Open letter to KITE CEO on forcing teachers, students and parents to use WhatsApp
Pirate Praveen
Public
Seen by 142
This letter was started as a response to @Nandakumar Edamana sending an email to SMC mailing list (see the thread here: http://lists.smc.org.in/pipermail/discuss-smc.org.in/2020-June/thread.html). You can see the draft here https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/edit/CLrd8men4PdS4n9+iPs+OzBT/ please contribute.
Update 1: I think we should offer to help teachers interested to provide Free Software based services and some of us should share our phone numbers. Please add your numbers to the cryptpad if you don't mind sharing your number in public.
Update 2: Govt order https://education.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GO-Online-Class-First-Bell.pdf (it dies not specify WhatsApp)
Update 3: Join #FreeSoftwareFirstBell:poddery.com matrix group to coordinate future actions as we got reply from KITE CEO and one school teacher.
Follow up: Open Letter to teachers https://codema.in/d/u3EDIs4x/kerala-schools-choose-proprietary-google-suite-for-online-teaching
and dedicated group (separate group for Malayalam and English) to work on Free Software in Education https://codema.in/d/PeEx5bHZ/created-a-new-group-for-free-software-in-education
Pirate Praveen Sun 7 Jun 2020 7:13PM
Vote on the poll to make it easy to track.
Athul Tue 9 Jun 2020 2:15PM
It says I m not having permission to vote the poll
Aji Ahamed Sun 7 Jun 2020 3:11PM
I would like to
Pirate Praveen Sun 7 Jun 2020 7:13PM
Vote on the poll to make it easy to track.
dnlcv Sun 7 Jun 2020 3:28PM
I'd like to volunteer to support using Matrix clients
I'd like to volunteer to support using Signal
I'd like to volunteer to train Jitsi
Nandakumar Edamana Sun 7 Jun 2020 3:34PM
I'd like to volunteer to help the school community migrate to any libre and privacy-respecting system from the current proprietary and privacy-killing solutions including (but not limited to) WhatsApp and GMail.
Akshai M Sun 7 Jun 2020 3:36PM
I'd suggest Bigbluebutton + Moodle for live sessions that need live feedback. Telegram + Matrix Bridge for sharing contents like videos (non-live streaming), books, assignments and more.
Nandakumar Edamana Sun 7 Jun 2020 3:51PM
Can we really endorse Telegram, for it has a bad reputation when it comes to privacy and security?
Akshai M Sun 7 Jun 2020 5:17PM
No End - End encryption by default is a let down but that 1.5GB max upload limit , ability to stream videos and plenty to bots to automate daily tasks make telegram a good option
Pirate Praveen Sun 7 Jun 2020 5:18PM
It is a compromise, yes. But it does not force everyone to use Telegram. We can bridge it to matrix and participate via Matrix. I also personally don't like telegram or Signal, but as a community, we have to include other people's preferences too as long as that choice does not force everyone.
Pirate Praveen Sun 7 Jun 2020 5:19PM
These are not the reason for me to suggest it, the only reason is bridge to matrix, which make it loosely federated with Matrix.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 8 Jun 2020 3:38AM
Agreed.
Akshai M Mon 8 Jun 2020 3:47AM
Yes. Exactly telegram does not force anyone to use telegram as it opens up space to use other decentralised services as required.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 8 Jun 2020 5:37AM
Okay, I get it.
shine Sun 7 Jun 2020 6:21PM
can someone define the terms 'support', 'setup' and 'train'? they seem kind of ambiguous
I'm going to try and define it how I understood :
support : technical assistance with issues during the use of a software
setup : support setting up and maintaining infrastructure for a software
train : training teachers and students on how to use a software
is this what is implied here? or am I the only person who seems
to be dumb enough to find the terms ambiguous?
Pirate Praveen Sun 7 Jun 2020 7:09PM
Yes, that is correct. Also updated the poll to make it explicit.
mujeebcpy Sun 7 Jun 2020 9:21PM
I do not have permission to vote in this decision ?
Pirate Praveen Mon 8 Jun 2020 7:12AM
Try clearing the cache, try a different browser, may be related to old version of ui.
