--- title: Demokratisk kommuicationsinfrastruktur som motståndsform subtitle: Technology infrastructure as a common googd author: Gustav Eek date: tor 13 jul 2017 20:18:26 CEST ... Proposal to FSCONS 2017 # Abstract In this lecture I will present the democratic principles of Fripost and demonstrate how also complicated resources, such as infrastructure for electronic communication can (and must) (*underställas folkligt demokratiska pricesser?*) (I argue that central communication infrastructure should be viewed as a resource). I will start in a (well known) critique of Garret Hardin's (*Vem talade om detta FSCONS 2015?*) classical tragedy of the commons (*referens*) (one that has been presented many times before). # Description The importance of Internet as communication medium can not be questioned. For those who take user freedom seriously it is saddening to see how the Internet has changed from being a common and highly distributed network to the increasingly privatised web we encounter today. In this lecture I will present the democratic principles of Fripost, the free email association which was founded as a reaction to that development. I will demonstrate how also complicated resources, such as infrastructure for electronic communication can (and must) (*underställas folkligt demokratiska pricesser?*). Fripost and its foundataion and principals has been presented several times since its constitution in 2010, also at FSCONS. This presentation, however, takes a different and broader stand. I will start in a (common) critique of Garret Hardin's (*Vem talade om detta FSCONS 2015?*) classical tragedy of the commons (*referens*) (one that has been presented many times before). The fault lies in the dikotonomy *public-private* and in the idea that every resource needs an owning (*huvudmann?*). What is not managed can not yield profit. In the case of the (*inhängdad?*) of the commons, management in it self causes the scarcity, it is not the scarcity that requires management. It is not obvious, however, how digital technology and technology based on Internet can be recognised as a resource and common good. Though "friendly" in its usage, it is intrinsically intricate and complicated in its internals, and the distance is far between the providing and consuming ends. Here Fripost becomes an example of central communication infrastructure that implements democratic "ownership", maintenance, and development. And democracy is equal influence: it does not stop at gathering of opinion. Equal influence is ambitious, and how it is interpreted in Fripost will be discussed in its details, but in short the key is that Fripost's commitment (*åtagande?*) is equally much social as it is technical: all decisions originates from the members, short term as well as strategical; activities are balanced between the association's three legs: (a) technology, (b) adult education, and (c) propaganda; and sustainability is the leading word. I humbly recognise that what we do is small in scale and ambition. But I still want to put it in the context of important local struggles that with global implication. In the world, farmers fight for land, urban folks for water, and students for independent universities. We fight for the right and free access to Internet and the means for communication. Internet is designed to be distributed and for equal unlimited access for everyone. That sounds quite much like a common good, and commons require equal influence. The moral of the presentation is of course that we should fight back against the privatisation process, particularly that of the web. Fripost illustrates that it is possible and also suggest how it can be done.