<div dir="ltr"><p class="" style>Not sure how to append or collate this with Daniel's section, but included below is a draft of suggested comments I tried piecing together. I think that if we are to have a statement, that we should merge our various contributions to represent one voice. I'm not sure what platform is best to do this kind of thing on, but have had some positive experience with <a href="http://www.co-ment.com/">http://www.co-ment.com/</a>.</p>
<p class="" style><br></p><p class="" style>sent from <a href="http://eddan.com">eddan.com</a></p><p class=""><br></p><p class="">---</p><p class="">To our community – </p><p class=""></p>
<p class="">It is in good conscience that we, the members of Sudo Room,
host the Lock-Picking session at the Workshop Weekend taking place at 2141
Broadway [and Tech Liminal] today. As even a quick glance at the rest of the
program would make clear, we are a diverse community of technologists, artists,
and activists joined together by the ambition of figuring things out for
ourselves and teaching other people how to do it.</p>
<p class="">A further step back would reveal a context of free and open
to the public educational opportunities covering everything from sewing
recycled fabric into sustainable clothing; making vanilla extract to experiment
with new flavors of ice cream; creating a transparent and democratic corporate
governance; and indeed yes – taking locks apart and reverse engineering
software.</p>
<p class="">Regarding the option of calling a locksmith, an Oakland
resident locked out of their house or car should be advised to read through the
peer review websites carefully for reputable services before calling their number.
It is our general belief that public safety is better served when the skills
necessary to be hired as a locksmith, for example, are taught in classrooms
rather than by picking it up in the actual commission of crimes.</p>
<p class="">We share in our city’s mourning of the death of Kiante
Campbell at the Art Murmur last month. Collectively and as individuals, we are
also aware of and concerned about the alarming levels of crime in our
neighborhoods. It is in fact those concerns that have made for the greatest
challenges in offering an openly accessible entrance to our building. Being a
horizontally-governed organization, the compromised option of only several
people having the keys is problematic. We are now experimenting in our own
space with ways that can increase security while preserving the privacy of the
general public. We intend to share our results publicly on our website and
wiki, as with all of our other projects, so that public safety in Oakland can
be more effectively enforced.</p>
<p class="">We regret that Mayor Quan stepped back from her support of
the event, though we appreciate her support for our innovative programs that
are bringing about an emergent start-up technology culture in downtown Oakland.
We can certainly sympathize with the overwhelming task of responsibly editing a
large amount of information such as what is in the Mayors’ newsletter. We
intend for this unfortunate series of misunderstandings to be yet another
incentive for us to work on some of the projects we’ve already started – those
aimed towards more efficiently sorting through large volumes of information to
allow for making editorial judgment calls more fairly.</p>
<p class="">We would like to take this unsolicited opportunity to make
our intentions clear with Police Chief Jordan and Mayor Quan. We have among us
people who can contribute a great deal to solving our law enforcement
technology problems and addressing the cyber-security concerns of critical
infrastructure such as the Port of Oakland. We hope to get a chance to work
together with our city’s leaders in bringing cutting-edge capacity building to
the people of Oakland with sustainable and equitable economic structures. We
are trying to be very conscientious about it – we welcome you to drop by one of
our many events or visit our website for information about our initiatives.</p>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 2, 2013 at 12:51 PM, Daniel Finlay <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:namelessdan@gmail.com" target="_blank">namelessdan@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div style="word-wrap:break-word">Anca's right, this is a huge opportunity.<div><br></div><div>Lower dues, anyone?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Here's my caricature of opportunism, feel free to tune down the tone to your tact level of preference:</div><div><br></div><div><div style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas">The admonition of lockpicking classes by the Mayor and Police Chief of Oakland are as unconscionable as the thefts they purport to be in fear of. While the alarmists claim that publicly available lockpicking classes may promote criminal activity, they lose sight that this class is in the context of a larger public enrichment.</div>
<p style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas"> </p><div style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas">Despite being only a few months old, Sudoroom has already made itself host to a wide variety of educational, cooperative, and even marketable skill-building classes and events for hundreds of local residents. From programming computers and 3-D printing to curing cheese and modifying DNA, Sudo Room is a free, community sponsored place for fostering the collaborative creativity that comes with groups full of intellectual curiosity in a time of as much change and development as this one.</div>
<p style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas"> </p><div style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas">In a time where people's opportunities might lead them to crime, perhaps we ought to provide better alternatives rather than stupefying the public as a form of self defense.</div>
<p style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas"> </p><div style="margin:0px;font-size:12px;font-family:Consolas">Let us address the cause of this sickness rather than try to snuff out its symptoms, and give ourselves access to an unfettered flow of knowledge and opportunity. We encourage you to participate in this local renaissance, by visiting the Sudoroom yourself, and taking part in any of the classes of your interest. You can always find the upcoming events at <a href="http://sudoroom.org/calendar" target="_blank">sudoroom.org/calendar</a>, or just stop by almost any time to join your neighbors in their curious pursuits.</div>
</div><div><br></div><div>Feel free to fork it at <a href="https://gist.github.com/flyswatter/5070131" target="_blank">https://gist.github.com/flyswatter/5070131</a></div><div><br></div><div>-Dan</div><div><br></div><div>
<br></div><div><br></div><div><div><div class="h5"><div>On Mar 1, 2013, at 11:27 PM, Anca Mosoiu <<a href="mailto:anca@techliminal.com" target="_blank">anca@techliminal.com</a>> wrote:</div><br></div></div><blockquote type="cite">
<div><div class="h5"><div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 1, 2013 at 6:35 PM, Michael Scroggins <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michaeljscroggins@gmail.com" target="_blank">michaeljscroggins@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"><span><br>
The sentence implicitly draws a difference of kind between the lock
picking class and the other Workshop Weekend classes. Doing so invites
the question: What is the difference that makes broadcasting this
workshop (in the way it was) regrettable? In an environment where the
mayor, the chief of police and the media have all given the same answer -
the class breeds criminals - allowing that question is regrettable.</span></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>It's regrettable because it gave some easy pickings for the people who want to portray Oakland, and the current administration, in a certain way. Many of the people who are upset about the workshop aren't upset about lockpicking, they're upset that Jean Quan appears to encourage crime in her newsletter.</div>
<div><br></div><div>It's regrettable because it sucked up airwaves and mental effort that might have been better spent.</div><div><br></div><div>Drafting a reasoned and reasonable response lowers the blood pressure of the people who are up in arms just because they aren't informed. Some of them will come around, especially if they understand the actual intent of the class. </div>
<div><br></div><div>Eddan, I'd like to participate in writing a statement. I was really taken aback when I read some of the emails and talked to some of the people who were actually upset.</div><div>
<br></div><div>The media storm will blow over with the next foot-in-mouth opportunity from a local politician, but we have a great opportunity to reach out while the world is looking. <br></div><div><br></div>
<div>Anca.</div><div><br></div><div> </div></div>-- <br>-=-=-=-<div>Anca Mosoiu | Tech Liminal</div><div><a href="mailto:anca@techliminal.com" target="_blank">anca@techliminal.com</a></div><div>M: <a href="tel:%28510%29%20220-6660" value="+15102206660" target="_blank">(510) 220-6660</a></div>
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