About Me

I am a software engineer, a buddhist, and a trans and non-binary person. Today,
I work as the Open Source Program Manager for the Azure Confidential Compute
team, for which I engage in technical and community building work in both the (CCC) and 
(CNCF). I am also a member of the , to which I've 
brought a framework for Consent Culture and a Restorative approach to our incident handling 
procedures. I previously served on the  Technical Committee, led the project team, 
participated as a developer and speaker in the MySQL community for almost a decade, and have
contributed to many other projects, such as Ansible, Matrix, Mixxx, Elastic,and OpenVZ. 
I also served as a board member for the , a Seattle-based 501c(3) non-profit, for
several years. Some of my views on the internal interplay between gender and
buddhism were recently published in .


Views On Open Source

In 2021, open source software is used at every company and in many physical
products we rely on, from phones to fridges to cars. As a result, some (mostly
outside this community) now believe that "open source" is a business model (not
true), or a that "open sourcing" something is a one-off event (also not true).
This lexical confusion continues to pose a risk: views not grounded in
experience and an understanding of the legal framework (licensing and
governance) belie the complexity of choices which ultimately shape the
communities of successful open source projects. A proliferation of mismanaged
open source software projects will create unnecessary security and legal risk
for our institutions.

To counter this, I believe we need to increase educational outreach with
specific focus towards:
- educating business leaders to empower them with the lexical tools to engage
  in nuanced discussions about open source strategy; 
- encouraging lawyers to develop a deeper understanding at the intersection of
  data privacy, technology (ab)use, and international copyright;
- engaging in the discussion around open source software supply chain security
  as a community issue.

I agree with the objective others have stated in previous years: that the OSI
should be sufficiently funded so this work does not entirely fall on
volunteers. I would like to see outreach to grow the affiliate network continue
so we can support increasing staff dedicated to this mission.


Broader Concerns

Our society is, once again, grappling with the realization that technology is
not neutral: like any tool, software can be used for both good and evil, to
uplift or to oppress. In 2015 I was confronted with this, called on to brief a
foreign military on my open source contributions, it became clear they were
using software I had built in ways I did not support. 

I appreciate the debate on ethical source licenses, and believe this comes from
our reflexive care for the impact our work has on society, though I do not
believe licenses are the right tool for this. We need better laws regulating
the civil and military use of certain technologies, and for more lawyers to
become educated in technology and its impact on privacy and civil rights. 

With the current spotlight on the (ab)uses of Facial Recognition Technology,
which have already resulted in calls to ban FRT  and in , I
believe this will continue to be an important, and emotionally-charged,
conversation, in the years ahead.


My Background

In 2003, before I knew about the OSI or OSD, I had an epiphany as I started my
second job: I could no longer use tools I had built simply because that code
was owned by my former (and already out of business) employer. That epiphany
started me down the open source path, and I quickly came to see how this
approach, if generalized, was more ethical than the alternative: if everyone
could share their tools, we could all build better technology (and products)
faster. Automation, the *building and sharing* of tools so that others may more
quickly create better tools, is  (not my article, but captures my views well). 

In the early 2010's, while building OpenStack, I had the opportunity to work
with several of OSI's former board members, who helped me deepen my
understanding of the effect which the OSD had had on my career (unbeknownst to
me before that). I've come to value this framework and the thought and care that
has gone into creating and sustaining it over the years. I would like the 
opportunity to contribute back to the community.


What's In A Name?

If you've known me for more than the last few years, you would have known me
with a different name: "Devananda" never felt appropriate, only barely
sufficient. The timing of the pandemic and the nature of
open source community interaction means that I haven't had the chance to
connect with a lot of old colleagues and friends since changing my name. Humans
are social by nature, and our identities, even our sense of self, is deeply
connected to how our family, friends, and community know us. However, like open
source software projects that sometimes must rebrand themselves, I found that I
needed to change my name, no matter how disruptive it would be.  I mention this
here in the hopes of connecting with folks who may not recognize "Aeva", but
who would recognize my previous name.

Contact

You can reach me on  or by
email at "aeva at aeva dot online". More ways to contact me can be .