Pirate Praveen Tue 9 Jun 2020 1:22PM
If it is not working still, just comment your choices.
Poll Created Wed 10 Jun 2020 10:00AM
Publish this open letter on our website and send to KITE CEO Closed Wed 17 Jun 2020 1:00PM
Note: If you'd like to share your phone number here as a contact option for teachers, please mention that as a comment when you vote
Introduction
This is an open letter to Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE - https://kite.kerala.gov.in/) CEO from Free Software Community of India (FSCI - https://fsci.in). We are writing to bring into your attention some issues regarding the ongoing online learning programme 'First Bell' and some possible solutions. Since our group focus on Free Software related issues, we are limiting our comment to Free Software aspect of the programme only.
Background
First of all, we really appreciate the effort the former IT@School and KITE has taken to liberate the school community of Kerala by presenting, developing and popularising Free Software (free as in freedom).
But many school communities are now forcing WhatsApp on people who do not want to use it[1], and the whole move to Free Software is being hijacked by the overuse and mandating of WhatsApp in school communities. Facebook[2] (the parent company of Whatsapp) has a bad reputation for privacy, especially after the Cambridge Analytica issue[3]. KITE should be promoting better alternatives like Moodle Learning Management System and Matrix based messaging services[4], which are powered by Free Software and do not force anyone to depend on a single foreign company with a bad reputation for privacy.
In detail
Many are reluctant to use software like WhatsApp due to concerns about privacy. It would be unethical to force them to use it or act as agents of these software. Also, in case of WhatsApp, people will not be even able to make use of a computer, for eg. in a public library, without a smartphone. Many parents and teachers are being mentally tortured to buy a smart phone and install WhatsApp, which, some managed to resist[5]. Of course the school community should embrace advancements, but only if they aren't harmful. Better, they should promote libre alternatives and provide options so that everybody can participate.
The "shift to online" for education is now a wasteland of hasty choices and convenience around short term goals overcoming deployment of durable and correct systems. Aside from WhatsApp for a medium of exchange of content - homework, assignments, etc - there are plentiful anecdotes of schools asking parents to open up a specific pattern based email accounts (preferably GMail) which is proposed as an alternative if smartphones and such are unavailable. Ad-hoc decisions in school committees often driven by the pressure to be seen as doing something that is modern is a good enough way to start with the part of bad decisions.
We have learned that, directions from KITE and Education department was about using 'messaging applications', without mentioning any specific services[6][7], but DIET Kozhikode guidelines specifically mandates WhatsApp use[1]. The issue of scaling (handling large number of users simultaneously using the service) self-hosted Learning Management Systems like Moodle was also raised as one issue stopping adoption of such an option.
There are many apps using Matrix protocol[8] giving a choice of application for users on mobile or desktop/laptop. Riot is the most feature complete application for Matrix and there are applications like Fluffy Chat which provides a simpler interface. It also provides an option to use it from a any web browser, making it possible to use from any public computer, like a computer in a public library.
Recommendations
We feel KITE should introduce other communication options, which do not lock users to a specific propreitary service should be promoted among teachers. Students and parents should be given an option to choose a federated instant messaging service or email as an alternative to forcing WhatsApp. Our community is willing to provide such services or suggest service providers and train teachers interested to use these options. More than 25 people from the Free Software community have already volunteered to support the teachers[9].
We can also offer to setup and manage at least one Moodle instance if some schools wants to opt in for choosing Moodle. We could also talk to Engineering colleges to check the possibility of more students stepping up to volunteer more such Moodle instances.
Currently the videos are uploaded on Youtube and Facebook after the show on Victers channel is over. KITE should also consider offering PeerTube as another option, which is Free Software powered and offers better privacy to users. We have our own instance of PeerTube at https://videos.fsci.in and we can offer to mirror the videos via this platform. We can offer to create a channel for Victers and you can upload videos to this instance or we can volunteer to pull the videos from Youtube directly if you choose a Creative Commons license which allows sharing freely.
Contacting us
Any teachers interested in offering these Free Software based services without lock-in to a specific company may use one of these options to reach us.
