diff --git a/content/blog/2021/ethics-and-empathy-in-open-source.md b/content/blog/2021/ethics-and-empathy-in-open-source.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..769fe71 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/blog/2021/ethics-and-empathy-in-open-source.md @@ -0,0 +1,38 @@ +--- +title: "Ethics and Empathy in Open Source" +publishDate: 2021-04-16 +--- + +One of the biggest stories to come out in the tech industry last week was the [deliberate bad patches to the linux kernel](https://www.zdnet.com/article/greg-kroah-hartman-bans-university-of-minnesota-from-linux-development-for-deliberately-buggy-patches/) +and got the University of Minnesota from future contributions. + +When reading the article I was reminded how incredibly broken +the tech industry is. I say broken because a group of people +thought that it was ok to experiment on an Open Source Project +without express permission. This shows that the leadership of +the Computer Science faculty, and possibly the Doctoral +candidates lack any form of empathy... and possibly shows how +there is a lack of ethics being taught. To "experiment" on a +project and the people who maintain it is not ethical. At least +to me. + +One of my friends, [Ashley Hunsberger](https://twitter.com/aahunsberger), +has done a fantastic talk at [Selenium Conf Berlin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5CdM87B9wo&list=PLRdSclUtJDYV8I_B5rLkMI7jL_JMv7GRO&index=8) entitled +"The death of liberal arts". In this talk Ashley talks about +how, with a testing twist, how humanities subjects can improve +the way we approach our problems in the technical world. + +Open Source projects already get a lot of people abusing them regularly, +complaining that their poorly written bug reports are not being actioned, +or that something they are benefitting from for free isn't working the way +they expect. 99% of the time the contributors are doing this in their free +time. And the 1% who are paid to work on Open Source? They don't deserve to +be treated badly either. They will go above and beyond to try help but they +are not to be abused. I've said it before that you should [hug a developer +or don't be a dick.](/blog/2011/hug-a-oss-developer-or-dont-be-a-dick/) and +have even [described what harassment can look like](/blog/2017/harassment-of-open-source-maintainers-or-contributors/). + +Circling back to the original reason for blogging, the experiment could have +happened if it had been planned with a little bit of empathy. I feel +a social engineering project like that could be useful and a lot can be +learned to improve the security of software in the Open Source world. diff --git a/docs/blog/2021/ethics-and-empathy-in-open-source/index.html b/docs/blog/2021/ethics-and-empathy-in-open-source/index.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f84cf88 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/blog/2021/ethics-and-empathy-in-open-source/index.html @@ -0,0 +1,183 @@ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Ethics and Empathy in Open Source · David Burns - AutomatedTester + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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Ethics and Empathy in Open Source

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One of the biggest stories to come out in the tech industry last week was the deliberate bad patches to the linux kernel +and got the University of Minnesota from future contributions.

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When reading the article I was reminded how incredibly broken +the tech industry is. I say broken because a group of people +thought that it was ok to experiment on an Open Source Project +without express permission. This shows that the leadership of +the Computer Science faculty, and possibly the Doctoral +candidates lack any form of empathy… and possibly shows how +there is a lack of ethics being taught. To “experiment” on a +project and the people who maintain it is not ethical. At least +to me.

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One of my friends, Ashley Hunsberger, +has done a fantastic talk at Selenium Conf Berlin entitled +“The death of liberal arts”. In this talk Ashley talks about +how, with a testing twist, how humanities subjects can improve +the way we approach our problems in the technical world.

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Open Source projects already get a lot of people abusing them regularly, +complaining that their poorly written bug reports are not being actioned, +or that something they are benefitting from for free isn’t working the way +they expect. 99% of the time the contributors are doing this in their free +time. And the 1% who are paid to work on Open Source? They don’t deserve to +be treated badly either. They will go above and beyond to try help but they +are not to be abused. I’ve said it before that you should hug a developer +or don’t be a dick. and +have even described what harassment can look like.

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Circling back to the original reason for blogging, the experiment could have +happened if it had been planned with a little bit of empathy. I feel +a social engineering project like that could be useful and a lot can be +learned to improve the security of software in the Open Source world.

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