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Thanks for the work of May First/People Link member AWAAM, I've been following the story of Khalil Gibran International Academy, a school that opened in 2007 in Brooklyn to serve as a dual-language Arabic/English school where a mixed group of Arabic speakers and non-Arabic speakers would learn together.
The story of the school's opening and the original principal getting pushed out because she acknowledged that "intifada" was a word with meaning and history is tragic. However, that was just the beginning. Seth Wessler has written an article documenting the continued impact of a conservative campaign to undermine the school with the latest twist: pictures of mosques being cut out of the text books.
Posted Thu Dec 4 10:05:29 2008On Wednesday, November 12, a collaboration of activists and pranksters distributed a remarkably high quality spoofed copy of the New York Times along with an equally artful website.
The reaction was phenomenal. News of the project was forwarded, blogged, discussed, txt'ed; subjected to rants and raves; and picked up by news organizations all over the world.
The server hosting the website, run by May First/People Link members The Yes Men got slammed. Almost immediately. And, was practically unreachable for the first day.
By the next day, the website was being distributed over four servers in three locations (later extended to six servers in six locations) and was being supported by activist techies spanning close to a half dozen radical tech collectives throughout North America, including May First/People Link, Riseup, Indymedia, Koumbit, Guerillartivism and more. And, the site was delivering page views faster than anyone expected.
What happened? How was this turn-around possible?
Day 0
Before this idea was even born, The Yes Men chose to host with a politically progressive provider, not a corporate provider. This step is one of the most crucial steps any politically focused organization can choose. Here are a few reasons why:
Activist providers have more resources. This assertion sounds counter-intuitive to the way we think about the left and capitalism - we're used to being in situations where the left is under-resourced and the capitalists are awash in venture capital funding. However, when it comes to the Internet, hardware/capital is only one of many resources we need. Labor, particularly highly skilled labor available on a moment's notice is far more critical. And activists providers are impressively organized with high caliber skills. Furthermore, the hardware costs are increasingly coming down to a point where even under-financed activist groups can afford them. And finally, in case you haven't noticed, venture capital is waning these days. Really. Waning.
Activist providers are more flexible. We're used to calling our corporate service providers and getting someone on the phone relatively quickly. That's great. Except the person we get on the phone usually knows less than we do and has no power or authority to do anything. Activist providers don't have the resources to be on call 24/7, but once we got on a problem, we have the flexibility, authority, and knowledge to help. Furthermore, we have the ability to call in our networks to bring in resources beyond our organization.
Activist providers actually want you to get more traffic so that you'll win. We experience a lot of strange hand-wringing from our members over what happens if we get a lot of traffic. That's understandable since commercial providers want you to get more traffic so that they can charge you more. Activist providers want you to get more traffic so that you'll win. Most of the activist providers who stepped in to support the Yes Men will be getting higher than usual bandwidth bills this month. Although we're all strapped for cash, this is a good thing and the very reason why we exist.
Activist providers extend the organizing project to the Internet. By choosing an activist provider, the Yes Men made a conscious and active decision to share their success with the radical tech movement. We're stronger as a result, meaning the next time we have a similar situation with another site or another group, we will be that much more prepared and ready thanks to this decision by the Yes Men.
By hosting with an activist provider, the project had a different level of access to the network of people and organizations that eventually made the site sing.
Day 1
The site, which is running a free content management system called WordPress, is on a mostly dedicated, very powerful server (4 processors, 4 GB of RAM). Nonetheless, by the middle of day one the server was on it's knees.
When the server went into overload, we immediately created an Internet chat room open to the public to help figure out how to get the site up and running. Although the handful of people working on the server were able to make small improvements, the real change happened when we were joined by our allies from Riseup and the network of tech activists they had access to. May First/People link has at our disposal two dozen machines in 5 locations around the country and an impressively skilled tech team. When we were joined by our allies, the resources at our disposable (directly and indirectly by our ability to grow even larger) became incalculable.
We spent the next several hours setting up caching servers around the country to reduce the load on the primary server. We experienced a lot of serious technical hurdles in the process, however, between the half dozen techies involved, we were able to declare success at 1:30 am. We experienced a few blips and minor problems, however, for the most part, the site was being successfully server to everyone who came.
