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OpenSourcing Yourself, Are You Ready? 191

Posted by ScuttleMonkey from the too-much-information dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Many people love and use open source software. Open source has made an impact in just about every place imaginable; education, hardware, coke, beer, cell phones, pharmaceuticals, search engines and encyclopedias. However, OpenHuman takes it one step further and invites you to open source yourself to experiment with the open human idea. This may sound crazy and rife with privacy concerns but as the author asks, do you still believe in Internet privacy in the age of blogs, MySpace, LinkedIn, Meetup, and Flickr?"
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OpenSourcing Yourself, Are You Ready? More

OpenSourcing Yourself, Are You Ready?

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  • So is MS a privacy advocate and the open source movement a privacy opponent?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by crosbie ( 446285 )
      MS is an advocate of private rights to its published software - even in your private domain.

      Open Source is an advocate of source code visibility in published software.

      FSF is an advocate of the public's freedom to published software.

      The only one of the above opposed to privacy is MS, who still requires that purchasors of its software not be permitted to make private copies or derivatives of its software - and it demands the right to 'audit' your private premises to assert this.

      As far as the GPL is concerned
  • Put your naked pictures (not pornographic or erotic, just naked)

    uh..please no

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Otter ( 3800 )
      I can't say I'm astonished that the guy behind this doesn't understand how humans actually do distribute their source code. But, yeah -- with the combination of the above line and the link to the FSF, I don't think this is a site I'll be following closely.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by yosofun ( 933530 )
      ... and the difference?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by eno2001 ( 527078 )
      Well, seeing that I've already "open sourced" my DNA a few times around the world... I have to say the idea of people posting naked but non-sexual photos is a great idea. It allows us to appreciate each other's bodied with no value judgement. Once you've tried it, humans bodies of all types can be appreciated for their beauty.

  • Privacy Not Quite Dead. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:33PM (#16744315)


    "...do you still believe in Internet privacy in the age of blogs, MySpace, LinkedIn, Meetup, and Flickr?"

    Yes I do. Of course, I make very sparing use of those technologies, and I post AC at Slashdot.

    I would consider opensourcing myself, but I'm afraid I'd be immediately forked.

  • Yup. Open Source sure is great.

    But what in the world does that have to do with a social website that encourages you to post naked photos of yourself?

  • This is a good idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by User 956 ( 568564 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:34PM (#16744329) Homepage
    I plan on open sourcing my daily schedule. In this way, everyone gets to decide what I have for breakfast, what kind of shampoo I use, what kind of clothes to wear, and where I work. I've already started, I've been experimenting with running all of my personal correspondence through a "meWiki", which lets any member of the public edit every message I write before it gets sent out. TESTICLES.

    • Re:This is a good idea (Score:5, Funny)

      by MillionthMonkey ( 240664 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:37PM (#16744385)
      My wife and I use only open source sexual positions. We get them from a community where people experiment with new positions and publish the ones they find so that free, unfettered access to quality sexual positions can be enjoyed by all.

      Now with my mistress, I have to stick to the LGPL, or Limited GNU Public License, since that's a more discreet relationship and I can't require her to divulge all her private information. The LGPL only requires documentation of who she is, how other guys can get in touch with her, and the details of how I "link" her.

      (That was a joke! Hi honey!)

    • I plan on open sourcing my daily schedule. In this way, everyone gets to decide what I have for breakfast, what kind of shampoo I use, what kind of clothes to wear, and where I work.

      I don't know if you meant to make this point, but I have to say, "good point". If you were really open-sourcing yourself, wouldn't that mean that you'd have to allow others the right to edit you? Not edit your writings or anything else, but edit you?

      Until I have access to your source code, and I can alter it how I'd like in

      • frankly I can't wait to be 'forked'... ;)

      • I don't know if you meant to make this point, but I have to say, "good point". If you were really open-sourcing yourself, wouldn't that mean that you'd have to allow others the right to edit you? Not edit your writings or anything else, but edit you?

        Not quite. It allows you to copy his implementation to whatever degree you feel like in your own implementation. Just because $SOFTWARE is open source doesn't give me the right or ability to modify it upstream.

        You're thinking of a wiki.

      • If you were really open-sourcing yourself, wouldn't that mean that you'd have to allow others the right to edit you?

        Nah, it means that they can copy me (darned biters [urbandictionary.com]) and edit the copies.

