61 pointsby 8organicbits4 hours ago6 comments
  • embedding-shape3 hours ago
    "National Shutdown" seems to be about this: https://nationalshutdown.org/ (found via https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/5712766-nati...)

    > national SHUTDOWN FRI JAN 30 NO WORK. NO SCHOOL. NO SHOPPING. - The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country – to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN. On Friday, January 30, join a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping.

    So servers will still be running and websites, but won't be any people in offices, school, factories, shops, and so on.

    • ChrisArchitect3 hours ago
      how do you get from no school/work/shopping to no websites/servers?
      • embedding-shape2 hours ago
        No, I was clarifying because another commentator seemed to misunderstood that this shutdown was specifically about the EFF and potentially about their website, so probably others could have read it the same way too.
      • reaperducer3 hours ago
        how do you get from no school/work/shopping to no websites/servers?

        Servers perform work. For people. My oven (KitchenAid) is a machine, yet has a setting that makes it non-functional during certain religious events that require people not to work.

        Similarly, B&H Photo's web site won't take orders on the Sabbath. They'd rather take the revenue hit than violate their principles.

        A foreign notion to the tech industry.

      • mistrial93 hours ago
        what social effect does this have if personal screen silos are Business As Usual while social interaction is halted?
  • CompoundEyes2 hours ago
    I wonder if a large chunk of the population choosing to only buy non-discretionary goods for an extended period of time might freak policy makers out more. Not a targeted boycott. Not a strike still going to work. Lower effort to participate. For example if this caused US Amazon orders to fall by a 1/4 for two weeks and similarly across all retailers.
    • SpicyLemonZest3 minutes ago
      Low effort to participate isn’t a feature. The point of these kind of actions is to show that there’s a lot of people who are really fired up and won’t be placated or deterred unless policymakers meet their demands.
  • zamalek39 minutes ago
    > We do not make this decision lightly, but we will not remain silent.

    While I fully support this, this irony is a little amusing. By closing they are actually staying silent for a single day.

  • 2OEH8eoCRo02 hours ago
    Quick! Repeal Section 230 while they aren't looking!
  • joemazerino3 hours ago
    The EFF I remember fought for open source, ownership rights and privacy. I stopped donating in 2020 .
    • creatonez44 minutes ago
      > privacy

      ICE is literally buying all your data right now, paying surveillance contractors to rapidly install vastly more CCTV cameras than we've ever seen before, purchasing malware to target citizens, and filling secret watchlists with thousands of innocent people. And you're sitting here angry that EFF is opposing exactly what they've been against this whole time.

      You stopped donating to EFF because you stopped caring about mass surveillance, because your ideological allies wanted it. Keep on folding like a lawnchair.

    • krunck3 hours ago
      Governments that feel justified in thuggery and murder will also engage in violations of privacy and freedom.
    • yostrovs2 hours ago
      It is strange when unrelated topics get lumped together, almost forcing people to have to take sides they don't want to take. It creates animosity beyond what's at stake.
    • undeveloper3 hours ago
      it's generally difficult to have privacy when you have roving state-sponsored rape gangs in the streets with tech built by a company, similarly state-subsidized, named after a stone that can see all. if you cannot see this, your ignorance has blinded you.
    • noncoml3 hours ago
      Federal agents taking photos of your face while you are minding your own business, to upload them and compare them against a database of “citizens” is quite a privacy concern in my books
      • nickff2 hours ago
        And to demonstrate their devotion to the cause, the EFF will take a day off from advocating against these behaviours? This makes no sense to me; why should a watchdog participate in a strike like this?
        • csoups1431 minutes ago
          They're trying to call attention to it. This thread is one example of how taking that action is helping to accomplish that task.
          • nickff9 minutes ago
            That may be the intention, but to me it looks like the EFF is just giving its employees a paid day off. Also, you're not really striking if your employer approves of it, and pays you for it.
        • 1970-01-012 hours ago
          All I can come up with is virtue signaling. Seems like their backlog work is low and they are making a strategic choice to try and get a funding boost by attending the protests (their message says nothing about this. It doesn't say much of anything, actually).
        • bobwaycott2 hours ago
          Solidarity.
    • reaperducer3 hours ago
      I stopped donating in 2020 .

      Then you don't get a say. By your own choice.

      Are you also one of those people who doesn't vote, then complains about how lousy the politicians are?

      • peterhadlaw2 hours ago
        What voting are you talking about? By not giving funding it's exactly that. A vote. A choice. I also stopped donating to the EFF when they showed they are shifting more political (non-tech space) than privacy focused etc. Does the EFF hold an annual vote I missed as a sponsor?
  • 1970-01-014 hours ago
    This is an unhelpful and poorly explained message on very short notice. What does shutdown even mean? Is the website going down? Are they going to redirect the website? Won't a shutdown only hurt the people that need their services? How exactly is shutting down helping protestors say things are out of control?
    • mingus883 hours ago
      It’s called a general strike.
      • nickff2 hours ago
        But the EFF doesn't provide services to the government; this action will actually benefit the 'offending' government officials by relieving them of the pressure the EFF is intended to effect.
        • mingus882 hours ago
          You don’t seem to understand what a general strike is
          • nickff10 minutes ago
            I just don't think a general strike should necessarily involve government watch-dogs; people like them and the media should work harder to amplify their messages.
        • 1970-01-012 hours ago
          Exactly. The Monday backlog will be twice as big as usual and somehow this is also the measurement for a successful strike??
          • barbazoo2 hours ago
            Sure, if you needed a haircut the day of the strike and you didn't cut your own hair, you're still gonna have to go to the hairdresser the day after. Maybe as part of the general strike you cut your own hair or you just skipped a completely optional purchase though so there is no backlog the next day.
        • yladiz2 hours ago
          Many strikes don’t directly affect government services, so I don’t understand your point.
          • nickff11 minutes ago
            In this case, the EFF striking would help "ICE's reign of terror", by removing a watchdog.
            • rigrassm3 minutes ago
              It calls for no work, school or shopping, not for them to stay home and close their eyes.
    • ChrisArchitect3 hours ago
      right? are they going to go dark on the website? Or is it about some kind of physical office? It doesn't say anything.