Last Thursday (8), the Raspberry Pi Foundation announced its newest employee: Toby Roberts🇧🇷 It was meant to be a mere presentation. However, in a matter of hours, the hiring became the target of numerous criticisms. All because the contractor is a former police officer specializing in espionage.
The ad contains a quick interview with Roberts. In it, he explains that he dealt with organized crime and terrorist threats in the east of the UK. But what attracted the attention of the Raspberry Pi was its ability to build objects to hide video or audio recording equipment.
To build the objects, the former police officer mainly used 3D printers. He even went so far as to design his own such equipment. But for many of his works, Roberts also used the various models of the Raspberry Pi.
There were so many works with Raspberry Pi units that Toby Roberts became a great connoisseur of these plaques. But soon after the announcement of your hiringcommunity participants began to express concern about the news.
Computer scientist Joe Bowser is one of them. He uses the boards in various projects. An example that ironically fits this story is a device that identifies telephone spy devices.
Community members complaining about the hiring believe that the Raspberry Pi Foundation should not work with surveillance experts.
Generally speaking, they are not concerned that Roberts could insert spying mechanisms into Raspberry Pi units. The concern is that the former police officer will popularize the use of plates in projects to spy on people. Bowser gave a statement that illustrates this thought well:
The company [Raspberry Pi] clearly doesn’t know how its products are used in the world. Many people who use them are anti-authoritarian, anti-surveillance, and dislike police brutality. And they’re actively building tools using the Raspberry Pi and the like against these things.
Raspberry Pi reaction is also questioned
The hiring of Toby Roberts has been discussed on social networks and on platforms such as YCombinator Hacker News🇧🇷 But the Raspberry Pi’s reactions have not been friendly, at least in some cases.
One of the critics account has been blocked by the Raspberry Pi precisely after reporting that the organization has been blocking users who criticize the hiring.
On a Mastodon server, an account questioned an ironic answer given by the Raspberry Pi and received guidance from the organization to unfollow the profile. And these are just two examples. There are other reports of crashes and unsympathetic responses from the Raspberry Pi.
Are the community reactions against the arrival of Toby Roberts exaggerated? There is such a possibility. In any case, the Raspberry Pi seems to have lacked the flexibility to deal with the situation.
Perhaps tempers will calm down if the organization explains what Roberts’ role will be. Incredibly, the hiring announcement mentions the former police officer’s skills, but does not say what he will do there.
https://tecnoblog.net/noticias/2022/12/12/raspberry-pi-foundation-irrita-comunidade-ao-contratar-ex-policial-espiao/