    • Have you taken a look at TiddlyWiki? [tiddlywiki.com] I cannot tell a lie: Somebody posted abut it here on Slashdot, and I've become a confirmed convert. By means of TiddlySpot [tiddlyspot.com] if you are so inclined, you can open-source whatever aspects of yourself you'd like people to know about, while keeping the rest of it (like your naked pictures) under wraps. There are also numerous php implementations that allow you to upload your TiddlyWiki to your own server. TiddlyWiki ranks right up there with sliced bread, in my opinion.

  • There's Already an OpenHuman... (Score:3, Funny)

    by jalvear ( 610723 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:34PM (#16744333) Homepage
    ...And her name is Paris Hilton.

  • Well (Score:5, Insightful)

    by imsabbel ( 611519 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:35PM (#16744343)
    "do you still believe in Internet privacy in the age of blogs, MySpace, LinkedIn, Meetup, and Flickr?"

    Yes, i do.
    Thats the reason i dont have a blog, dont whore my photographs out to flicker, think myspace it a breeding experiment for retards and never heard of something called "meetup" before.

    So i guess i dont really belong to the target demographics...
    • Amen to that.
    • the entire concept is retarded.

      "We will all get more and more open, this is inevitable."

      It is? Since when? I am far more protective of my privacy now than I was in '95. Just because a vocal group of jackasses thinks the world wants to view their dirty laundry doesn't mean we all think the same.
      • It is? Since when? I am far more protective of my privacy now than I was in '95.

        Privacy's on the way out. You might as well get used to the idea. In your lifetime you will have an ID chip implanted in you, or in some other way be completely identifiable no matter where you are.

        I'm not saying this is a good thing. But it will happen.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by bunions ( 970377 )
          Internet weirdos proclaim privacy dead, demand naked pictures be posted!
          "It is inevitable," they claim, "let's just leave it at that."

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by FST777 ( 913657 )
          If anyone in my lifetime will try to implant an ID chip into me, that'll be the end of my, or his/her, lifetime. So no, that won't happen in my lifetime.

          Instead of accepting these futuristic horror scenarios we should fight it with all the might we have.
    • If you wanted to it would be possible to be totally untraceable/anonymous online. Get an account with a proxy like Relakks and have your computer keep logs of nothing.

      However even barring that it's pretty easy to maintain a decant level of privacy simply by not posting personal information on sites like that and using a net name. Could someone find out who's behind my /. ID? Sure it's not that hard there's no serious effort at keeping it secret but it's enough that you won't stumble across it. Likewise if y

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by lixee ( 863589 )
      It's a bad implementation of a very good idea. "Open-sourcing" yourself might work miracles. Allow me to elaborate; I started pumping iron a few months back, and realised that posting info about yourself would allow more people to correct any "bugs" (eg: pictures, training routine, nutrive plan, measurements, supplements, etc...)

      By the way, the creator of OpenHuman.org admitedly "can't do without Microsoft Frontpage." Traitor I say!

  • Best. Irony. Ever. (Score:5, Funny)

    by ScentCone ( 795499 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:36PM (#16744355)
    "An anonymous reader writes..."

    Fabulous!
    • Then you'd have to be OK with people improving you. Perhaps you'd look good in heels?

      • If you really think so, maybe you should exercise your right to copy everything he does, but wear heels.

        What? You thought you could modify the upstream source? That would be a wiki, which is totally different.

  • No telling what sort of "code" people are going to want to "download" into your "wetware."

    Crow T. Trollbot

  • Unified data (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Foofoobar ( 318279 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:39PM (#16744427)
    Having my data in several different databases that don't work together or coordinate their data in any way makes me feel safer than having all my data in one database for everyone to easily access. Reminds me of MS Passport.
    • Not working together? Well until some company start buying those databases and do some datamining on them.
      Hmm, actually I think I could make a fortune with that! Now don't go stealing my million dollar worth but evil and despicable idea okay?
  • Does this redefine the concept of Intellectual property? I mean do I get sued from anybody because I own a brain and the creative use of it?
  • I'm not sure I'd want to be the subject of a fork. I hear that can get you admitted.

  • Reality check (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mattpointblank ( 936343 ) <mattpointblank&gmail,com> on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:46PM (#16744527) Homepage
    "This may sound crazy and rife with privacy concerns but as the author asks, do you still believe in Internet privacy in the age
    of blogs, MySpace, LinkedIn, Meetup, and Flickr?""

    Uhhh, what? This is like saying "Why not just start murdering people? Come on, look at how full our jails are with murderers!". Granted that's a little extreme, but the justification for uploading a naked photo of myself is basically "everyone else is doing it!". No thanks.

