Fortress Of Freedom Board

[Maurice Ali]

Well the final shoe has dropped:







So not unexpected, the World Bank have not given us the go-ahead for a session about our global voting app - go figure! But I had to try given the position I was in. As with the WTO, I’m still registered to go and would if they actually would let us in the buildings, but if it’s all virtual then what’s the point? So we now look to next year and the push regarding the Global Social Contract and more about that later on.



But I trust you see that I keep trying and pitching ideas. Even though I didn’t get accepted, you can be sure the idea got passed around and maybe to some very high levels! So I would not under any circumstances consider the effort a waste of time! My primary goal was to disseminate the idea at the venues that matter and have them get normalized as talking points there and believe me - that is happening!



Goodnight…..

[Maurice Ali]

I’m taking Sunday easy.



Groceries and getting the folks out in the morning, then an afternoon nap to catch up on sleep and now I may head out to do some shopping.


Things are quiet now which is a change. Going forward outside the advocacy I think a yearly music festival with some video made by FOF could be the post experiment life for all that I have created. More and more I’m convinced that only the creation and dissemination of the ideas matter. My personal legacy will probably amount to very little.


The only thing is some curiosity. My blog on my own website is rare apart from some corporate ones used to push the company’s agenda - though that could be said of me also. But I resisted becoming a “bitch” to the terms and conditions of those social sites that mine and seek your data - your life- for profit. I get enough traffic but I would have had magnitudes more on a popular social platform when we were really moving along. But the rub is the limitations on what I could say there. Your entire work is at the whim of anyone that complains and “poof” your account is gone! That doesn’t happen here…..


What you do on those sites is to get more views and likes and that means pandering to the crowd, with things that have nothing to do with new ideas and advocacy. The most popular are attractive people taking photos of themselves as if they were constantly on vacation. Photos of them trying on clothing at the mall. Photos of what food they eat. Selfies in front of some interesting scenery.



They don’t have to have you type in some obscure URL - but have your account on an app on their phone with automatic updates. It’s easier, it’s better, but more limited. Presidents and even our Deputy Prime Minister find themselves scolded over tweets by some mysterious unnamed person. Sometimes you agree and sometimes you don’t; but the takeaway is that you don’t have full control like I have here. Use their service and you are on a leash - no matter who you are.







So I’ll offer up a selfie here just to do what everyone does. But that’s not my goal in life. Sure things are slow now and the rejections keep coming back to me - but - it is very true that it is not over yet…..




Later…..





https://youtu.be/R9WxvTFcKQw

[Maurice Ali]

Just a quickie.



Out and about with the family and then some work at their place. This is actually sort of like a vacation in that nobody is bugging me at FOF and IAIJ yet. It never last but is a welcome change. Nothing urgent to do. There are things to do but nothing urgent. Mail in ballots for the folks today to vote in our national elections. I vacuumed the car this morning. Starbucks at the mall…..



It won’t last as the Global Social Contract has to play itself out - but I’ll enjoy things while I can. Many would say given my philosophy major in university that I have more than most, but it’s not just the idea and philosophy - it’s also what you do with it! I’m strategically positioned to do things with it, so I’m obligated to try and get the ideas out at the places that matter. That does not mean they will give me the chance, but I have to try. That is all I can do but to deliberately deny someone with a new and relevant global social contract - which the Secretary General requested is shear madness; but that’s the world we live in…..


Later…..





https://youtu.be/U9M3lUlY9N0



https://youtu.be/080q2qODKnY

[Maurice Ali]

Hi again,



As with our own advocacy with Apple, I expect them to be pig-headed about scanning photos on your phone starting with kiddy porn and then morphing to whatever else as we go along. So what are your alternatives going forward?


So I paid 2300 dollars for my iPhone - 12 Pro Max with 512gigs - and the idea that Apple can scan my photos makes it their phone now and not mine - plus I gave them 2300 bucks for this and hope nothing gets screwed up and have them call the cops on me as my reward. BTW their system already created false positives for kiddie porn in a few hours, thus you then have Apple employees combing over your personal photos (without your permission) to make sure! Any wonder why over 90 civil rights groups sent a letter to Tim Cook voicing their concerns?



