My work is about building and defending sanctuaries.
I've discovered that the principles that apply to a threatened forest ecosystem also apply to our imperiled digital lives. Both are vital commons, and both require deliberate, architectural work to protect them from powerful, extractive forces.
In the physical world, I do this as an environmental lawyer with the Western Environmental Law Center. My practice is dedicated to holding power accountable, using the rule of law to make industry and government explain their actions to the owls, the wolves, and the grizzlies.
In the digital world, my work is a return to my first love of computer science, rekindled by the challenges of my legal career. It’s about architecting escape routes from surveillance capitalism and the rising tide of technofeudalism. It is a practical defense of data sovereignty, privacy, and the right to a digital life outside of walled gardens.
So I started building things.
This blog is the logbook for that work, where my past as a documentary filmmaker and my present as a coder and lawyer all converge. It's a collection of projects, a space for philosophy, and a set of guides for anyone interested in using rigorous, rules-based systems to protect the vulnerable.
The tools may differ—from the Endangered Species Act to a Caddy server, from a legal brief to a Python script—but the calling is the same.
You can find me working on these principles across the Fediverse, where I run the social media platform earth.law, the open-source code hub sij.ai, and the secure communication platform we2.ee.
Welcome.
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