Day 2
The next day we all monitored the site and the caching servers, eventually increasing the number of servers involved roe 4 to 6. We experienced a few minor problems, however, the site worked so well that conversation on the chat channel turned to brain storming new content to add.
Lessons Learned
"If we could do it over again" is a common refrain on all projects and this one is no exception.
It is very difficult to predict success and even harder to predict server load of a successful project, since every year the numbers of people who might view our site changes along with the software and hardware we use to power the site. At May First/People Link we have members predicting huge spikes that never materialize, while at the same time experiencing spikes they had no idea were coming. Nonetheless, with more advance warning, we could have had the caching network in place for the day of the launch. Additionally, we should have put a call out to our network for help immediately, which may have resulted in the caching system setup happening earlier on the first day.
For obvious reasons, the project chose to use the commercial DNS provider joker.com to host their domain name so that if anyone queried who was handling their domain name, the query would return:
a.ns.joker.com b.ns.joker.com c.ns.joker.com d.ns.joker.com
Yes, irresistible.
However, since the domain name was under the control of a corporation, not one of our allies, we were unable to properly control how long an IP address was assigned to the domain name nytimes-se.com. This lack of fine grained control made if difficult to switch to the caching system we had in place, and made it difficult to remove mis-configured caching servers.
Technical details
For the technically curious, below is a brief synopsis of what we did.
Our first move was to install and enable the WordPress supercache. For a while we thought it was broken because we experienced a lot of Redirect errors:
Request exceeded the limit of 10 internal redirects due to probable
configuration error. Use 'LimitInternalRecursion' to increase the limit if
necessary. Use 'LogLevel debug' to get a backtrace., referer:
http://www.nytimes-se.com/nytse/wp-content/themes/nytimes/style.css
However, we later realized that the errors were caused by an errant .htaccess file one directory up from the root directory.
Next we worked on getting the right number of MaxClients set in the Apache configuration. Too many clients and the server load sky rocketed. Too few clients and the server would start refusing connections. After a lot of back and forth we settled on 256.
Also, the following sysctl parameters were changed from 60 to 15 and from 7200 to 1800 respectively:
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_fin_timeout
/proc/sys/net/ipv4/tcp_keepalive_time
Next we tried to off load some of the large files (a few pdfs and mov files). After struggling for too long trying to get a fancy ModRewrite to work that would have allowed load balancing between multiple servers, we just put in a RedirectTemp to a single server.
Finally, we moved the database driving the WordPress site to another server.
For a few extra CPU cycles, we temporarily turned off two services: munin, and cron.
Despite all of these efforts, we were hitting loads of up to 170 and nobody could access the site.
We next worked on what appeared to be some WordPress rewrite rules going awry, which may have been contributing to the load problems (loops and loops and loops). At the same time we started setting up Squid proxy servers to help balance the load. Between the pool of techies working on the project, we got four squid servers up and running very quickly.
The next period was the most frustrating. It was really hard to trouble shoot the rewrite/looping rules after we had the proxy system in place - we couldn't tell if the looping was caused by the proxy setup or was an undetected error prior to moving to the proxy setup.
Eventually, we stopped the loops with a one line WordPress plugin.
However, Squid and WordPress still gave us problems. They simply do not seem to get along very well (specifically - Squid re-writes http requests that is passes back to WordPress in a way that WordPress cannot handle). After hours and hours of trouble shooting, a brilliant 1:00 am suggestion was made: let's switch to varnish (an alternative caching server). Varnish was setup in a matter of minutes (much simpler to configure) and worked extremely well. In the end, we got three varnish servers up and running.
The stats
A look at the stats is quite sobering. Normally, in our colo center in Telehouse, our combined membership uses just under 10 Mbits. Below is the graph for just the nytimes-se.com server:
And here are statistics for just one of the caching servers:
The offline world
Fortunately, thanks to some members of the Rude Mechanical Orchestra (and many many others) there were other methods for people to access the paper:
I've arrived, with less than an hour of sleep. The irony of the last leg departing from George Bush Airport is not lost on me.
The big news today: Evo Morales is going to address the Forum!
It's happening on Thursday. It's throwing a bit of wrench in the scheduling, but there's definitely excitement here.