Anyway anything else is superior in privacy to Apple as their scanning is on their servers and not inside your phone as will soon happen with iPhones. So in one swift motion Apple has gone from one of the best in privacy, to now one of the worst in terms of privacy. As a journalist who founded a journalist org, how can I recommend Apple’s iPhone for journalists in repressive nations that can easily scan those iPhones for their own purposes? I can’t, so what are the best alternatives?


A deGoogled phone may be a good alternative. /E/OS from E has a very serviceable OS and series of phones that can run it. Linux phones like the PinePhone and Libram 5 are more dodgy but the OS can run on them even if it’s all beta - it seems the deGoogled experience seem way better at this moment in time than the early Linux operating systems which really are the PC versions anyway.





Ultimately I have to say the forgotten Blackberries running BlackBerry OS10 are the best alternative now in the short run. They actually still work, but anything after 2021 is unsupported as they will all be EOL by then. The Krack fix was the last update. So for me it is the BlackBerry still and with BlackBerry Enterprise and when it stops working the others should be functional.



So Google and iOS killed everything else and now people are running around trying to find alternatives. IOS sends back 6mbs about you every day to Apple and Google gets 12mb a day and that is stripped. And don’t even get me started on Huawei’s Harmony OS….. I would say a fully sorted out Libram 5 would topple the BlackBerry as it has a removable battery, and easily removable modem and switches on the side to shut off the modem or camera and so on. It’s a brick, but the most compelling and refreshing new phone you can get for privacy.




This is really just a PSA on where cellphones are going. Nothing you do, say, film or write is private anymore.




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/IPrugkYJpO8

[Maurice Ali]

I’m now registered for the forum policy and the World Bank Group/IMF AGM:








The civil society events are virtual but I’m not sure if the actual AGM can be visited - we shall find out soon. So I am getting into events but it’s just not the same if you know what I mean.







Maybe I was a bit too harsh with yesterday’s post…..




But it is true you have no privacy. Everyone knows who you are and where you go and all your perverse sexual habits or not. No matter how you make yourself invisible, the people who connect to you reveal who you are to any agency that has an eye on you. They know. Even so, you should not give it up in a platter, at least try to get some of your privacy back.



You won’t get all of it back, so what do you do. Well what I did was become a journalist and start a journalist org. Now if I use TOR or the Onion browser or Signal or Telegram - I have a legitimate excuse as I’m a journalist. I do have something to hide - like my sources. And my activities are also protected by the constitution of many countries and recognized at the UN (I know this as I was a part of this at least for citizen journalists). So you can dodge scrutiny even if you use services that would usually flag you as a person of interest. You can sort of live within the private “less” society - but that’s not how it should be. I’m just putting this out there to show you that you still have some control even if you have no control over your privacy.



I actually don’t use the usual apps that say you have privacy. I use commercial as in business grade security. It’s not free, but it’s the best you can get! Why do I need this? I run a journalist association - see how that works? I also have my own email accounts and servers. Again, I’m just showing you how you can still live in a world that knows all about you - and keep some of your privacy.


Anyway the funky Passport has 4G and LTE but uses G3 for voice. All promises of service are ending in 2022 but 3G for voice should stick around till 2025 on all carriers. Not all 3G bands though, so we shall see. The only sim I would put in that phone is the international one so it will roam for voice. In Europe and Canada and certainly Africa you are good till at least 2025 or longer - but the US is different and may not work there anymore. But because it’s for privacy - voice doesn’t matter anyway, only data so it’s kind of moot. You still need your usual daily driver so two phones (I actually have four phones right now) and my usual line isn’t the BlackBerry and right now it’s on an Apple, but soon it could be Samsung again - we shall see…..



Anyway, the way I set things up and my strategy have really paid off now. I can make my plays to help humanity. That doesn’t mean it will happen - but who is doing what I am doing and with success of any kind…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/FsIqDxssLYg

[Maurice Ali]

This is hilarious…..



