El software libre desde distintos mundos

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.

--------------------------------------------------

I'm not an egotist, I think, but sometimes I think that with the
experiences we've lived and now the years have passed?

And some may even serve you.

I'm going to talk a little bit about myself, the brief,
So I can tell you a couple of anecdotes

And then I'll talk a bit about Debian, right?
Because I have to sell my 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.