[Noisebridge-discuss] lockers for noisebridge - big enough? funding?

[Snail]

On Wed, Feb 16, 2011 at 11:15 PM, Patrick Keys <citizenkeys at gmail.com>wrote:

> The lockers would be opaque.  I think everybody at Noisebridge values
> their right of anonymity.  Not worrying about other people seeing what's
> on your personal shelf or messing with it seems like a benefit.
>
>
What do people want to store at noisebridge that they really need to keep
hidden, which can't be stored on a harddrive? That's kind of worrisome.

Maybe an open, public space is not the best place to keep private, personal
possessions. -- People need to keep their tools and whatknot for hacking in
the space, but need they be SECRET? If you're going to use it in the space,
where it will be seen by everyone, why does it have to be STORED in secrecy?
-- And if it's not going to be used in the space, why is it there, taking up
space in a locker?

Plus, this is about right to privacy, not anonymity -- a shelf is anonymous
but not private, unless you put your name on your belongings (or someone
dusts for fingerprints and has a copy of yours to match; DNA TESTS!!). If
you don't believe me, just look at the fact that there are constantly tons
of possessions swirling around the space whose owners are unknown, sometimes
resulting to e-mails asking who has borrowed their stuff, even though
everything is in plain view. This is very much not about valuing peoples
anonymity and more about concern that people are doing secret things in an
open space. You won't necessarily reveal someone's secret identity by
stealing their wire cutters or PS2.

I don't think anyone has a guarantee of privacy at noisebridge -- if you are
there, someone will drop by and look over your shoulder and ask what's going
on, because that's why you are there (to have people talk to you and get an
excuse to talk about your project). Lockers wouldn't really guarantee
privacy unless everyone TRUSTED the person using the locker. We only have
what privacy we do when people are considerate AND trust we are not doing
something unsavory; but if people were concerned someone was storing
something unsavory in a locker, it wouldn't be long before someone picked
the lock or forced it open just to be safe.

Most importantly, to me, locked lockers would make me feel less safe because
suddenly part of the open space is not open. I feel safe at noisebridge
because EVERYTHING is open (save the bathrooms, for ~15 minutes at a time),
and anything bad that could happen to someone or anything unsafe which would
be stored could be found by the community, as people eventually wade through
the piles and piles of junk.

(To be honest, you're probably guaranteed a good amount of privacy if you
leave something under a pile of junk and people are too APATHETIC to check
-- but it still gives people the option of securing their own surroundings
and safety.)


Plus, people tend to leave a lot of crap at the space and never throw it
out, so periodically the locks would just have to be broken so the contents
could be tossed as the lockers just give people a chance to exercise even
more of their packrat tendencies.


You know, if anything, I would describe noisebridge as a hole for packrats
>_> maybe giving people the chance to store even MORE things at the space is
the opposite of what the community needs. I feel like half of the space is
already consumed by objects: the members' shelves area, the area behind
those shelves (is that more members' shelves?), the entire wall with the
windows facing Mission St., the full wall of bikes, the construction things
in the kitchen, more shelves in the not-Turing classroom, stuff by the tea
room storing things for the kitchen (because right beside the kitchen is
storing construction things).... Now that I think about it, where the hell
are these lockers going to stand among all this other stuff?


Of course, it's been a month or so since I've been in the space, so maybe
some of this is cleared up or organized by now (hahaha yeah right, I will
buy everyone BEER* if you can make me eat those words).

*Not guaranteed to be expensive or good-tasting beer. I'm on a budget.

-- 
-Snailssnailssnailssnailssnailssnailssnails
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