I just ordered a Pine64 phone! These run Linux and you can manually turn off core functions with switches! Plus I can see if my voting app runs on it!



More later - I don’t know why I’m so excited, the thing probably won’t work out of the box.




Like I said: More later…..

[Maurice Ali]

Yes I got the Pine64 Linux phone. It was a deliberate act and I did it immediately before I could talk myself out of it.







A day later I have absolutely no regrets. The Pine64 Phone is a phone run entirely on the open source Linux platform. The idea of an alternative OS for those who value privacy has been there for a while but without a workable phone - then what was the point? A de-Googled phone was always an option but trust me, as soon as that type of phone starts to gain some traction Google will find a way to shut it down.


The only way is to produce a new OS from the ground up and the Pinephone is the first of its kind to actually work! And with Apple scanning your iPhone with iOS15 there has been this almost imperceptible- yet still quite noticeable - push for an alternative to Google and Apple. Even I was complacent enough to just stick with Apple for privacy but the scanning of photos on your device was the straw that broke the camel’s back! You may not know this but when you search on Safari on an iPhone you are searching on Google and giving away your information! Google pays Apple 10 Billion - yes 10 Billion US dollars a year to be the default search engine on iPhones. It will soon be 15 Billion and then 18 Billion. What happens on your iPhone does not stay in your iPhone! You can change this in Settings to Bing or Duck Duck Go but 99.99999% never do and most don’t even know about this. Given that you never had real privacy on an iPhone, it’s not surprising that Apple seems to be pig-headed about keeping their in-phone scanning - complain to them in their face and they will just respond: “Where Are you going to go? Where are you going to go?” And just smirk at you to your face! So privacy on an iPhone is a sham but the scanning business is a back door to all sorts of “entities” to change parameters and search for whatever they want in your photos and even iMessage.



Given this, this is the first time I would recommend getting a 12 series (as in last year’s model) iPhone running anything but iOS 15 at this late date and maybe on carriers after the iPhone 13 launch. Enough of this BS privacy at Apple. Once you update to iOS15 you can’t go back - remember that fact!






But we now have a Linux phone still in beta form that works! It’s a crappy phone by specs but the programming work to be done is enormous, and the fact we actually have a working phone is the “war cry” from all of us that now want an alternative. It’s as large as a Pro Max but with a lower Rez screen and 5 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front. The carrier specs are better than my Passport though. And it has these tiny switches to turn off the camera and modem and microphone, etc. And you can pull the battery! It’s got 2-3 gigs of ram depending on the model you choose and 16-32 gigs of space with SD support up to 2 terabytes. And for those who hold their nose at those specs remember this is a phone that only costs 150 bucks US as opposed to 2300 dollars CAN for my iPhone. Plus with my purchase comes a dock that allows you to hook up a keyboard for programming for those programmers helping with the OS development and an HDMI port that now turns the phone into a home computer. Yes, desktop versions of Linux can be used on this phone!



This phone is not supposed to be your daily driver, but when you need privacy you have it here! More on this project of mine as we go along but a day later I’m still excited about this.



In other news:







I may make my first book about protests available on Amazon. Why not?



Goodnight….





https://www.pine64.org/

[Maurice Ali]

First of all it’s confirmed by Apple that they are pausing the on-device scanning of photos on iPhones but not stopping it completely. What that means is anyone’s guess, but me thinks the backlash from NGOs and politicians was behind this - and - that the controversy could impact the iPhone product launch on the 14th of September. I’m pretty sure that was the real reason. Suffice to say I still would not recommend downloading iOS 15 or buying an iPhone 13 until we find out what the future of in-device scanning would be. Remember that they didn’t drop the idea, they just delayed it…..



Courage….. mv ~/Projects/Apple-csam/ > /dev/null




I am coming up on 20 years since I finally entered the internet. My first web page was a misspelled URL for the Matrix movie, yet I got a photo of Morpheus holding the red and blue pills - too funny and true!



