it is also very good here because
in the debates section you have been able to see several debates where you have received very high consensuses,
here in this debate there are 4,000 people and 95 percent agree that it would be possible
to change transportation without paying another ticket. He has made that proposal and fixate that a person
without having a platform that supports him, through networks openly, has achieved
to recapture the supports.
These 2 proposals are put to the vote as I said they are going to vote from 13 to
February 19 and this is where electronic voting comes into question and this is very important
because this is where a crucial element comes where it is seen how free software
is at this point in history at a point where it will shape itself we will have democratic and free societies
or if we are going to have societies with different forms with authoritarianism
is an authoritarianism of fascist court, of populist court, of cut capitalist of the court that
is by means of the use of the technologies to control society.
Electronic voting, at the moment is something that is in dispute by many giants
technological, there are large companies some of the largest in the world are Spanish by
chance who are striving to introduce electronic voting in countries little by little
what happens is that most of these companies have proprietary software and that means,
It means that you will not be able to see the code that processes your vote, you will not be able to modify it,
you will not even be able to see it, you will not be able to check that this process is happening
as says that independent authority that is happening, so
this ritual that occurs every time there is an election is that every time the polls open
and in front of anyone can go to see it and can go to see that count and can verify that on that
table has come out So that voting does not necessarily translate to electronic voting.
The solution to this is not so technological we already have the technology to verify that
electronic voting retains all the properties it requires, secrecy of the vote, verifiability
of the vote, control of scrutiny, all that already exists by means of cryptographic techniques,
There are technical solutions so that electronic voting can happen like this and it is well
implemented in places like Switzerland precisely but we have the political aspect that is or is
decided from the political power that all the tools that are going to be introduced for
the democratic area in this regard of the vote are going to be free software or we're going to have
to rely on that authority because we really will not see cryptographic techniques that
will guarantee that we will not finally see a manipulation behind.
Well, they tell me that in time we do not go very well then three things nothing more.
This mechanism of democracy that we are implementing and thanks to free software is
spreading all over the world, a little time ago if we had seen that Madrid
was exporting democracy to Europe the world would have said that was crazy,
that was never going to happen.
Is not the panacea this mechanism is not the panacea But if we know that it is much better for those sites
where it is working that is much better that what we have all the politicians,
they said everything and that there are about 4 politicians and 4 experts who decide on everything.
We know that this produces better results It's a question of results.
Second, emmm this is global, ie this is not a thing that is happening here because it seems
as in Spain has dislocated a little politics and then has broken in Podemos
and then Ciudadanos have risen and then there is a thing as well as parliamentary
it seems that there is change here This is a global thing, this is happening
in more than 100 countries I know cases from around the world where similar experiences are occurring
what happens in each place is different, in each site occur differently
but there is a common thread that is that citizens and citizens who did not have 5 years ago
the intention to change things at the political level And who did not think of us
and in a we are going to change things now they are saying hey we are in an important moment
we are playing it and things are really happening that require our attention, right?
And this is happening at the global level, we are at a crucial point because
that will depend on whether we have better or worse societies and the last is that despite
that also this from the scenarios so eh It does not help either already someone has mentioned it
It is very important to understand that this is not going to be 4 experts who have decided as to where to go
free software and where the tools of direct democracy have to go and how ... this does not have to go
of all and all and this implies that you and you can get into the repositories of the Madrid tool
is called the application consul and participate and that everything we are doing in all
free software projects and administrations in this regard
is yours then it is not so much that we or "X" or 4 or that Pablo Iglesias on TV discusses
I do not know who to tell who is right, right? , this has to go from that we all get
the reins of society and you and you are at a very important point
that is the technology and that is going to be what I said 7 times but I think
it is very important to understand that we are in one of those pivotal points
I do not know how to say it, well, a balance point where we can go...well, you've seen
Trump in the USA, right? And the other may occur as well as many very different things may occur
and technology is very important right now and it is in your hands.
Thank you.