This page is jam-packed with very dull and possibly out of date information about me. If you'd like to see more regularly updated, brightly-coloured Danny-related facts, you should go to Oblomovka, which is one of those lousy goddamn blogs, or, when you're quite done with that centralized social media mess, you can find me on Mastodon or I guess Bluesky at @danny.spesh.com. Or, indeed, at danny.spesh.com/, which aspires to be my canonical current-status page.
My current work is at the Filecoin Foundation/Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web, where I try to get people to be done with that centralized mess (see above), and support the tools and communities who are trying to re-decentralize us back to a better place.
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking "That's very interesting, but
What happened to that 90s favourite you co-wrote, NTK?" Well, at time of writing, NTK is on a
semi-permanent holiday, like King Arthur or Marc Andreessen
(holy cow, did he make a comeback). The interval between issues is
expanding at an exponential rate, which means that you were due another one in
around 2012 2038. My old co-founder Dave Green is still doing sterling work operating the
Modern Day NTK Twitter account
though, so he wins.
I used to work for the Electronic Frontier Foundation (style note: when you say "the EFF" you should say "EFF" like you're supposed to say "iPhone" not "the iPhone" or "my iPhone" or "this is 2038, what the hell is an iPhone?" Say "what the hell is iPhone?" instead and say "He works for EFF.") I was EFF's chief (ie only) Activist from 2005-2007, and then its International Outreach Coordinator from 2007-2010.
As part of my own international outreaching, I helped to set up Open Rights Group. ORG does amazing things in the area of digital rights in the UK, and does it all dependent on donations from individuals. Please consider joining them or EFF today.
After that, I worked at co-ordinating Internet Advocacy at the Committee to Protect Journalists. If you're in trouble for committing acts of journalism, let CPJ know: they may be able to help. They're a damn sight more effective than most committees, let me tell you that.
After my brief foray in the world of defending journalists, I rejoined EFF in 2013 as their International Director, and then Director of Strategy.
A carefully hidden note for the curious: my frequently flippant manner belies the seriousness with which I take my job. I've seen friends imprisoned and their lives threatened or prematurely ended because of those who want to shut down free speech or use technology to curtail basic human rights. I swore to those friends that I'd deploy every skill I had to achieve change. One of the best weapons my side has is that we're funnier. So be warned, or something.
What else? A few decades ago, I coined the term "life hacks", which has gone on to become an entire industry of hints and tips that I am, by my congenital laziness, unable to use or benefit from. It is some sort of karmic punishment.
You can always mail me at danny@spesh.com. If I don't reply - mail me again. I don't mind being reminded. The longer it takes me to write a reply, the more important the original e-mail seems to be.
You can find out the amazing truth about my PGP keys.
Every decade I write something online that briefly becomes the only thing I'm know for, and then slowly its findability wanes as a new session of the Internet palimpsest begins. Here is a short list of those pieces:
Highly incriminating.
This is the cat that I used to live with, Dyson, who belonged to my wonderful daughter Ada Trouble Norton.
Dyson passed away on 2015-09-01, aged 13.
She was a very good cat.