Back then I found a message board populated by kids all around the world. I spent my vacation almost sleepless watching kids from different time zones get on the board and disappear only to have others show up from different countries. There were adults, but mostly kids as in teenagers. Then I revealed myself to them all and as usual the older folk had a much higher probability of getting a negative attitude to me - but - the kids still liked me!



How could I leave them - these kids - to this cruel world that would take advantage of them. So I gave them all a quick lesson in ethics (unawares) with my dealings with the oldsters my age. But I had to do more, so I started Fortress back in 2003. The biggest thrill was to find them mouthing my platitudes and ideas when I snuck around in their other places (the old fart learned quickly how to get around the net) - you just can’t get a bigger rush than when you see your ideas become part of their belief system! Same thing in my life in Toronto, came across Emily defending me and the org before she knew I was there: Be still my beating heart!!!!! So I did all this for them. Many of the oldsters treated me bad but the kids accepted me as one of their own, so I had to act from that moral imperative.



Now there is a new crop of kids even more indoctrinated to the “un-private” lifestyle. Putting their life out there for all is now the goal, and probably including sextapes. But is this a choice if they never really had real privacy before? I intend to give them that choice quite literally. Self-determination means choices and they have been offered very few.




WSIS speech at UNESCO Headquarters (2013)




So I ordered the Pinephone and today it was the accessories and the obscene shipping costs involved. The Apple announcement on pausing scanning photos in-device does not change anything here - people need an alternative! But cellphones are their (the kids) most important devices, thus they need a choice here. In a couple of years, WSIS (World Summit of the information Society) will start up again. I was a part of the last one with a ten minute speech at UNESCO in Paris (France) and a three minute speech on the floor of the General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York City. The next WSIS will have me there if they still want me and with new and old issues and the never ending push to keep multi-stakeholder management of the internet. Yes, I was a part of what happened to internet governance and was on the floor of the General Assembly Hall for two days prior to the vote. That probably won’t happen next time around but we shall see if I get some more involvement - I just keep trying…..





United Nations General Assembly speech (2015)!




Back then I was probably looked upon as some “Johnny come lately”, a uncouth person that somehow found his way to the UN. They did open doors for this “curiosity” and now it looks like they got more than they bargained for…..Hehehehehe…..




UN General Assembly Vote for WSIS+10 (2015)




I can use this opportunity and put it to do good. I don’t get laid or make money and don’t even get notoriety for this. But I did it because it was the right thing to do, plus, I’m there - and that part is huge when it comes to advocacy and disseminating new ideas.



Anyway it’s the start of a long weekend here and I have all the files to put my protest book on sale at Amazon. That gets done this weekend.




Goodnight…..






https://youtu.be/5gkAfqSRtpQ

[Maurice Ali]

Well, I pulled an all-nighter, but the Kindle and paperback versions of “Protest! The Fall of Civil Disobedience have been sent to Amazon! When they fully come up for sale we will make an announcement.







At least something got done…..


I’m still stocked at purchasing a Linux phone though! All totalled with the accessories such as cases and screen protectors and extra plastic backs that are removable means the real price of what started out as a 150 buck phone is now about 370 bucks.


The 150 dollar phone was sold out so you had to buy the 200 dollar version, but it comes with 3gigs of ram as opposed to 2 and 32 gigs of space as opposed to 16. It also comes with a dock for more accessories and uses. So 200 for the phone and 40 bucks for the accessories. So 240 - but the phone and accessories have to be shipped separately as the phone has a battery. That cost 55 bucks for a total of 295 dollars US. That’s actually a fair price for what you get. I could have bought a charger but I have enough of those including one still in the box. Shipping is about 30 bucks even if it’s a 4 buck item, so you buy everything you want all at once.



Compared to the other Linux phone - the Librem 5 - that comes in at 1000 CAN but you get a poorly applied screen protector with bubbles underneath and a charger and headphone and no dock. You can also get the phone made in the USA (a play for a government contract) but it’s 2550 bucks CAN. Both Librem 5 phones this year now can use the cameras as the drivers are now made but there is no native app to use them! The quick solution was to use the camera app on the Pinephone. Pine64 may get some programming back from them in return so it’s nice to see Linux phone makers working together to get functioning phones out there!


