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Philosophy: Your Secrets, Your Power, Your Movement
The Question That Changes Everything!
If you are a political actor, who do you trust with your secrets?
This isn't just a technical question—it's the core political question of our time. Every email you send, every document you create, every contact list you build, every strategy you develop: where does it live? Who owns the servers? Who has the keys?
The Corporate Extraction Machine
How They Hook You
Corporate software companies have perfected the art of digital snake oil sales:
- Free Trials - They lure you in with "free" accounts
- Feature Creep - Essential features require paid tiers
- Data Lock-In - Your data becomes harder to export
- Price Escalation - $40/month becomes $750/month as you grow
- Surveillance Integration - Your organizing becomes their intelligence
The Real Product
!!! warning "You Are Not the Customer" If you're not paying for the product, you ARE the product. But even when you are paying, you're often still the product.
Corporate platforms don't make money from your subscription fees—they make money from:
- Data Sales to third parties
- Algorithmic Manipulation for corporate and political interests
- Surveillance Contracts with governments and corporations
- Predictive Analytics about your community and movement
The BNKops Alternative
Who We Are
BNKops is a cooperative based in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta) on Treaty 6 territory. We're not a corporation—we're a collective of skilled organizers, developers, and community builders who believe technology should serve liberation, not oppression.
Our Principles
🏳️⚧️ 🏳️🌈 🇵🇸 Liberation First
Technology that centers the most marginalized voices and fights for collective liberation. We believe strongly that the medium is the message; if you the use the medium of fascists, what does that say about your movement?
🤝 Community Over Profit
We operate as a cooperative because we believe in shared ownership and democratic decision-making. No venture capitalists, no shareholders, no extraction.
⚡ Data Sovereignty
Your data belongs to you and your community. We build tools that let you own your digital infrastructure completely.
🔒 Security Culture
Real security comes from community control, not corporate promises. We integrate security culture practices into our technology design.
The Changemaker Difference
Traditional Corporate Flow
Your Data → Corporate Server → Surveillance → Profit → Your Oppression
Changemaker Flow
Your Data → Your Server → Your Community → Your Power → Liberation
Why This Matters
When you control your technology infrastructure:
- Your secrets stay secret - No corporate access to sensitive organizing data
- Your community stays connected - No algorithmic manipulation of your reach
- Your costs stay low - No extraction-based pricing as you grow
- Your future stays yours - No vendor lock-in or platform dependency
The Philosophy in Practice
Security Culture Meets Technology
Traditional security culture asks: "Who needs to know this information?"
Digital security culture asks: "Who controls the infrastructure where this information lives?"
Community Technology
We believe in community technology - tools that:
- Are owned and controlled by the communities that use them
- Are designed with liberation politics from the ground up
- Prioritize care, consent, and collective power
- Can be understood, modified, and improved by community members
Prefigurative Politics
The tools we use shape the movements we build. Corporate tools create corporate movements—hierarchical, surveilled, and dependent. Community-controlled tools create community-controlled movements—democratic, secure, and sovereign.
Common Questions
"Isn't this just for tech people?"
No. We specifically designed Changemaker Lite for organizers, activists, and movement builders who may not have technical backgrounds. Our philosophy is that everyone deserves digital sovereignty, not just people with computer science degrees.
This is not to say that you won't need to learn! These tools are just that; tools. They have no fancy or white-labeled marketing and are technical in nature. You will need to learn to use them, just as any worker needs to learn the power tools they use on the job.
"What about convenience?"
Corporate platforms are convenient because they've extracted billions of dollars from users to fund that convenience. When you own your tools, there's a learning curve—but it's the same learning curve as learning to organize, learning to build power, learning to create change.
"Can't we just use corporate tools carefully?"
Would you hold your most sensitive organizing meetings in a room owned by your opposition? Would you store your membership lists in filing cabinets at a corporation that profits from surveillance? Digital tools are the same.
"What about security?"
Real security comes from community control, not corporate promises. When you control your infrastructure:
- You decide what gets logged and what doesn't
- You choose who has access and who doesn't
- You know exactly where your data is and who can see it
- You can't be de-platformed or locked out of your own data
Historical Context
Learning from Past Struggles
Every liberation movement has had to solve the problem of secure communication and information sharing:
- Underground Railroad - Coded songs and safe houses
- Labor Movement - Secret meetings and encrypted telegrams
- Civil Rights Movement - CB radios and phone trees
- LGBTQ+ Liberation - Chosen families and community networks
The internet should expand these traditions, not replace them with corporate surveillance.
The Surveillance Capitalism Trap
As Shoshana Zuboff documents in "The Age of Surveillance Capitalism," we're living through a new form of capitalism that extracts value from human experience itself. Political movements are particularly valuable targets because:
- Political data predicts behavior
- Movement intelligence can be used to counter-organize
- Community networks can be mapped and disrupted
- Organizing strategies can be monitored and neutralized
Taking Action
Start Where You Are
You don't have to replace everything at once. Start with one tool, one campaign, one project. Learn the technology alongside your organizing.
Build Community Capacity
The goal isn't individual self-sufficiency—it's community technological sovereignty. Share skills, pool resources, learn together.
Connect with Others
You're not alone in this. The free and open source software community, the digital security community, and the appropriate technology movement are all working on similar problems.
Remember Why
This isn't about technology for its own sake. It's about building the infrastructure for the world we want to see—where communities have power, where people control their own data, where technology serves liberation.
Resources for Deeper Learning
Essential Reading
- De-corp Your Software Stack - Our full manifesto
- The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff
- Security Culture Handbook
Community Resources
- BNKops Repository - Documentation and knowledge base
- Activist Handbook - Movement building resources
- EFF Surveillance Self-Defense - Digital security guides
Technical Learning
- Self-Hosted Awesome List - Open source alternatives
- Linux Journey - Learn Linux basics
- Docker Curriculum - Learn containerization
This philosophy document is a living document. Contribute your thoughts, experiences, and improvements through the BNKops documentation platform.