Black2021 - XWiki

1

{{{About Me

2

3

I am a software engineer, a buddhist, and a trans and non-binary person. Today,

4

I work as the Open Source Program Manager for the Azure Confidential Compute

5

team, for which I engage in technical and community building work in both the (CCC) and

6

(CNCF). I am also a member of the , to which I've

7

brought a framework for Consent Culture and a Restorative approach to our incident handling

8

procedures. I previously served on the Technical Committee, led the project team,

9

participated as a developer and speaker in the MySQL community for almost a decade, and have

10

contributed to many other projects, such as Ansible, Matrix, Mixxx, Elastic,and OpenVZ.

11

I also served as a board member for the , a Seattle-based 501c(3) non-profit, for

12

several years. Some of my views on the internal interplay between gender and

13

buddhism were recently published in .

Views On Open Source

In 2021, open source software is used at every company and in many physical

19

products we rely on, from phones to fridges to cars. As a result, some (mostly

20

outside this community) now believe that "open source" is a business model (not

21

true), or a that "open sourcing" something is a one-off event (also not true).

22

This lexical confusion continues to pose a risk: views not grounded in

23

experience and an understanding of the legal framework (licensing and

24

governance) belie the complexity of choices which ultimately shape the

25

communities of successful open source projects. A proliferation of mismanaged

26

open source software projects will create unnecessary security and legal risk

27

for our institutions.

28

29

To counter this, I believe we need to increase educational outreach with

30

specific focus towards:

31

- educating business leaders to empower them with the lexical tools to engage

32

in nuanced discussions about open source strategy;

33

- encouraging lawyers to develop a deeper understanding at the intersection of

34

data privacy, technology (ab)use, and international copyright;

35

- engaging in the discussion around open source software supply chain security

36

as a community issue.

37

38

I agree with the objective others have stated in previous years: that the OSI

39

should be sufficiently funded so this work does not entirely fall on

40

volunteers. I would like to see outreach to grow the affiliate network continue

41

so we can support increasing staff dedicated to this mission.

Broader Concerns

Our society is, once again, grappling with the realization that technology is

47

not neutral: like any tool, software can be used for both good and evil, to

48

uplift or to oppress. In 2015 I was confronted with this, called on to brief a

49

foreign military on my open source contributions, it became clear they were

50

using software I had built in ways I did not support.

51

52

I appreciate the debate on ethical source licenses, and believe this comes from

53

our reflexive care for the impact our work has on society, though I do not

54

believe licenses are the right tool for this. We need better laws regulating

55

the civil and military use of certain technologies, and for more lawyers to

56

become educated in technology and its impact on privacy and civil rights.

57

58

With the current spotlight on the (ab)uses of Facial Recognition Technology,

59

which have already resulted in calls to ban FRT and in , I

60

believe this will continue to be an important, and emotionally-charged,

61

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

67

second job: I could no longer use tools I had built simply because that code

68

was owned by my former (and already out of business) employer. That epiphany

69

started me down the open source path, and I quickly came to see how this

70

approach, if generalized, was more ethical than the alternative: if everyone

71

could share their tools, we could all build better technology (and products)

72

faster. Automation, the *building and sharing* of tools so that others may more

73

quickly create better tools, is (not my article, but captures my views well).

74

75

In the early 2010's, while building OpenStack, I had the opportunity to work

76

with several of OSI's former board members, who helped me deepen my

77

understanding of the effect which the OSD had had on my career (unbeknownst to

78

me before that). I've come to value this framework and the thought and care that

79

has gone into creating and sustaining it over the years. I would like the

80

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

86

with a different name: "Devananda" never felt appropriate, only barely

87

sufficient. The timing of the pandemic and the nature of

88

open source community interaction means that I haven't had the chance to

89

connect with a lot of old colleagues and friends since changing my name. Humans

90

are social by nature, and our identities, even our sense of self, is deeply

91

connected to how our family, friends, and community know us. However, like open

92

source software projects that sometimes must rebrand themselves, I found that I

93

needed to change my name, no matter how disruptive it would be. I mention this

94

here in the hopes of connecting with folks who may not recognize "Aeva", but

95

who would recognize my previous name.

Contact

You can reach me on or by

100

email at "aeva at aeva dot online". More ways to contact me can be .}}}

Wiki source code of Black2021

Applications

Navigation