Re: Fwd: We Call on FOSS Contributors to “Exit Zoom”

[Yuchen Pei]

On Tue 2023-08-15 13:19:41 -0700, Andy Tai wrote:

> We considered completely avoiding those meetings in protest. However, we
> saw the same pressure that every individual feels when presented with a
> Zoom link: you miss the chance to even participate in the dialogue, and
> in some cases, you even risk losing your job! As a compromise for our
> situation, SFC staff took an activist approach. We insist on joining
> those meetings solely by phone — allowing us to use our mostly-FOSS
> LineageOS mobile devices.

I've been joining zoom meetings from my phone. It does not take away any
of my user freedom, but there's still the privacy issue.

> This strategy had benefits and downsides. Sometimes, being the only
> participant without video sparked interesting discussion about avoidance
> of proprietary and centralized platforms was an essential part of
> advocating for ethical technology. Participants on those calls, often
> acknowledged that on a high level the issues we raised were important,
> even if they weren't ready to make a change immediately. Other times, we
> were made to feel “othered” because we weren't appearing on video and
> had no visual clues about what was happening in the meeting. That
> feeling is difficult for anyone to endure, even while we stood steadfast
> in our principles.

I can remember two more issues when joining by phone, one is you don't
see anyone raising their hands, and you don't know where you are in the
queue to speak. By from my experience if people are ok for you to join
by phone, they normally understand if you speak out of order. Another
issue is if you, like me, have a non-biblical/"Western" name it could be
hard for people to remember as they can't see the name from the screen.

Best,
Yuchen

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