Authoritarianism of Code

Zed A. Shaw argues that authoritarianism is deeply embedded in software development and open source communities, often hidden from participants who lack full informed consent about the authoritarian structures they're joining. He proposes evaluating development practices and communities based on whether they transparently disclose their authoritarian nature, contending that true authoritarianism involves deliberately concealing power dynamics to exploit contributors. Shaw aims to help programmers make conscious, fully informed decisions about whether to participate in projects rather than unknowingly contribute to exploitative systems.