commit: f8881796bf49fcf6f7b585b592f96d8e85e24060 parent 34c0658c17f087fdcf0d7ada29db97693694a7e1 Author: Drew DeVault <drew@ddevault.org> Date: Sun, 20 Apr 2025 09:46:41 +0200 Resistance from the tech sectorDiffstat:
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[We mustn't fall for this gambit][0]. + +[0]: https://archive.org/details/0022_Dont_Be_a_Sucker_22_33_53_00 + +When it comes to resistance, I don't have all of the answers, and I cannot +present a holistic strategy for effective resistance. Nevertheless, I have put +some thought towards how someone in my position, or in my community, can +effectively apply ourselves towards resistance. + +The fact of the matter is that the tech sector is extraordinarily important in +enabling and facilitating the destructive tide of contemporary fascism's ascent +to power. The United States is embracing a technocratic fascism at the hands of +Elon Musk and his techno-fetishist "Department of Government Efficiency". Using +memes to mobilize the terminally online neo-right, and "digitizing" and +"modernizing" government institutions with the dazzling miracles of modern +technology, the strategy puts tech, in its mythologized form -- prophesied, +even, through the medium of science fiction -- at the center of a revolution of +authoritarian hate. + +And still, this glitz and razzle dazzle act obscures the more profound and +dangerous applications of tech hegemony to fascism. Allow me to introduce public +enemy number one: Palantir. Under the direction of neo-fascist Peter Thiel and +in collaboration with <abbr title="Immigrations and Customs Enforcement">ICE</abbr>, +Palantir is applying the innovations of the last few decades of surveillance +capitalism to implementing [a database of undesirables][ice database] the Nazis +could have never dreamed of. Where DOGE is hilariously tragic, Palantir is +nightmarishly effective. + +[ice database]: https://www.404media.co/ice-plans-central-database-of-health-labor-housing-agency-data-to-find-targets/ + +It's clear that the regime will be digital. The through line is tech -- and the +tech sector depends on tech workers. That's us. This puts us in a position to +act, and compels us to act. But then, what should we do? + +If there's one thing I want you to take away from this article, something to +write on your mirror and repeat aloud to yourself every day, it's this: there's +safety in numbers. It is of the utmost importance that we dispense with American +individualism and join hands with our allies to resist as one. Find your people +in your local community, and especially in your workplace, who you can trust and +who believe in what's right and that you can depend on for support. It's easier +if you're not going it alone. Talk to your colleagues about your worries and +lean on them to ease your fears, and allow them to lean on you in turn. + +One of the most important actions you can take is to unionize your workplace. We +are long overdue for a tech workers union. If tech workers unionize then we can +compel our employers -- this regime's instruments of fascist power -- to resist +also. If you're at the bottom looking up at your boss's boss's boss cozying up +with fascists, know that with a union you can pull the foundations of his power +out from beneath him. + +[More direct means][ssm] of resistance are also possible, especially for +the privileged and highly paid employees of big tech. Maneuver yourself towards +the levers of power. At your current job, find your way onto the teams +implementing the technology that enables authoritarianism, and fuck it up. Drop +the database by "mistake". Overlook bugs. Be confidently wrong in code reviews +and meetings. Apply for a job at Palantir, and be incompetent at it. Make +yourself a single point of failure, then fail. Remember too that plausible +deniability is key -- make them work to figure out that *you* are the problem. + +[ssm]: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26184 + +This sort of action is scary and much riskier than you're probably immediately +comfortable with. Inaction carries risks also. Only you are able to decide what +your tolerance for risk is, and what kind of action that calls for. If your +appetite for risk doesn't permit sabotage, you could simply refuse to work on +projects that aren't right. Supporting others is essential resistance, too -- be +there for your friends, especially those more vulnerable than yourself, and +support the people who engage in direct resistance. You didn't see nuffin, +right? If your allies get fired for fucking up an important digital surveillance +project -- you'll have a glowing reference for them when they apply for +Palantir, right? + +Big tech has become the problem, and it's time for tech workers to be a part of +the solution. If this scares you -- and it should -- I get it. I'm scared, too. +It's okay for it to be scary. It's okay for you not to do anything about it +right now. All you have to do right now is be there for your friends and loved +ones, and answer this question: where will you draw the line? + +Remember your answer, and if and when it comes to pass... you will know when to +act. Don't let them shift your private goalposts until the frog is well and +truly boiled to death. + +Hang in there.