Georgia State University has rescinded a job offer given to a high profile activist who is currently fighting a case in which he allegedly wiped a security-focused Android phone before Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could search it. The case, which 404 Media first covered and has now received widespread and national attention, has important ramifications for privacy and when someone can still be charged with an offense even if authorities don’t have suspicion of any specific crime.
Earlier this month, activist Samuel Tunick and a group of supporters delivered a “demand letter” to the university. That letter, which Tunick shared with 404 Media, says he explained to the university he was facing a pending charge, which he describes as “an instance of textbook political repression, and a high profile civil liberties case.”
While delivering the letter, supporters held signs saying, “GSU sides with Trump,” and “Digital Privacy Under Attack!”
While I appreciate how universities have made some limited embrace of foss in the advent of open coursework, it doesn’t change that there’s a lot wrong with them. They have too much of a conflict of interest in their own profits to support a system of truly free postsecondary education. It’s also shitty how the system is designed to basically funnel every student into one corporate industry or another, basically a training regiment to bolster the status quo. Usually.
I’ve felt for a long time that what we need is educational programs that are foss from the ground up, federated, and actively seeking reform for free public university education for all.
Cause let’s be real, Harvard ain’t ever gonna do that.