Computer Professionals' Union

The Future We Want to Build: Software Freedom Day 2022

This year, the Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) and AGHAM Youth celebrate Software Freedom Day with the theme “The Future We Want to Build.” Current trends in technology point to internet usage steadily becoming the norm, making its growth and its far-reaching effects on daily life, education, legislation, and various other sectors and industries hard to ignore. In the Philippines especially, while technology can democratize access to information and empower the ordinary Filipino, it can also be used to further invasive surveillance, widen economic gaps in labor, drive false propaganda, and make daily living more difficult for those with little to no access to technology. Our focus is on recognizing the misuse and inadequacies of existing technology for the welfare and advancement of Filipinos, as well as on celebrating the current and future work that address their harmful effects through FOSS.

Objectives

• Promote the use and development of FOSS;
• Engage and uplift the FOSS movement in the Philippines;
• Bring FOSS Bill into public discourse; and
• Bring together industry players, ICT professionals and advocates, and students in celebrating FOSS.

Rationale

The most optimistic of leaders in the technology sector predict that in the next few decades, internet usage will be the norm, making its growth and its effects on the current state of modern life hard to ignore. Devices such as smartphones and laptops have become essential tools for urban life, in commerce to healthcare to entertainment. The constant connectivity diminishes privacy as users trade their personal data for various services. Economic gaps widen as labor becomes increasingly taken over by automation and promotes exploitative practices against workers from the Global South. It’s becoming clearer each day that technology and its spaces are far from the utopian visions of these leaders.

Technology’s effects are far-reaching in the Philippines, even on those for whom it is mostly out of reach. Everyday citizens are barely protected by the country’s poor data and privacy policies, while legislators continue to champion laws to legitimize unfettered state surveillance. The country’s electoral system is spoiled by a spate of false propaganda online and offline, weaponized by candidates with a clear history of corruption, while the Automated Election System where people cast their ballots is frightfully not transparent. In a country where cheap labor continues to be one of the top industries, Filipino workers continue to provide the pool for various digital services provided overseas, and Filipino developers continue to use their talents to build software for more economically and technologically advanced countries. Despite the increasing necessity of internet connection and mobile devices, access to these continues to be a luxury in the country. Even with the ubiquitous presence of these technologies, very little has been done to address its countless negative effects, from toxic waste generated by electronic devices, to the deterioration of labor conditions, to online platforms turning into vehicles of discrimination and violence.

In the face of inequality in our country and all over the globe, we dare to envision and build a future where technology is just and ethical, safe and secure, accessible, equitable, and democratically created and controlled. In a world ridden with inadequate, profit-driven, anti-people technology, Free and Open Source Software shows what that future could be. A world where technology is participatory and sustainable, accountable and transparent, constructive and responsible: this is the kind of future we want to build.

Event overview

Software Freedom Day 2022 was celebrated on September 17, 2022 (Saturday) online from 10 AM to 4 PM UTC+8 via Big Blue Button.

Morning sessions - https://fb.watch/fKsnzeNZFR/

• Opening remarks by CC Oami (Computer Professionals' Union) - 0:21 to 0:24

• Session 1: The Role of Openness and Software Freedom towards a Fair, Free and Open Future by Ben Hur Pintor (Open Knowledge Foundation, BNHR, Smart CT) - 0:28 to 1:00

• Session 2: The Future We Want to Build with Data Science by Dr. Johnrob Bantang (UP Diliman) - 1:02 to 1:18

• Session 3: Papel ng QR Code at Modernong Web sa Pag-unlad ng Bansa by Andresito de Guzman (PWA Pilipinas) - 1:20 to 1:36

• Session 4: The Future We Want to Build with and for the People by Kim Cantillas (CPU) - 1:37 to 1:52

• Morning Q&A - 1:54 to 2:02

Afternoon sessions - https://fb.watch/fKsoUyMV4U/

• Session 5: May Future ba ang Open Source? by Jolly Villaviza (Linux Professional Institute) - 0:51 to 1:14

• Session 6: Measuring the Unmeasurable: Circular Economies & Governance: How & Why Social Impact Measurement ensures success by Kevin Leversee (Data Ethics PH) and Claire Tayco (CirroLytix Research Services) - 1:17 to 1:42

• Session 7: Open Mapping with OpenStreetMap by Nirab Pudasaini (Open Mapping Hub - Asia Pacific) - 1:48 to 2:30

• Panel Discussion: Building Our Free and Open Future with CC Oami (CPU), Faith Sadicon (OutRight Action International), and Teddy Casiño (BAYAN) - 2:35 to 3:52

• Closing remarks by Mikaela San Ramon (Agham Youth) - 3:52 to 3:56

Coverage

Morning session: https://fb.watch/fKsnzeNZFR/

Afternoon session: https://fb.watch/fKsoUyMV4U/

Live tweets: https://twitter.com/cpu_ph/status/1570958352376791048

Organizers

Computer Professionals’ Union (CPU) is a mass organization of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) professionals and advocates aspiring to promote ICT for the people. ​The first SFD celebration in 2004 was held at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Sta. Mesa was pioneered by CPU. Each year, CPU, together with its partner schools, organizations, and FOSS communities, strives to bring SFD to a new level by highlighting its role not just in everyday computing but in nation building.

Agham Youth is a student organization established in March 1999 in the University of the Philippines Diliman, and currently has chapters in universities and high schools across the country. Through campaigns, discussions, integrations, and its People's Science School, the organization aims to bring science students and young science advocates to communities in its mission to develop and utilize science and technology to be of service to the broad masses of the people.

Partners

Premier Partners

• Kwago
• Village 88

Driver Partner

• UP Computer Science Guild

Innovator Partner

• UP Association of Computer Science Majors

Media Partner

• AlterMidya

Contact

Email: softwarefreedomday@cp-union.com

CategoryTeam2022