    Also, the site looks damn awful. Can anyone say "two-bit idea with even less design time"?

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by mattpointblank ( 936343 )
      Oh man, some further reading reveals the reasoning for my last point.

      "# I can't do without Microsoft Frontpage. I know that the next MS Office won't include Frontpage anymore. And this site was planned in Frontpage."

      From the Site's Admin's Page [openhuman.org].

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by Sylver Dragon ( 445237 )
        Frontpage, no wonder the page looks like shit.
        Ok, so you can make a nice looking page using Frontpage, but for some reason it seems to be the source of many bad pages. And, while it would be nice to think that Frontpage is dying a much deserved death, its mostly just getting a name change. Office 2007 has Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer 2007, which is the successor to Frontpage. One can only hope that no one notices it, and the few who do are scared off by the whole "Sharepoint" bit in the name.
        I
  • And this site was planned in Frontpage.

    Is that so? I would have never guessed.

  • God Forbid... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Foofoobar ( 318279 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:49PM (#16744595)
    I dread the day that my workplace can read all my Slashdot posts.
    • Behold! Your first Slashdot Post [slashdot.org]. And what four mods thought this [slashdot.org] was Funny?

      All it takes is $5 for a four-month subscription.
      • Duh... but they don't know this is my handle. And you don't know where I work.
  • This time, I built it during the Halloween; actually this could be my first Halloween, because we don't celebrate it in Turkey

    Wait until someone in turkey roll up some fake id & papers to use them in applying for $100.000 worth of credits in 3-4 banks. Or register a company in your name and do some fraud with it.

    No joke - these things happen.

    Might be a good and inventive idea for a scandinavian or a canada citizen, or in turkey, its suicide.

  • Moo (Score:2, Funny)

    by Chacham ( 981 )
    From The Website:
    # Put your naked pictures (not pornographic or erotic, just naked)

    Guess they just want the bare essentials...

  • Yay for Fads! (Score:4, Funny)

    by pfz ( 965654 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:58PM (#16744713) Homepage
    Open source has turned into a fad that's sweeping the nation! How about we call anything and everything open source so that we can appeal to that demographic and sell whatever products we want! Yay! Open Source Mac and Cheese! Open Source High-Top Sneakers!

    Let's all share in the love of Richard Stallman and stop this trendy madness!

    ALTERNATIVE FREEDOM
    a documentary featuring Richard Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, Danger Mouse(of Gnarls Barkley), doesone and more!
  • Being open is good, if you can trust the person or the group. Being open does not create the needed trust. Unfortunately people don't always act in ways that promote trust. Many times people act in ways that are selfish and without regard and concern for others. We all have been selfish and uncaring at one time or another. That is why people make commitments and covenants with others so that safe places to openly share can be created and maintained.
    • I liked your point about the extra effort we go to (and often feel we need) in order to have a place that we can trust is safe to share in. It's really spot-on. Having come from my cousin's wedding, maybe that's closer to the forefront of my mind.

      Mods, please mod the parent up! :)
    • Indeed, I recall reading a fine theory about this. Suggesting that trust was built over time between an individual and a group by appropriate stages of revelation about themselves and their past. It also included the fact that inappropriate revelation (i.e. too much information too fast, too little too slow, just stuff the group didn't want to know) raised distrust between the group and individual, on the basis that it scared people basically.

      Wish I could recall the name of the idea, but then psycholog

  • Do not give your Real name on that page. (Score:3, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 06, 2006 @07:58PM (#16744723)
    There is NOTHING in the law that states that any web site actually has to abide by their privacy policy. I wish I could remember the website that was challenged on their privacy policy (they sold ALL of their user information: 2.4+ million hits on Google "judge rules against website privacy policy")and the Judge ruled in favor of the website - I.e. the privacy policy on a website isn't worth the paper it's written on! (Prove me wrong, please!) And, in this day nd age with the NSA, Homeland Security, CIA, War on Terror, War on Druge, Repulicans in Charge, do you really think that any law will stop them?

  • I'm already GPL'd.... I'm married with Kids. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Allnighterking ( 74212 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @08:00PM (#16744755) Homepage
    You wouldn't believe the number of "patches" my wife submits daily to "improve" me. Then my kids have their suggestions about how I can do everything better than I am. If I google my name thousands (literally) of hits come back, many of those are in response to RFC's caused by my asking questions or giving opinions on the net. It's a constant race to stay one e-mail address ahead of the spammers and my IM client is constantly in motion due to one customer passing my contact info on to another.