Posted Thu Oct 2 18:14:33 2008I'm in the LA airport awaiting my flight to Houston and from there on to Guatemala City for the third annual Americas Social Forum.
I can't think of a more political intense and overhelming time to be talking politics in Latin America. We have the crisis in Bolivia and the global economic crisis. We have country after country electing leftists governments - with El Salvador poised to be the next early in 2009, taking the trend from South America into Central America.
And, we have a burgeoning global communications network with an immense potential for international organizing.
I'll be posting here over the next 10 days about my experiences volunteering, participating, and organizing May First/People Link's own workshop contribution.
Stay tuned!
Posted Thu Oct 2 01:47:49 2008We had another amazing Internet Rights workshop - this one at the 2008 Grassroots Use of Technology Conference.
We had four groups of about four people each - a much smaller gathering than in the past. We also started the session 15 minutes late and old had an hour and 15 minutes to start with. Unfortunately we had to cut the discussion at the end.
On the positive side, we partnered with the Boston Action Tank. They ran the session immediately after ours. Taking the number one right (we ended up with two rights tied for first place - we chose the right to govern) we did a power analysis to determine what pre-conditions we need to achieve the right and who are our allies in the struggle. We didn't have enough time to come out a publishable consensus - however, it was a useful and enlightening step to take with the rights.
And the rights are ...
First Amendment Rights shall extend to all online communications. [4]
All users have the right to govern the Internet as a commons that allows participation and access for all. [4]
Keep the information as private as we want. Levels of privacy should be dictated by the users. [3]
Transparency about web site and network ownership. [3]
Universal availability of relevant tools and training for full participation in the digital environment [3]
Universal, free access to the Internet for everyone. [2]
Information sent from a "sending" machine should not be edited or obstructed in their transit to the intended "receiving" machine. [2]
All users have the right to form and self-govern online communities. [2]
Right to accountable name-anonymous access to the Internet. [2]
All users have the right to protect their data and transmissions from spying or editing. All users have the right to refuse to surrender their protection methods to individuals, organizations or governments. [1]
[The numbers in brackets are the number of groups that endorsed the right. 4 groups total.]
Posted Mon Jun 30 10:04:40 2008The Grassroots Use of Technology Conference is coming up!
May First/People Link members will be there in force. Ross, Agaric Design, Alfredo and yours truly will be teaming up to present the Internet Rights Workshop at the 1:30 pm breakout session.
Even more exciting - we're partnering with the Boston Action Tank. They're session will happen directly after ours and will pick up where ours leaves off. Be sure to go to their 3:00 pm session (Strategies for shaping the media/tech future) - to figure out how we will realize the Internet Rights we come up with in the earlier session.
Posted Tue Jun 24 10:33:48 2008In 2001 I was certain that the linux desktop revolution was just around the corner. It would hit in 2002, 2003 latest. Well, that didn't happen. By 2005 I got tired of waiting and simply switched my desktop permanently to linux. At that point, I stopped paying close attention.
As Grace Lee Boggs pointed out during her closing key note at the 2008 Allied Media Conference, unlike uprisings or revolts, revolutions take time. They move slowly. So slowly, in fact, that we often don't recognize or appreciate the amazing changes that have taken place.
I had that experience at Steven Mansour's AMC presentation on using free and open source tools to make media. Steven demonstrated, with the audience participating, how to make flyers, images, audio programs, and even videos not only using free software, but running on an Ubuntu Linux laptop. In fact, Steven barely mentioned that he was running linux! There were occasional asides of "oh, yes, I think you can do that with a Windows or a Macintosh; not sure it would work as well though."
Since I'm not up to date on multimedia applications, I learned a lot of practical information from the workshop. However, the most powerful realization that I took from the workshop was the amazing progress we've made in getting linux into the consciousness of the left.
Posted Tue Jun 24 09:56:52 2008The Miro project has come a long way from the Democracy Player I remember from years back. The folks at the Participatory Culture Foundation have re-organized the project from a media player to something many times more powerful: they are building a radically decentralized and democratic system for sharing video content.
They demonstrated Miro at the 2008 Allied Media Conference. Essentially, it is a program that organizes the world's video feeds and helps us all find and watch them.
