Welcome to my blog where I publish only my personal opinions and takes! I’m Tara Tarakiyee, a public interest technologist and a supporter of human rights, free and open internet, and open source software. I strive in my work to not only help protect those that need it the most from technological harms of pervasive surveillence and censorship, but as well to unlock the transformational potential of information technology as an enabler of human rights and as a tool to liberate societies from systemic oppression.
likes: decentralization and federation, privacy, autonomy, and equitable internet access.
icks: techno-solutionism, surveillance capitalism, censorship and misogyny.
Throughout my career, I’ve managed projects enhancing internet access and digital security, helped essential and cutting-edge open source privacy and digital security projects gain much-needed resources and funding, led advocacy campaigns against online censorship, and conducted research on censorship and surveillance infrastructure and policies. I’ve had the extreme pleasure to work with wonderful organizations such as the Jordan Open Source Association (JOSA), the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), and the Open Technology Fund (OTF).
I am based in Berlin, Germany, where I work on designing support mechanisms and mobilizing resources to encourage, sustain and maintain open digital infrastructure and the FOSS ecosystem at the Sovereign Tech Fund. I have also given talks at various open source and technology conferences and meetings, such as the IETF, FOSS Backstage and the Open Source Summit Europe.
You Can Reach Me on Email at: me [ a/t ] tarakiyee.com and follow me on Mastodon here.