The only problem with the Librem 5 is that when you give them your money you don’t know when you will get the phone. It could take years and one guy has been waiting four years! Buy the USA version and you may get it sooner but at 2550 dollars it’s still no guarantee.



So that why I went with the Pinephone; the specs are marginally better for the Librem but it is at least double the thickness and three to twelve times the price. I personally think it’s cool with the kill switches on the side but I don’t even think you can put a protective case on it and then shove that into skinny jeans. So don’t use that on a date, but a geek convention will make you “the belle of the ball” over there with that funky phone screaming “look at me”!



That’s it for now. Back to a more normal sleep schedule tomorrow.




Later…..




https://youtu.be/0GKiMvnpqW4

[Maurice Ali]

A quick update today…..



Amazon got back to me and want some changes to the book before they can put it out.


1. I can’t use my old ten digit ISBN number anymore so I got a new number as we are still a formal book publisher I’m Canada. However Amazon wants me now to update the ISBN number on page two.


2. The spine text has to be reduced on the spine.


Those changes are now made and while I was at it I corrected the original publication date (September 9, 2004).



It’s a long weekend and on Sunday I finally swept out and sprayed down the garage floor which should have been done last spring. I also did a quickie mowing of the city side my lawn that always has more weeds than on my property. I also shopped and bought a wired mouse for the office computer. It’s a supposed to be Bluetooth but the rechargeable batteries always run down due to lack of use, so this solves that problem.



On other thing a did was visit an antiques fair at the mall where I got the mouse. This was weird as it was a bunch of tents in the parking lot. And there were the tables and vendors which was something I haven’t seen in a year and a half. So I walked around and wondered how long this will last with fall coming. However it was refreshing to do something normal for a change.



Monday will be a marathon as I try to get as much done as possible. Life is not as fun as before, so it just is what it is…..



Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/3-PmIGy7Dtg

[Maurice Ali]

So finally you can buy the thing in Kindle:

[Maurice Ali]

There is a ton of stuff happening - but I’ll concentrate on the advocacy today.







The United Nations sent me an email saying there will be no - no - NGO in-person participation this year. So in a strange way I was treated as an equal with all the other NGOs as nobody gets to go - hehehehehe…..







Next is the WTO which is actually still open to foreigners and they want me to create passport access for attendance. This one is still fluid and if they need me to do something there I may actually fly there!








The World Bank Group / IMF has given me IMF Connect privileges again. Been two years but nice so see the older forms of activity come back. They still say it’s all virtual but not in the stern way the UN did - so this one is still fluid.




What else?



We are handling licensing for all artists now - but more on this later.







Amazon finally accepted the files for the paperback version of my protest book! We will make a formal announcement when all markets are on-line…..




Later…..






https://youtu.be/T0MTqhf9xPo

[Maurice Ali]

The other shoe dropped - the paperback is now on sale:

[Maurice Ali]

Not much going on on Friday.







I’ll finish up registration for the WTO and the World Bank/IMF.









The music is more interesting. Of all things right now, licences for our artists is such a big thing now I’m doing it by batch. The fact the record label is so active behind the scenes is just something out of the twilight zone. Plus, we really have to update some music videos now that we are not so locked down anymore. The concerts are also top of mind but without clear guidance due to the pandemic we are still in a holding pattern there.







The tax man should be getting back to me with regard to our six corporate returns - which is always fun…..



I also have to get on top of the web work and web maintanance - boring but necessary! We run practically 50 websites here…..







The folks at Pine are clarifying my address prior to shipping. This seems to be for the accessories but time will tell if the phone also ships out soon. Sure most of the nerds hyping on this phone are eggheads speaking in mono - but - we need that privacy alternative and with the Apple fiasco with the scanning on your phone - this may not be a “cool” idea yet, but we really do need that option…..




Goodnight…..





https://youtu.be/A17rVbNTtrg

[Maurice Ali]

Just chilling…..


I’ll have more to tsk about tonight. Mostly the AI stuff…..




Later - literally…..