Kiran Jonnalagadda @jackerhack@mastodon.social

#introduction #india I'm a computer programmer, community organiser and digital rights activist based in Bangalore, India.

Growing up as a lonely, bullied kid in the 90s, I found solace in books, computers, and later, the online world. In my quest to find belonging, never quite fulfilled, I've been involved with various communities over the year. A biography in toots:

Thank you for the recommendations, everyone. This is an excellent set. I'll take some time to process and maybe make a public reading list. Please keep sending recommendations.

This matters to me because I'm finding it increasingly hard to collaborate with those who exhibit large gaps in understanding. It requires placing limits on collaboration based on the gap, except I don't know the gap either. So frustrating.

After repeatedly chastising myself for not reading enough books, I have purchased a second, pocket sized Kindle. That is the limit of my spending power. Second home is in queue behind first.

I grew up caste blind, knowing little more than what was taught in school. I've made amends, but one of the big mysteries is how the mechanism of caste blindness works. How do so many of us manage to grow up barely noticing? (Making my 2021 reading list. Help?)

Timeline is full sly tweet today. Had to search for "goa collarbone" and wade through more sly tweets to figure out WTF is going on.

My ancient home NAS is now slower than my internet connection, meaning it is now faster to download a torrent than to play it off the NAS.

This comical situation needs a remedy. What's a good home NAS solution? I need min RAID 1 redundancy for photos+videos, ~4T storage, speed.

Found some old screenshots. This one speaks to the excitement of a coming age. Always-on availability was a thing of pride to announce, except it wasn't yet time for that. Mobile data had to be turned on in-app, like dial-up. Nokia Symbian with T9, 2004.

Sly fellow @Aakar__Patel@twitter.com published a book and didn't make a big hoo haa. Got wind of it. Book acquired. Now to get autograph.

Asked the 6¾ y.o. if she'd like a Polaroid camera. Told her it printed pictures. She considered it and then declined, because there was no way to share those pictures.

#LockdownLife

Got out a bit. Came back to an incomprehensible timeline. 110% safety? Someone else is being cancelled? Give this confused soul a recap please.

Adermatoglyphia: Every time a techie makes an assumption about the world, nature comes back wagging a finger. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55301200

Finally caught up with Francis Fukuyama's recommendation for how to fix big tech. Made me uncomfortable because it reads like an iSPIRT fantasy. Free markets are a good idea, but the market for regulatory solutions in India isn't one. Bad ideas win there. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-11-24/fukuyama-how-save-democracy-technology

I'm honestly humbled by the stories that have come in already. So many of you have had such amazing careers.

On this day ten years ago, the craziest ride of my life took off. @hasgeek@twitter.com is officially 10 years old. If Hasgeek had any impact on your life, do consider sharing your story. Some other stories already here: https://hasgeek.com/hasgeek/10/

(We have since reincorporated as a Pvt Ltd.)

Remember this from July 2018, when RS Sharma issued a challenge to harm him using his Aadhaar number? Because Aadhaar is permanent, risk is permanent too. The long whip of Aadhaar has made its crack. https://www.thequint.com/cyber/rs-sharma-former-trai-uidai-chief-finds-pm-kisan-money-in-his-account

Now that @AliExpress_EN@twitter.com is no longer accepting orders from India, what is an alternative? @amazonIN@twitter.com still doesn't have depth of inventory.

Why is Aadhaar so insecure? Because nobody verifies anything, placing faith instead in someone else having done the homework. Except no one does. It's a farce. https://www.thequint.com/cyber/how-publicly-available-aadhaar-was-used-in-pm-kisaan-dbt-cash-scam

Aadhaar is a secure, unforgeable biometric identity database that is simultaneously also none of those things. Case in point 👇 https://www.thequint.com/cyber/pm-kisan-scam-aadhaar-riteish-deshmukh-hanuman-pakistan-spy-get-cash-as-farmers

It never got worse for me because the creeping out was bi-directional — and that was my male privilege. Not everyone has it that easy. Women experience the male gaze ALL THE TIME, to the point it's institutionalized into cultural norms. Learn more here: #INeverAskForIt

Soon enough I realised what it actually was: they were hoping to see a woman and make an impression. At one traffic light a car stopped by me. The driver inched forward to level up, put his head out of the window to look at me, smiled… and then his face registered horror.