-rwsr--r-- jubeen stderr 5 min once-upon-a-time.md
What the actual fuck right? People… doing people things is always an fascinating subject.
The short of it is
- OpenSource is created by people
- People get burnt out
- Lots of things depends on open source
- It’s a Jenga tower made up of many different pieces, each relying on the other.
- People, being people… some individual (one person or a group of people) tricked (through Social Engineering) the maintainer of the XZ library over a span of 1-3 years; and inserted malicious code into an open-source project that many other processes depend on.
- Some engineer encountered some odd symptoms… “logins via ssh become a lot slower.”, which when the investigated further discovered a holy.. moly.. backdoor.
It’s as if someone managed to put a secret backdoor into a commonly used digital lock system. This backdoor allows them to unlock and enter any door that uses this system without anyone knowing, raising concerns about safety and security in many places that thought they were protected.
Seems right out of some espionage mission! (Fiction ofcourse)
The long of it
My mind goes everywhere… so we’ll go wherever my mind takes me. Feel free to navigate if your mind takes you somewhere you want me to take you.
Supply Chain
There seems to be a philosophical debate between what supply chain actually means, and what it offers. There are many licenses… so much so there are 10 pages of it. (you indeed learn something new everyday)
And if you, like me, like thinking about things, some days.. you can probably see a satire when you juxtapose some ideas. Primarily, what i’m thinking about right now is comparing these licenses to the privacy policies consumers (you, me and hum[us]) sign.
What i’m seeing is… the fact that users don’t realize how much right they are giving away to corporations when they do check “I accept” and hit continue. The same way, how corporations don’t realize how much they are dependent on the open source projects without actually understanding the nuances of it.
Both try to put it on the party using it, rather than themselves.
Obviously, both try and follow the rule of law but that,like you today, is a point in time representation of the sum total of all the past decisions that have been made. If you think hard enough, you’ll be able to cite most of the reasons why, you’re the way you are, and what you do tomorrow, is basically dependent on the time and circumstances of your situation.
maybe too many tangents… but thats where my mind takes me.
Value transfer
One of things i’ve been thinking about a lot for the last three years is what is “value”? Value for the iPhone, the Oreilley subscription, the movie i just bought, the tip i give to the uber eats driver once he has delivered my food, the time i spend with my friends, and family, the work that I do, the salary i get paid, the resources my livelihood is dependent on. It’s a long list of things…
But, the basic question i keep asking myself is how much is it worth? anything.. and if it’s worth so much why is it worth so much? If an iPhone costs $1500 to buy, but $500 to build, the extra $1000 dollar that i’m paying, what am i paying for?
- Research, Devlopment and Intellectual Property (Something intangible)
- People (Other contributors)
- Parts and production (something tangible)
But how is the value transferred between the parties? and how can I be sure, that no where is my value, being misused or malicious used. I don’t want to inadvertantly pay for a war of some sort, or something else that I might not agree with. My naive mind thinks, we’re all capable of being bigger than that.
I still like to have fights over petty things.. and satisfy the inner monkey, but maybe we’re all still craving for that sort of kick! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But someway to make sure that the value that a consumer pays for a product, gets transferred to all people in an appropriate fashion based on their intangible contributions to the tangible asset being bought, and verifiable on a decentralized ledger.
Paranoia
That world seems to scary to me. So does this one. There are actors in this world that are beyond simple comprehension. But maybe i just need to accept that, that is just people, doing people things…
Once upon a time, i was free from these concerns but today, it seems like i’m engulfed by it. But strive to learn everyday, try getting better everyday. find a little bit of peace, a little bit of balance, that helps us move along.