社運訊息網絡與網路自由

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所有自由議題都是相連的,他們在發展的過程互相影響,直到今日,在實際的運作面,他們也會互相碰觸,相輔相成。

陳為廷分享這篇新聞《張志軍來台 網路也戒嚴?在 Facebook 上說

這真的不尋常。昨天本來想看一下中強律師的評論,搜尋發現找不到。

才想到,早上就聽他說在房內被破門前,臉書就莫名被停權了。

加上難攻、和李茂生、沃草先後被限制權限。這絕對不是單一事件。

新聞和評論的臆測成分都很重,非常有可能這些帳號都只是被惡意檢舉才被限制發文的,而不是政府與 Facebook 有何私下的協議。但這個現象又再度驗證了,我們逝去的,去中心化、透明的網路有多麼的重要。有沒有人和他們說他們真正需要的是海盜灣等級的架站、技術,甚至是防禦能力,永不從網路上下架,除非政府從 ISP 端建立防火牆?有沒有人跟他們說,「Facebook 社運」模式(源自於茉莉花革命的 Twitter 社運模式)在動員和擴散上雖然有效,這些工具也是中心化架構的致命弱點?有沒有人帶著上一代網路人的慚愧,和他們說,這是我們所想像的網路,但對不起,因為我們沒有做到,所以你的訊息才會被這樣被封殺?

我一直在私下的管道在 Mozilla 內部說,Open Web 作為組織的任務,勢必代表立場必須隨著時代更新,同意更多的概念是確保網路自由的基石:網路中立性、去中心化、公開規格硬體(Open source hardware)、反言論審查……。立場也不該隨著國家與地區,為了方便而扭曲。這些訊息都是可以在我們在產品上妥協的同時發展,而不是縮限觀點來自圓其說現在的產品。

如果不做這些事情,做低階手機讓接下來的十億人能夠更容易上網,最後到底可以幹嘛?

網路資料個人隱私與安全:Cookie 與 HTTPS 加密

二月時,應莊庭瑞老師之邀,替台灣人權促進會的季刊春季號【網路時代公民權】撰寫了一篇關於 Cookie 與 HTTPS 加密的介紹、爭議、與個人能夠使用的工具。受邀者除了小的我以外都是一時之選(笑),如果內容有什麼問題還請指教。

出刊的文本(PDF)因為篇幅的關係所以有刪節。這邊刊載全文。

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English Vinglish: People’s journey across the language barrier

I don’t remember I have ever go to the cinema for a Bollywood movie, but I am glad I enjoyed it very much when I did this for the first time.

The movie remind me of the ESL classes I took. The frustration of not being able to express thoughts in English efficiently echoes the wider range of non-English speaking audiences, evidently by the success of the movie in these traditionally non-Bollywood markets, including Taiwan.

Compare to India, the English-speaking culture is different in Taiwan. English is not the working language of the mess, except for some white-collar works in forgiven companies or tech sectors (e.g., Mozilla in Taiwan). There is indeed a tread (or, “debate”) on wider-adoption of English usage in colleges. And of course, English dominance and culture invasion, and so on and so on.

That said, the English-learning students depicted in the movies are very true. If you only speak English and had (or, having) the experience working with people from other cultures, I wholeheartedly recommend you to see the movie. Pay attention to the thoughts and the minds of these the characters. In retrospect, think about the inherent behavior of these people as they went through their life-long journey of working with you in English.

This is the only reason I wrote this post, in English.