I really want to start a mutual aid service where I give people free tech, like Google Pixels pre-loaded with GrapheneOS, but I haven’t seen many examples of how mutual aid works with expensive stuff. Does anyone have any ideas of how to equitably distribute such phones?
well, i would reach out to orgs that help people who are struggling. at least my org is looking to give out tech to immigrants/refugees. if we are neaby maybe we can work together
I like this idea but I think you should start with less expensive things that are needed more by your community and if you can gain enough funds then also distribute privacy centric tech. You could also write about how people in your community can increase privacy and prevent the collection of their data in easy ways as a start as that would create more of a community need for privacy respecting phones like you suggested. I hope this will work out for you I am intruiged by the combination of privacy and mutual aid!
If you are set with this plan, ask people to donate old phones they might still have, or maybe take a teaching approach also and show people how to change their OS if they want to keep their phones.
phones do not have to be expensive.
people do pay alot of money for quality phones but it’s not always worth it.
i would buy a ‘lot’ of used phones.
i think it’s an important step that most people won’t do for themselves.Or really anything in high demand, e.g. drugs
There are various routes, the preffered is growing and creating the food, drugs or produce in the community because that doesn’t support big businesses and needs less funds but you could also buy from smaller businesses if you have the funds. If people in the community already make or grow these things and are willing to contribute to mutual aid then that is a bonus, so basically just ask if anyone has enough of that thing to contribute it to the community.
Here is a link to a video that could help or is at least interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlF-ZvRHa2o
Also on a side note the idea of using grapheneOS is great and I know it only works on a pixel but that sort of phone is not good for the environment and also quite expensive, possibly consider other brands such as fairphone or second hand.
I know Fairphone is great, and I try to tend towards ethical consumption (even when there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, practices like veganism is necessary), but I’m concerned about the privacy and security of Fairphone. GrapheneOS is considered by the privacy/security communities I hang out in to be the solution for a private phone that is also secure. I just don’t know, I totally understand, and it’s a tricky ethical dilemma for me.
I agree it is difficult to balance security and privacy with being ethical. Thanks capitalism /s
Drugs like shrooms are laughably easy to produce at home, but others like morphine based ones are pretty hard to make I’d imagine
Look up a hirarchy of needs and see where you can make a good impact and then maybe try to grow your support structures. In the end you could maybe refurbish older hardware with your collective and give that away, many people don’t need more than a linux machine for office and web browsing stuff and are totally happy with it.
Are you aware of resources about repurposing electronics and where to easily find such electronics?
the source of those electronics are other people who don’t want them anymore, because they are “old” or broken.
In germany there is a non-profit who accept donations of hardware and money and they fix old hardware to then give to people in need, (https://computertruhe.de/), maybe something like this would work?
If you want to do this maybe find a couple of people to help or start small by yourself, fixing old computers is pretty easy if you have a couple of them to swap parts :)
Thanks, that’s great info!
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