  • Been there, done that (Score:5, Funny)

    by duh P3rf3ss3r ( 967183 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @08:03PM (#16744795)
    I got together with a like-minded open-source linuxchick some time ago and we produced a couple of extremely viable derivative works. Fortunately, neither one of us tried to exert control over the other's homegrown portion of either of those derivative works.

    The trouble is that the derivative works are now starting to think about creating next-gen derivatives which has me sort of worried about whether they'll respect the ideals of the community or if they'll become sellouts like Novell...

    Oh, well, I suppose we'll just have to wait and see...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Pope ( 17780 )
      Deep Thoughts: "I believe in making the world safe for our children, but not our children's children, because I don't think children should be having sex."

  • This guy's not serious (Score:3, Funny)

    by femto ( 459605 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @08:13PM (#16744935) Homepage
    Show me the DNA.
    • Be careful what you ask for. As it is this guy seems to want a naked picture of you, he might just "download" some "DNA" on it for you.
  • Our area employment offices are encouraging everyone to have an online portfolio. But not just a resume and work samples. They list about 50 things a person might consider -- including school transcripts. Should be interesting.
    • I'm sorry, but I don't think that school transcripts should be posted on anyone's online portfolio.

      Data about you that you have to sign for in order to obtain should not be posted for everyone to look at. It gives up way too many details about you.

  • Free Beer (Score:2, Funny)

    by slapys ( 993739 )
    "Open source has made an impact in just about every place imaginable; education, hardware, coke, beer,"
    Seriously. After joining the open source movement, I have encountered more free beer than ever before.
  • there is only what makes you look good and what helps you avoid looking bad (think of this in a wide context - unless you are living isolated from humans, it applies anywhere - personal life, professionally, socially, everywhere). If everything you ever did only resulted in you looking good for everyone else around you, would really need privacy? Conversely, if you could avoid looking bad in everything you do, would you still need privacy?

    So if you have something you like to keep private - 99.999% of the ti

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by TranscendentalAnarch ( 1005937 )
      Privacy is the restriction of information for your personal benefit.  A necessity in any healthy, non-utopian government.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by NateTech ( 50881 )
      Don't worry.

      You won't look bad if you share:
      - your mother's maiden name
      - your SSN #
      - and your birthdate ... with all of us. You won't "look bad" at all.

      So I'm sure you're willing to do that immediately, right?

      Perhaps you need to expand your definition of privacy a bit before generalizing about privacy.
    • I'm not sure this is a useful concept - depending how far you are willing to stretch it, I think it either doesn't encompass all cases or it becomes to broad to mean anything. My wife looks beautiful, yet I have no interest in sharing her naked pictures with you. I want to keep that to myself, even though "looking good" applies...

      Similarly, if I'm into S&M or something like that - I have no interest in my workplace knowing about these activities. This would potentially stretch into the "looking bad" c

  • I liked this bit from the founder's own page [openhuman.org]: "I was having fun to suck batteries while I was a child! Then I've learned that it's very dangerous and can cause brain damages! I regret that!"

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      It certainly explains his site.
    • He also says that Starbucks is one of his two favorite companies and that he hasn't had a girlfriend in almost two years (big surprise there)

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Who235 ( 959706 )
      Waawaaweewaah, is a good site!!!

      I am to posting picture of my chramm.

      Is very nice.

  • "Put your naked pictures (not pornographic or erotic, just naked)"

    So when some teen follows that request, I see the FBI adding this guy to the 10 most wanted, even though he's in Turkey. Interpol will want to have "words" with this man someday.

    Or worse, a Dateline special. "So when you invited young boys and girls to post their naked pictures, what were you thinking?:
  • ...I'd gladly take the Microsoft way.

  • sbout privacy un blogs, innit (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    do you still believe in Internet privacy in the age of blogs, MySpace, LinkedIn, Meetup, and Flickr?

    Well, I don't use MySpace, I've never heard of LinkedIn, the Meetups that I tried to get involved in really sucked ass, and Flickr is one of those things that I've heard other people talking about but never gave a damn about. So, if that's the criteria on which to judge privacy, then, well, yeah, I believe in privacy a whole hell of a lot.

    In terms of privacy, I'm more concerned with large corporate databases

  • In related news.. (Score:4, Funny)

    by Hugonz ( 20064 ) <hugonzNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Monday November 06, 2006 @09:12PM (#16745657) Homepage
    In related news, Steve Ballmer is quoted as saying:

    Open source, my ass!