1. Post their request on our online discussion group at https://codema.in/free-software-community-of-india-fsci/
2. Contact us via email - admin at fsci.in
3. Contact via phone or sms - Praveen (+91 9561745712) or Tanzeem (+91 9446705956, +91 9746495247)
References
[1] https://www.doolnews.com/online-learning-parents-and-teachers-need-attention-education-department-guidelines-454.html (we have a copy of the document referenced in this article)
[2] https://www.fsf.org/facebook
[5] http://lists.smc.org.in/pipermail/discuss-smc.org.in/2020-June/003627.html
[6] http://lists.smc.org.in/pipermail/discuss-smc.org.in/2020-June/003643.html
[7] https://education.kerala.gov.in/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/GO-Online-Class-First-Bell.pdf
[8] https://yewtu.be/watch?v=jr2mXSKq3B4
Updates:
10 June, as suggested by @Akhil "In Depth analysis" changed to "In detail"
11 June, as suggested by @Pirate Bady , changed, "There is no option to use, for example a public computer in a library" to "Also, in case of whatsapp, people will not be even able to make use of a computer, for eg. in a public library, without a smartphone."
11 June, Add phone number of Tanzeem to contacting us section.
14 June, change IT@School to KITE
16 June, Add "Introduction" and mention previous efforts to promote Free Software by IT@School and KITE, suggested by @Nandakumar Edamana Also mention KITE Kozhikode guideline mandating WhatsApp. Added link to Matrix introduction video.
16 June, add a point about Creative Commons license for videos and sharing via PeerTube.
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 85.7% | 6 |
|
| Abstain | 14.3% | 1 |
|
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| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 203 |
|
7 of 210 people have participated (3%)
Akhil
Wed 10 Jun 2020 11:48AM
Maybe replace "In Depth Anaylsis" with "In Detail"
Tanzeem Mohammad Basheer
Wed 10 Jun 2020 5:22PM
I can be contacted on phone : 9446705956, 9746495247
Pirate Bady
Wed 10 Jun 2020 6:37PM
it may be better to change the following:
"There is no option to use, for example a public computer in a library"
to
"Also, in case of whatsapp, people will not be even able to make use of a computer, for eg. in a public library, without a smartphone."
Pirate Vik
Tue 16 Jun 2020 9:54AM
This is great work, sorry i missed the proposal
Ajmal BH Wed 10 Jun 2020 3:47PM
I'd like to volunteer to support using Matrix clients
Poll Created Thu 11 Jun 2020 5:54AM
Would you like to make an introduction video for Matrix clients? Closed Thu 18 Jun 2020 6:00AM
Thanks Athul for volunteering. If anyone would like to help @Athul , please talk to him.
Covering
What is Matrix? Compare email and mobile sim/connection/service provider. No lock-in, choice of providers, option to be our own provider etc
Riot (full featured) or Fluffy Chat (easy to use) or Pattle on mobile
Using browser to login
Create account, home server options
Create direct chat, share username with others
Create groups, invite contacts, joining existing groups, mention others
Share pictures or files
Record audio
Verify keys of contacts
Results
| Results | Option | Voters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
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Yes | 1 |
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Undecided | 209 |
|
1 of 210 people have participated (0%)
Pirate Praveen Sat 13 Jun 2020 1:18PM
Reopened the poll to include some comments from @Nandakumar Edamana
Pirate Praveen Sun 14 Jun 2020 3:15PM
@Nandakumar Edamana sent these via email (he said he has some problems adding directly here).
Edit 1: Some intro / nice words
Edit 2: Instead of citing Dool News as a proof for school communities forcing WhatsApp, can we add the following sentence and use the sitation there?
The media has also substituted 'Social Media' with 'WhatsApp', like it is the standard.
INTRO
-----
We are the members of Free Software Community of India (FSCI), and we are writing to bring into your attention some issues regarding the ongoing online learning programme 'First Bell' and some possible solutions.
First of all, we really appreciate the effort the former IT@School and KITE has taken to liberate the school community of Kerala by presenting, developing, popularising Free Software (free as in freedom). We also appreciate its current interest in bringing education and coordination to the students stuck in their homes. However, we see two problems with the current way 'First Bell' is being run:
1. People who do not want to use high-end technology are forced to use it, either by peer pressure or by orders from superiors. This is not about people who can't afford technology, but people who prefer to avoid it, for various reasons including the fear of cyber attacks.
