Outpost for Advocacy: MTEC's Strategy and Goals

06 Oct, 2025

Time to Read: 4 min

How will MTEC make an impact? As part of preparing the launch of this club/project, I've come up with a strategy and a set of short-term goals that will guide us over the next few months.

MTEC will focus on being an outpost of advocacy by leaning on two larger national organizations for education, content, training, and campaigning while we will be the local eyes and ears that will identify local problems and solutions.

Strengths and Limitations

As a small group trying to contribute to a big problem, it's important to understand what we will be a challenge and what will be a strength.

Our limitations are that:

1. We're a brand new group that is not even entirely dedicated to advocacy. There is a lot for us to learn.
2. We do not have many resources. There's a lot we can do with free tiers and free software, but only so much.
3. We are not experts in the fields we are fighting for. As knowledgeable as we may be, we are not the folks building software, keeping up with the news, talking to policymakers, or campaigning for change full time.
4. We lack reach. Today we are effectively limited to whoever happens to hear about us and wants to join. We can't publish statements or make a call to action that will gain traction.

You know who does not suffer from these problems? The Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF has been fighting this fight for 35 years and is one of the best non-profit organizations positioned to call out abuses and propose solutions. They also lead the Electronic Frontier Alliance, "a grassroots network made up of independent community organizations. Allies across the United States work to support digital rights and empower their local communities." By becoming affiliated with the EFA, we could work together with the EFF and associated groups to become more effective advocates.

When it comes to consumer rights and the right to repair movement, we should take direction from the FULU Foundation. FULU focuses on making sure that we actually own our own technology, and that it works for us, rather than tangling us up in exploitative, money-generating schemes that we can't escape. In their own words, "FULU Foundation exists to inform, mobilize, and equip consumers to take back control over their devices and content." This group is led by Louis Rossmann, a long time right to repair activist and repair shop owner who recently energized hundreds of people to symbolically show their support by changing their profile picture to a Clippy. Rossmann has the reach to call for action, as he has already done through asking Clippies to call their members of Congress about the DMCA.

We can learn from these organizations and take their lead.

Our strength is that we are local! No one else is going to follow Florida news more closely than Floridians. No one is going to cover Miami problems more closely than Miamians. We are where the rubber meets the road on these issues. We can identify areas where they are affecting us, whether it's unique to us or not, and take efforts to make an impact.

To pull from the EFA again, these are some things we could explore:

• Hackerspaces holding regular workshops and repair services for the public
• Student organizations advocating for less surveillance on campus
• Nonprofits advancing better broadband access for residents in their city
• Digital security educators helping their community avoid harassment
• Transparency advocates submitting Freedom of Information requests on police surveillance.

Of course we have to take into account what we as individuals can take on. However, the opportunities for improving our community are huge for the simple reason that no one is doing this work today (except perhaps for the Wolfson Cyber Association at MDC because they're part of the EFA).

We don't have to wait for Washington, DC or Silicon Valley to respect our rights. We can demand that they be respected and help our community improve their standing all on our own, even if it's only little by little.

Goals

To that end, we have three goals:

1. Become a member of the EFA.
2. Follow the FULU newsletter for calls to action.
3. Be active as a club for at least 2 months.

All of these are very approachable goals.

To join the EFA, we basically just need to be a non-profit with at least three members. We also have to agree with the five uniting principles. I think we can all agree on these values.

• Free Expression - People should be able to speak their minds to whoever will listen.
• Security - Technology should be trustworthy and answer to its users.
• Privacy - Technology should allow private and anonymous speech, and allow users to set their own parameters about what to share with whom.
• Creativity - Technology should promote progress by allowing people to build on the ideas, creations, and inventions of others.
• Access to Knowledge - Curiosity should be rewarded, not stifled. We uphold these principles by fighting for transparency and freedom in culture, code, and law.

Following the FULU newsletter is just a matter of subscribing, but we can go further and share the call to action with others so that it reaches more people. At first our reach will be small, but over time we may be able to get a dozen people to participate.

Lastly, we have to stick around as a club. If we have enough members and take interest in each other so as to build a community, I think we will be ok. It will be a challenge to sell people on this idea, but I'm counting on the hunch that many nerds have been waiting for something like this to exist so that we can nerd out together. Hopefully that will lead to an organic and enduring community.

Pursuing these goals will put us in the best state to amplify calls to action from national leaders while being a local home for people who care. We want to join the dozens of outposts across the country and across the world in the fight for our digital and consumer rights. Enough is enough. It's time to find our people and fight for change.

Written by Joseph, Organizer for MTEC

Wants to see the world get better.

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