What Does Industrial Automation and IIoT Need? RICO Charges
Tags: opensource, tutorial, beginners
Published: 2024-04-27 20:34:13

It saddens me to say that everyone I have met in the industrial automation sector has experienced high degrees of corruption within the profession directly & indirectly.

Without fail, even before hearing their personal story, the experience goes something like this:

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1. Go to school for a STEM major, usually for electrical engineering/mechanical engineering/controls engineering but oftentimes for computer science/computer engineering/software engineering.

2. During university, work predominantly with open source technologies, with sprinkling of commercial closed source tools here & there during the first 2 years. Then exponentially ramp up use of closed source tools towards the end of their university days.

3. After graduating, while job searching, you realize you are forced out of the market unless you bow down to using a handful of commercial proprietary closed-source tools because no one is interested in entertaining anything but said products. Fingers crossed that your trade school and/or engineering program had business connections to those products in order to train you on them.

4. If you did not get trained on said products, suffer immensely & unnecessarily and pray for better days — with the prayers usually leading to being forced to attend graduate school in a desperate attempt to be more “marketable”.

5. After finally landing somewhere, feel the creativity & innovation systematically drained out of you as no tolerance of any open source technologies are allowed to be thought about, let alone talked about & implemented.

6. Get fed up & soul search, inevitably come to a crossroads — see who else might be doing things differently using open source & go work for them OR go your own way by building your own business.

7. Option 1 — choose to work for an existing open source business. Realize that even the open source businesses are suffering needlessly due to severe market control, thereby forcing them to oftentimes need to make wide pendulum swing business decisions.

8. Option 2 — go into business for yourself. At first, you believe you are now truly free & independent. Shortly thereafter, the dread dawns on you as you now only eat what you catch & these fish are only tugging on lines flavored with proprietary closed-source commercial tools.

9. Come full circle to have a life crisis — stay in industrial automation or leave the industry altogether for greener pastures, typically in finance and on rare occasion video game development.

10. Repeat steps 1–9

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To be honest, I’m not entirely sure what it will take to convince some that this is quite literally the definition of a conspiracy — specifically a pattern of racketeering activity through group(s) connected to an enterprise including but not limited to white-collar crimes. Some may call this willful ignorance. Personally, I’m not so sure what to say.

Economic market manipulation through direct and/or indirect means, such as fraudulent and/or coercive business dealings, absolutely meet RICO statutes. Doublespeak seems to have lulled even the fiercest activists to sleep, somehow convincing them that it’s best to avoid the matter altogether instead of doing their part to combat corruption. As if ignoring the elephant in the room will somehow make it all go away.

Considering the intricate web of proprietary control and its stifling grip on innovation within industrial automation, it becomes essential to explore unconventional avenues for advocacy and reform. One such avenue might be the strategic application of RICO statutes, traditionally wielded against organized crime, to challenge systemic corruption. 

RICO charges, with their focus on patterns of racketeering activity tied to an enterprise, offer a lens through which to view the entrenched practices that maintain the status quo. It is not to suggest initiating legal action lightly, but to understand the mechanisms of accountability and leverage they represent. Emphasizing the spirit of these laws — to dismantle corrupt enterprises — would inspire a paradigm shift toward transparency and fairness.

It is my unhumble belief that we all have a duty to stomp out tyranny whenever we see it — especially in the realm of industrial automation, a profession I hold near & dear. It’s not just about producing widgets efficiently. There is a war being waged against transparency & accountability and there is a need for more people to come out of the woodwork to help bend the moral arc of the universe towards justice.

Self-education is one starting place. More importantly is what you choose to do with that knowledge after acquiring it. For your own sake, my sake, our ancestors sake, and the sake of future generations — I sincerely hope you choose to make use of it by becoming a journalist & sharing your story loudly & proudly.

Industrial automation has a serious need for smart, technology-literate people with a backbone for integrity to become independent journalists & document the happenings in the profession beyond the typical “product laundry list comparison”.

Ask your local businesses if they would support internal policies mandating open source solutions be considered during procurement, regardless of whether they get selected. Contact your alma-mater & ask for their stance on supporting open source as an investment vehicle to achieving new job creation that provides living wages with upward mobility. 

If you’re an independent integrator, ask yourself how truly free & independent you are if most clientele will only consider proprietary commercial closed-source solutions. Then take it a step further and research what economic impact infrastructure bills have had in your community through the lens of the open source philosophy.

In the journey toward a more open and ethical industrial automation landscape, the path is not without its obstacles. While the pragmatic use of proprietary, closed-source tools may be necessary in certain contexts due to specific features or existing infrastructure, the principle of prioritizing open-source solutions stands as our beacon. This principle champions not just technological openness but embodies a commitment to transparency, community empowerment, and sustainable innovation. 

The vision for our sector involves a deliberate pivot to open-source methodologies wherever possible, encouraging a culture where proprietary solutions are considered only when no viable open-source alternatives exist. Such a shift necessitates not only individual action but collective advocacy, demanding policies and practices that favor openness and inclusivity. By fostering an environment where open-source is the norm rather than the exception, we lay the groundwork for a future where innovation thrives unencumbered by artificial barriers.

Financial grifting is at an all-time high. In LA, there is rampant abuse of funds by nonprofits that were created with the intentions of tackling large-scale economic needs like eliminating poverty & creating jobs. Thanks to the help of independent journalists, it has been widely covered that these nonprofits are simply shell companies serving to funnel taxpayer & private investments towards select few special interest groups by hiring startup businesses & established businesses to execute on purported needs to accomplish said mission. Everything from web & app development, building management services (HVAC repair, controls system for badge access), leasing industrial equipment to clean streets/buildings, and more.

We are in a period where the need for independent journalism is at an all time high and means to do so are equally as large.

Will you do your part by contributing to transparency & accountability? I know I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt if I don’t.

Thanks again for your time and consideration. You could have been doing anything else in the world right now but instead you chose to review my work & for that I am forever grateful, even if we may disagree. Stay tuned and I’ll see you in the next one.


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DISCLAIMER: I am not sponsored or influenced in any way, shape, or form by the companies and products mentioned. This is my own original content, with image credits given as appropriate and necessary.