Trump is attacking the foundations of the Open Technology Fund
Update 2020-07-21: The board of directors of the Open Technology Fund (OTF) has been suspended, but OTF now sued Michael Pack, the leader of the new U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) and won a first victory: As a first step, the court re-instated the the board of directors until the lawsuit is finished.
Internet Freedom Festival just wrote a plea for help to sign a letter in support of the OTF:
Save Internet Freedom: Support the Open Technology Fund
The OTF funds projects like Tor, reproducible builds, PyPI, and many others, and has been an important part of improving security for all internet users.
Now, as IFF wrote:
Michael Pack, the new Trump-appointed CEO of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM), fired the heads of the five media organizations that the agency oversees. He also dismissed its bipartisan board, and replaced them with Trump loyalists.
One of the people he fired is Libby Liu, who had been CEO of the Open Technology Fund (OTF), one of the most important funders and trusted leaders in the Internet Freedom space.
We also know that the administration is thinking of shifting funding to only a handful of “closed-source” technologies, and potentially making leadership changes that will transform OTF from being a bipartisan program to a tool of the Trump administration.
I just signed the letter. Other signatories include RedHat, the German Chaos Computer Club and Mozilla. Please add your voice: Losing the OTF could do a lot of damage.
Save Internet Freedom: Sign the letter to Support the Open Technology Fund