Frequently asked questions
What is Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack)?
Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) is an ecohacker collective whose work is adhered to the defense of libre (free as freedom) computing, libre (free as freedom) information and the ethical, social and environmental implications of technologies at all scales, being completely politically independent.
Pica Pica HackLab or PicaHack?
Simply one is the short version and the other is the long version of the name of the collective.
Why Pica Pica?
Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) is an ecohacker collective and Pica pica is a species of bird with meritorious characteristics such as its distinguished intelligence, but, just the opposite, is frequently unjustifiably socially despised or denigrated due to prejudices, superstitions and irrationality, just like hackers. So our name and logo are a worthy recognition of this bird. Additionally, its coloring is basically binary (black and white) like binary computing (0 and 1) and printable with minimal resources.
(For stylistic reasons, we usually capitalize all the words of the proper name of the collective.)
Why hacklab?
Pica Pica is a collective of people critical of the ethical and social implications of technologies, especially computing, and additionally to study and analysis, carry out social dissemination and seek to offer alternatives. This long phrase can be conceptually summarized in the word hacklab.
Why ecohacker?
The above definition does not include consideration of environmental or ecological implications, Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) does and specifies that it is an ecohacker collective or ecohacklab.
Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) as an ecological or environmentalist collective researches and disseminates the effects of technologies (especially computing, electronics and telecommunications) such as their dangerousness and toxicity, pollution, concealment and distortion of information, prioritization of maximum private profit, not opting for ecosocially better alternatives, waste or squandering, consumerism, obsolescence, difficulty of repair, generation of garbage and its management, lack of recycling and circularity of the production, relocation of negative effects to economically poor regions without strong geopolitical power,...
Hacker? Isn't that a bad thing?
Hacker, hack and hacking are different from cracker, crack and cracking. Hacking is creating, researching and disseminating information of general interest, fulfilling being ethically good as a differentiating criterion from cracking. Although it could be used in a broad sense, the use of the term hacking is usually restricted to when it involves computing, software, hardware, repair and/or modification. It is not hacking and whoever does it is not a hacker, but it is cracking and whoever does it is a cracker, kidnapping the data of a person or a company and blackmailing or extorting them for money to return it, here there is only interest in private profit, nothing about spreading information of general interest because it is ethically good. For years, hacker/hacking were terms used correctly and did not have a negative connotation, but later an obvious media campaign of intentional confusion and information manipulation began promoted by certain governments and related media in order to the population rejects anything related to hacker/hacking due to confusion with cracker/cracking. The reason is that the dissemination of information of general interest prevents the information manipulation used by these governments and related media as a tool of social manipulation, and also prevents the enormous perverse profit from imposed obsolescence (due to difficulty of repair or by suppressing security maintenance) as a pro-consumerist resource for many companies whose business is the sale of products. It is even intended to present hacker and pirate as synonyms, when pirate is someone who attacks a ship, kills the people on board and steals everything for own profit. The supposed "classification of colored hats" also promotes confusion between hacker and cracker, and should also be rejected. One last point to clarify. Hacking is a question of ethics, not legality. Laws should always be ethical, but they are not always. If the laws in force in a country are not ethical, hacking may be illegal in that country. The most obvious example is WikiLeaks, the victim of a long judicial process in United States of America (USA) for spreading information of general interest that reveals the unethical and illegal actions of the State of that country, but that country has unethical laws that make that illegal.
What is libre (free as freedom) computing?
Explained in "About libre (free as freedom) computing".
What is the history of Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack)?
Summary in "More information".
What kind of people participate in Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack)?
Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) is a collective of very diverse people (in age, studies,...) who share in common the defense of libre (free as freedom) computing and libre (free as freedom) information, the opposition to privative computing and information barriers, and the critical analysis of the ethical, social and environmental implications of technologies. To participate, it is not necessary to have knowledge (neither of computing nor of ecology) nor to share positions on issues other than those mentioned, but it is necessary to promote a pleasant coexistence for all participants. We consider anyone who participates to be a member and there is no economic fee.
How is Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) organized?
The organization and communication in Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) is through mailing lists, complemented occasionally with assemblies or meetings in which it is possible to participate in person (in Asturias, Spain) or by videoconference, the date and time of which is chosen by survey seeking the maximum possible attendance.
Mailing lists allow asynchronous participation, interoperability, good thematic organization and a consultable and durable historical record.
What is the annual calendar of activities of Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack)?
Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) intends to annually organize two events or workshops about initiation to libre (free as freedom) computing, aimed mainly at people interested in the subject but with little computer knowledge, one at the end of April (the fourth Saturday in April) and another at the end of September (the Saturday closest to September 27), plus talks for dissemination and outreach, thematic courses and workshops, and meetings to resolve doubts or problems in number and frequency that has varied throughout our history. A fixed calendar of activities is ideal but difficult for a collective where all participants are volunteers and their contribution is limited to their free time, which is limited and shared with other matters. Each person contributes what they can and want at each moment of their life. Since 2024 we are trying a fixed quarterly calendar.
How to help Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack)?
Possible ways to help Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack):
- Spread the existence, announcements and activities of Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack).
- Write indicating interest in receiving announcements of upcoming activities or getting more involved.
- Inform Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) of news or circumstances contrary to libre (free as freedom) computing, libre (free as freedom) information or the rights of people in computing environments.
- Collaborate in the organization of activities.
- Donate money. The expenses of the collective are paid with our personal money (except for occasional conferences with public sponsorship) and this limits our activities and projects. For example, it is difficult for us to buy hardware whose price is high, to obtain stocks of hardware which has stopped being manufactured, to pay for the manufacture of circuits or hardware, or to invite speakers who live far away. Attend to those who contact us or ask us questions, and preparing and carrying out our activities and projects, is done exclusively in our scarce personal free time. Hopefully one day (donations should increase a lot) we can hire someone to fully dedicate time to taking the work of Pica Pica HackLab (PicaHack) to another level.
- Donate computer and telecommunications components and equipment and some useful accessories (such as shelves and glass cabinets), with certain conditions.
How to contact us?
