Re: Tunisia, Anonymous, and Project PM

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 4:46 PM, Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com> wrote:

I'm not sure what your current opinion on me is, but I would be grateful if you could forward this to any of your contacts who might be interested in helping with this. It would also be nice to hear from you sometime if that's possible.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 3:01 PM
Subject: Tunisia, Anonymous, and Project PM
To: Barrett Brown <barriticus@gmail.com>

All-

As I've noted to some of you, we're now working heavily on Tunisian assistance programs intent on providing them with the tools they need to communicate securely and thereby establish new institutions capable of improving the political situation. We're working with a large number of Tunisians on this and I've also brought in some people outside of Project PM with experience in these matters, in addition to the thousands already involved through Anonymous. So far we've produced two documents which are being distributed among Tunisians both in-country and elsewhere, with the third and most important of these to be finished by Friday. I've also just been asked to do an op-ed for al-Jazeera on all of this, which presents an opportunity to recruit others for this effort as well as to reach additional Tunisians other than those we can reach through our informal networks. Our rally at NYC City Hall in April, where Glenn Greenwald, Gregg Housh, myself, and others will be speaking, will also serve as a boon to this effort. Altogether, this constitutes an unprecedented chance for free people to assist an oppressed population that could very well establish the freest state in the Arab world if they are given the tools to do so. Those who would like to assist or know others who might be helpful should check the following collaborative documents:

http://typewith.me/owA6rmGfP6 - Operation Swift Assist - notes on how to proceed in general; provide input here.

http://www.typewith.me/qdjqeFFu8O - Third edition of guide series - will detail info on internet security and revolutionary tactics

http://typewith.me/optunisia - OpTunisia - general efforts by Anonymous to assist the nation, with links to info and resources

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/1/15/936628/-Guide-to-safety-for-Tunisians,-please-distribute - The first document we've distributed

All of this might seem a bit romantic or even self-indulgent on the part of those who are assisting from the outside, but the Tunisians themselves are taking this very seriously, as they should. Knowing that a great number of people are not just thinking of them but also directly assisting them in a variety of ways has had a deep impact on those who have become aware of these efforts in the past two weeks. More importantly, the fact is that the environment now exists such that things like these are not only possible but even unambitious. If you yourself are busy or otherwise unable to provide your input or promote to those who can, please take a second to think if someone you know might be able to do so.

We'll be having our weekly Project PM meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) at 7:00 pm EST (New York time) on irc.freenode.net, #projectpm. Remember, IRC is easy to use; e-mail me for a quick tutorial. This particular meeting will include a number of guests from the various Tunisian assistance programs and will be mostly dedicated to finishing the third guide and otherwise hammering out the details of the campaign in general, although we'll also discuss the software, website, and other long-term matters.

Thanks to everyone for their time and efforts.

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302

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Regards,

Barrett Brown
512-560-2302