    • In related news, Steve Ballmer is quoted as saying:
      Open source, my ass!

      Why is Steve Ballmer always squirting [businessweek.com] something?
    • In related news, Steve Ballmer is quoted as saying:

      Open source, my ass!


      And later, in a similar comment, he stated, "Open source? When chairs fly out of my ass!"

  • this seems like the extension of Post Secret -- the open-secret-via-postcard-initiative. the game? people send their secrets via a meaningful postcard, as shown here: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]

  • Could this crash the system? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Thunderstruck ( 210399 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @09:17PM (#16745727)
    If all of your personal information is publicly available, what happens to electronic commerce? Do our current norms of electronic commerce rely on certain information being "secret"? If all of my credit cards, social security numbers, and my mothers maiden names are available for anyone, would anyone dare to do business online with a person claiming to be "me"? What about public services, social security, child support, or medicaid? How would a government agency know if the person receiving the benefits was the "right" person?

    On the other hand, could personal information be devalued to the point where nobody wants to collect it anymore?

  • This is "more open" how? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mincognito ( 839071 ) on Monday November 06, 2006 @09:25PM (#16745811)
    Um, could someone explain how the OpenHuman concept "takes it one step further"? The founder's own page [openhuman.org] seems less open than most myspace pages.

    It seems fairly obvious that being "entirely open" is a really, really stupid idea. It has been known at least since the 6th Century BCE [librivox.org] that your personal information (history, status, intentions, beliefs, etc.) can and will be used against you by others seeking power and your subjugation. To suceed in a world of conflict and competition at times requires deception: insuring that others cannot pin you down, that if they seek to manipulate you their efforts are based on misinformation. Are you going to include on your resume a link to a page that contains naked pictures of yourself, that cataglogs your personal problems and issues, and that details your secret fantasies? Sometimes it's best to just shut the hell up. If you really need to divulge everything about yourself, for therapeutic reasons or whatever, why not do it anonymously? Unless, of course, attaching this information to your real name is to your advantage somehow.

    Clearly the "open" information provided by the site's founder has been prudently selected. To frame its presentation by saying "oh, i'm being 100% open -- this is the real me" is actually quite clever. A page like his might help him make contacts, show off his computer skills, get girls, etc. But it would be of no use to him if he included information about his sexual dysfunction, his absolute hatred for his family and pictures of his hairy ass.
    • Seriously, why do you even bother bringing war into this? This is trying to go beyond war. Sure there's something distinctly optimistic about it, but people have been trying to end war as we know it since at least the first world war, and there's good reason for this. [johnstonsarchive.net]

      War will only end when man can trust man, and only insofar as that trust goes.
  • The idea of OpenHuman is still like a MUD. The "OpenHuman" person may or may not resemble the person entering the data, uploading the pictures, and answering the email.

    Everyone (and no one) can be an action hero online.
  • Hmm.

    Since when does "open source" mean...just posting random factoids about things? Does some list of facts about Linux, like who created it and when it was created, and for what purpose, mean the same thing as "open source"? Umm, no...it's just a bunch of facts.

    Wouldn't "open sourcing" a human mean opening a database of DNA samples?

    This site isn't open source, it's just narcissism.

  • I post a lot about myself on the Internet under at least the creative content license. Esp on Wiki sites and forums.

    I am a member of the Pirate Ninja party and we are pushing for open source of IP and information. We want to have works created under open source licenses to have an online library of books that can easily be revised as information changes. The Pirate Ninja party is all about change and adapting to change, unlike the other parties out there.
  • The article says "Put your naked pictures (not pornographic or erotic, just naked)"

    This guy's been smoking OpenWeed. Your friendly local authorities might not think your privates dangling on your web page for kiddies to see are pornographic even if you don't. Besides if you put up something like this who are you kidding - you're going to w@nk at every opportunity.
  • I don't think "Open Sourcing" yourself means publishing every last detail of your life. Even copyleft licenses like the GPL don't require you to publish anything you use or modify.

    Open sourcing yourself would tend to imply that I give anyone the freedom to use, modify, redistribute and redistribute modifications of ME. That's too much for anyone, obviously - but I could just publish everything ABOUT my life under a CC/GNU license. But that still wouldn't be open sourcing "myself".

    Conversely, I could publish
  • And lets an Anonymous Coward troll /.

    Thanks for nothing.

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