2. People are coerced to use proprietary applications and services like WhatsApp, from companies that have bad reputations when it comes to privacy. The lack of alternatives set up by the government plays a role in it.
We do not like to take up the first issue, as it isn't a field our organization works on. However, we believe it'd be wrong if we kept ourselves silent regarding the second issue, since it's a total going-back from the progress the school community in Kerala has made towards adopting Free Software, and dangerous to the freedom and privacy of students, parents and teachers.
Pirate Praveen Sun 14 Jun 2020 4:50PM
@Nandakumar Edamana I'm fine to include appreciation for previous Free Software work, but I don't think we should appreciate such a hasty move to online education without planning and including everyone. See https://codema.in/d/fy4Hsok2/- for Indian Pirates statement (in Malayalam) on broader issues of Online Education. I think it is better we stick to Free Software aspect only. Also I think we can skip the first point as you noted we don't want to talk about it. We can mention, "Since our group is interested mainly in Free Software, we are not going to comment on other aspects of this project."
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 15 Jun 2020 12:26AM
Okay.
Pirate Praveen Sun 14 Jun 2020 4:56PM
About doolnews link, they quote the official guidelines issued by Kozhikode district General Education Department. Do you think they are making it up? If you have doubt about authenticity of that article, we can ask Dool News or other teachers in Kozhikode to get a copy of the official document. I think it is okay to quote DoolNews and look deeper only if they contest the claim.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 15 Jun 2020 12:33AM
A govt. guideline endorsing WhatsApp specifically is
unbelievable. If you are sure that didn't happen as part of the
usual 'Social Media' -> 'Facebook/WhatsApp' automatic
conversion by journalists, then it's okay. If we have the original
guideline, that's better. I wonder why Kozhikode released a
separate guideline. There is a state-wide guideline in circulation
that is detailed, and I suspect the need/existence of
district-level ones. The state-level guideline doesn't endorse
WhatsApp anyway.
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 12:51PM
Okay lets try to get the original document and wait for that before publishing it.
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:03PM
I just talked to one of the teachers in KITE Palakkad (a teacher from my school) and they promised to share the letter with me after some time. Apparently it is from KITE itself, not specific to a district.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:09PM
Great. That would make the letter solid.
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:20PM
Sent an email to Dool News requesting a copy as well.
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:30PM
Also called them and requested them to send a copy via email. Hopefully they got my email id correct. They initially offered to send me via WhatsApp and when I said I don't have WhatsApp and told them about my email address, they were like if it was gmail then it would have been easier.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:32PM
You mean things have become so weird that people don't even know
email is interoperable anymore?
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:35PM
Basically they are not used to seeing an email other than gmail.com, so it practice it is a monopoly even though the protocol is interoperable.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 15 Jun 2020 1:57PM
And it really takes away privacy because chances are high the
other person is using Gmail even if you aren't using it, and them
being aware of GPG is unrealistic than dreams.
BTW, I recently found out that Google has added more choices and
privacy features compared to when I left it, probably due to the
rise of things like GDPR. Not that it's become recommendable.
I believe that Google didn't get caught in the Cambridge
Analytica storm only because there was no similar API-leak
incident. It understood it was merely luck that saved its face,
and quickly made some changes to prevent future scandals. Just
hypothesizing.
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 2:14PM
This is the letter I got from the teacher, though it is not the same document referenced by Dool News. Does any one have contacts with teachers in Kozhikode? Or try contacting Dool News via other channels.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 15 Jun 2020 2:45PM
I've seen this. This doesn't use the name 'WhatsApp', IIRC. Are
you sure there is a govt. doc. specifying WhatsApp?
Pirate Praveen Mon 15 Jun 2020 3:08PM
We have to ask some teachers in Kozhikode (I'm talking to more teachers) or try talking to Dool News again asking them for the source of their report. They mention Youtube and Facebook for video delivery on page 12 and I think we should ask them to include PeerTube as another option. We did not have our own peertube instance when we started writing this letter, but we now have https://videos.fsci.in and we can offer to mirror the videos via this. We can offer to create a channel for them here and let them upload videos here or we can volunteer to pull the videos from Youtube directly if they choose a creative commons license that allows sharing freely. Can someone confirm if it is already CC licensed?