Wow.
So what exactly does that mean?
When you download Miro, by default it comes installed to use the collection of video blogs that have been submitted to the Miro Guide. Anyone can submit a video feed to the guide and pending a review (can't seem to find any documentation on how the feeds are reviewed) it will show up in the guide.
However, there's no reason you need to use the Miro Guide. You can specify any other site to pull your content from and you can individually add your own feeds. In fact, the Miro folks have gone out of their way to de-brand the program. They even offer a way to brand your own miro player.
Let's think about why this is 100 times better than YouTube:
Decentralized. There is no one web site where everyone has to upload their video that can be taken down, sold, crash or can go out of business.
Licensing. You are not handing over video content to anyone except the server storing your video - and you can choose to store your video where ever you want. You only need to publish the feed on Miro Guide. Ever read the YouTube terms of service? My favorite part:
... by submitting User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions ...Standard protocols. Miro runs on RSS - already a bedrock, standard protocol.
Politics. The project is engineered to prevent the Participatory Culture Foundation from perverting its democratic potential. The software is not only free/open source, but it is designed to give equal footing to any and all content providers. That, I think, is the best indication of any groups politics. In addition, they've structured their organization in a way that keeps them honest:
People often ask why we're setup as a non-profit rather than a for-profit. Quite simply: all of us at PCF are drawn to the project because of the mission and being a non-profit is the only way we can ensure that the mission is built into the structure of the company. So many times we've seen for-profit companies lose their values as financial pressures mount, founders leave, or they get acquired. We want to make sure that can't happen. Being non-profit has other benefits as well. Most importantly, it means that we are accountable to our user community and the public. There aren't any venture capitalists or shareholders that can force us to go in a direction that's bad for users but good for profits.And lastly, they declare their mission which explicitly states their commitment to openness.
On the last point ... from a radical movement perspective, I don't want to over estimate their politics - this is a decidedly liberal organization firmly rooted in, and limited by, the foundation dominated non-profit world. However, the core values that form the basis of the project are core values that I share and provide a powerful basis for collaboration with the left.
Miro is a project we should all be behind 100%!
Posted Tue Jun 24 09:56:52 2008Sunday morning at 10:00 am in Room J you'll find me at Steve Pierce's workshop on censorship.
UPDATE: I can't believe I missed this workshop :(. Too many amazing workshops at the same time!
Be sure to checkout the Media Sanctuary and the story about Wafaa Bilal's "Virtual Jihadi".
Posted Fri Jun 20 12:39:45 2008Riseup and Texas MEP put together a workshop on social network from a critical perspective. It was interesting to watch the tensions within the presentations. Texas MEP were full-on Facebook/My Space/etc. users. While being conscious of the risks, their position was that they are careful to only put on information that is public.
Brenna from Riseup demo's Riseup's installation of crabgrass - a social networking site designed from a collective/organizing perspective rather than an individuated perspective. She provided much of the critical analysis of the risks involved with corporate social networking sites (lack of privacy, reliability problems, etc.).
Brenna also provided Riseup's 5 horseman of the privacy apocalypse:
relational surveillance: analysis of social networks via email and phone transactions (by the government) relational-surveillance
data profiling: the aggregation of consumer data in order to build detailed profiles on the consumption habits of everyone. data-profiling
tethered computing: devices that are controlled via a ‘tether’ by the manufacturer. On the desktop, trusted computing can be seen as a way of achieving tethered computing on an otherwise agnostic and innovative device. (by corporations and the government). tethered-computing
Geo spacial surveillance: location tracking via RFID, cell phones, IP addresses (by corporations) Geo spatial-surveillance
biometric surveillance: biometric scanning via CCTV face recognition, DNA databases. biometric-surveillance
That alone made the workshop worth it. I think we struggle a lot to figure out how to communicate security concerns. The organization of these concerns - specifically the way these 5 issues are abstracted from the specific applications - is really helpful.
We had some good discussion - one person mentioned how she's uncomfortable with publishing our networks on corporate run servers.
The parting words of the workshop: We're not just fighting to get our media out, but fighting to build and own the infrastructure.
Posted Fri Jun 20 12:39:45 2008