Nandakumar Edamana Tue 16 Jun 2020 1:36AM
I think the YouTube/Facebook mention is not that problematic.
KITE publishes the videos via TV/Victers and website/Victers, and
YouTube and Facebook are just other options to watch the videos.
Adding Peertube to that list is great, but libre/freedom-friendly
options are already provided. That's not the case with WhatsApp.
Pirate Praveen Tue 16 Jun 2020 5:37AM
I agree it is not as bad. But it is still important for people who miss the Victers telecast for any reason (no power?). Also Creative Commons license will allow anyone to share it legally.
Pirate Praveen Tue 16 Jun 2020 5:57AM
Got a copy of the document and Dool News is correct.
Nandakumar Edamana Tue 16 Jun 2020 8:00AM
CC idea is important. I agree.
Pirate Praveen Tue 16 Jun 2020 9:28AM
I have made all these changes. Please confirm if you are happy with this now.
Nandakumar Edamana Tue 16 Jun 2020 10:09AM
Yes, I am. I'll try to login and vote within a few minutes. If
you don't see me, please proceed.
Pirate Praveen Wed 17 Jun 2020 6:40PM
I have sent a copy of the open letter to KITE using the email address given at their website and also copied to Minister of Education.
Pirate Praveen Thu 18 Jun 2020 5:14PM
@Athul we can collaborate with people in #matrix-outreach:matrix.org to create the video. I think we can start with a presentation and then make a video.
Pirate Praveen Sun 21 Jun 2020 12:15PM
We got a reply from KITE CEO for our open letter. He acknowledged the challenges and promised to connect with us to fix it.
George Mathew Sun 21 Jun 2020 12:22PM
Congratulations to Pirate Praveen for taking up such a great initiative.
Nandakumar Edamana Sun 21 Jun 2020 11:00PM
Great. Again, thanks for converting this to a community effort.
Pirate Praveen Sun 21 Jun 2020 12:59PM
We can promote https://Quicksy.im for almost WhatsApp like experience. Install app, enter phone number, verify OTP, discover users using your phone book. For those who don't want to share phone book, they can use any XMPP service. Quicksy just creates +phone-number@quicksy.im as XMPP address federated with all XMPP servers. There is also an option to connect a phone number with any XMPP id. Like I have my XMPP id mapped to my phone number and Quicksy users can find me if my number is in their phone book.
Pirate Praveen Mon 22 Jun 2020 5:28AM
I think we can post an update on our website and mention their reply.
Nandakumar Edamana Mon 22 Jun 2020 8:10AM
We should.
Pirate Praveen Fri 26 Jun 2020 7:22AM
We got our first reply from a teacher and I created a matrix group to support teachers. Join #FreeSoftwareFirstBell:poddery.com to discuss and coordinate future activities.
Poll Created Sat 27 Jun 2020 5:55PM
Would you volunteer to translate this open letter to Malayalam? Closed Tue 30 Jun 2020 6:00PM
This is now translated to Malayalam and it should be published on our website soon.
There was a request from a teacher to translate this open letter in Malayalam. We need some volunteers. We are using https://cryptpad.fr/pad/#/2/pad/edit/KuqNSYz7-maHQORjzfOsUC1e/
Results
| Results | Option | Voters | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Yes | 3 |
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Undecided | 207 |
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3 of 210 people have participated (1%)
Pirate Praveen Wed 1 Sep 2021 10:00PM
As a follow up, we are now writing a letter to teachers of Kerala to take a stand. https://fsci.in/blog/letter-to-kerala-teachers/ please share this widely and get maximum signatures. If we find at least one school willing to switch to Free Software, we should provide them technical support. We have now created a separate group for Free Software in Education to coordinate these activities. See https://codema.in/d/PeEx5bHZ/created-a-new-group-for-free-software-in-education and join in interested.
Athul · Sun 7 Jun 2020 3:11PM
I m ready to give training on usage of Matrix and Jitsi