Last month, I stepped down as an organizer of the Phoenix chapter of Freelance Spark. (Organizers in other cities stepped down as well.) I started volunteering with Freelancers Union in January 2015, holding my first event in February at GangPlank in Chandler. Soon, videographer Ita Udo-Ema joined me as a co-organizer, before I went solo in order to move the event to CoHoots in downtown Phoenix on October 2015 in hopes of drawing a larger crowd. Our June meeting would’ve been tomorrow (Wednesday) so I wanted to give an explanation.

From the beginning of my volunteer stint, I noticed two things. First, it became immediately apparent that the Freelancers Union staff (which doesn’t include many former or current freelancers) wanted to basically run the show with very little feedback from volunteers—even going so far as to provide “scripts” in each month’s material for us to read aloud, often to promote their own health insurance offerings or initiatives. And second, I noticed that this non-profit, whose goal is (supposedly) to help freelancers thrive and grow, was instead invested in how much additional work it could get from volunteers. What more could chapter leaders be doing? Early on, I remember leaving a Google Hangout for this very reason. It was exhausting.

At one point, Spark wanted to reprint one of my blog posts, and asked me for a photograph. When I asked for specs, they sent me a laundry list that would be more appropriate for a paid graphic designer or photographer to receive from a client: body turned towards camera, high resolution (non blurry/grainy), landscape orientation (not square), negative space–the more the merrier–around your entire silhouette (except for the bottom, no part of you touches the edge of the photo), minimum resolution: 72 dpi, minimum dimensions: 700 px tall, 900px wide, at least 300KB,” it read in part. Of course, they forgot to add a link to the original post until I wrote back in with a reminder. Priorities, amirite?

Freelance Spark seems to cater to fledgling freelancers, rather than established professionals, focusing its campaigns on things like legislation in New York (which wouldn’t affect many members) and a laundry list of unpaid invoices by its members that it’s titled “the world’s longest invoice” (in spite of the fact that pointing to plight of unpaid freelance work doesn’t exactly help the profession, or how it’s perceived by others). But it wasn’t lost on even the greenest attendees that the curriculum provided was of increasingly poor quality. Perhaps as a byproduct of material that wasn’t applicable to most of the people in the room, attendance to meetings dwindled. Even when many people RSVPed for events, only few would show up, and I got used to recycling unused material at the end of the night month after month. On multiple occasions, our gathering had just one or two attendees. I found myself wondering whether it was worth it, but discussing it with the Freelancers Union powers that be was pointless, as they provided little feedback or assistance.

Some of these issues came to a head in our Slack channel when a Freelancers Union staffer decided that we would all be charging for events going forward to prevent no-shows. Not all organizers were thrilled with the idea of asking members to pay for events we were hosting as volunteers, in space generously provided free of charge, but we were never even asked.

In response to growing conversation and actual feedback from its unpaid volunteers, Freelancers Union leaders decide to shut down the discussion and send out a survey. In response to my concerns with Freelance Spark meetups, I was sent an email and asked to hop on the phone with two organizers so that we could discuss my tone.

I had already been planning to resign because I didn’t feel like my volunteer work was making a positive impact, because the material seemed meaningless, and because–after months of this–I didn’t envision a possibility for change. But I was waiting for a scheduled happy hour (as a way to say thanks to our hosts) and for a session on security for small businesses, which I was asked to help develop curriculum for. Prior to being asked to create written material, I was asked to be on a panel (which never happened). As I was surveying chapter leaders for information to cover (something, incidentally, that Spark hadn’t really ever done when designing curriculum), a Freelancers Union organizer asked me to tack on information on IP and copyright, which is not only problematic for multiple reasons, but also out of scope. After agreeing to multiple requests to help with this session, I was then asked to hop on the phone to essentially repitch the idea. Later, the scheduled talk was quietly removed from the calendar.

How many freelancers haven’t had this problem? Someone asks you to do something, then when you agree, asks you to explain how you’re qualified and essentially pitch it to them? It’s annoying when it’s paying work, and honestly a little bit insulting for unpaid work. Freelancers Union relies on unpaid volunteers, and apparently views our time as expendable. I’m not sure how it distinguishes between “promoting the interests of independent workers” and promoting its own interests through the unused and unacknowledged (let alone unpaid) labor of independent workers, which is how I knew it was time to say goodbye.

After a year and a half of being dismissive of concerns, it’s hard to say whether Freelancers Union will be able to rebuild trust with its cadre of volunteers, or demonstrate that its staffers are familiar with freelancing and care about the needs of independent workers (beyond soliciting unpaid labor and trying to sell insurance). Running a successful remote group of volunteers isn’t easy even when it’s done properly, and I can’t even imagine how hard it would be when done wrong.

I did make some great connections through Spark, so not all was lost. And information wants to be free. In addition to teaching multiple workshops on online privacy and security for small businesses at my coworking space, and cohosting several events at another coworking space and the downtown library, I’ve already started organizing informal meetups for networking and troubleshooting sessions without forced curriculum, and without being asked to push a dismissive and out-of-touch organization’s agenda. Here’s to mutual assistance and the spirit of d.i.y., which drew a lot of us to freelancing in the first place.

It’s been a busy month for events! After attending RightsCon in San Francisco, I co-organized and participated in two CryptoParties here in Phoenix, one at Mod and one at the Burton-Barr Public Library. Missed them? Follow @cryptopartyphx on Twitter, and check out David Huerta’s slides on when ads stare back, Will Bradley’s Prezi on encrypted messaging, and my slides on basic operational security. (Jeremy Leung was our fourth presenter.) You can also check out my Mid-Week MindTweak at Co+Hoots on May 25th at 12:30 to get food truck food and learn some ways to keep your business secure.

Freelancers attending the Society for Professional Journalists Western Regional Conference in Phoenix this Saturday can catch me at the freelancer’s survival hack panel moderated by KJZZ reporter Carrie Jung, where I’ll be answering questions alongside fellow freelancers Jimmy Magahern and Maritza Felix. And, as always, Freelance Spark is the first Wednesday of the month.

As far as posts this month, I do have seven to share.

• Apple Bug Exposed Chat History With A Single Click (The Intercept) I’m excited about this one! Bishop Fox researchers discovered a security vulnerability in the Mac version of Apple’s Messages app allowed users to be compromised by malicious links, and I wrote it up for, uh, the best site of all time (with a fabulous editor)

• 5 Reasons You Should Stop Shortening URLs (Forbes) A recent paper published by Cornell Tech researchers showed that shortened URLs can be cracked to spy on people—but that’s just one reason to avoid bit.ly and sites like it. Here are five more. (And yes, do as we do, not as we say. I do my best to refrain from shortening links myself, but can’t speak for sites I write for!

• This Is The Easiest Way To Password Protect A Word Document (Forbes) How to protect a single Microsoft Office file with a password to stop others from opening and/or modifying it. You don’t even have to download anything. I wrote this post when a friend of mine asked for help and I didn’t know what to say.

• Security News You Might Have Missed: Microsoft Sues The Government Over Secret Cloud Data Searches (Forbes) I miss writing WIRED’s security roundup so much that I’m doing it for Forbes. Microsoft sues the Justice Department, Apple patches a Messages vulnerability but no longer updates QuickTime for Windows, Australian federal police admit to seeking a journalist’s metadata, a study shows that location data from two apps can identify you, and more.

• Security News You Might Have Missed: $1.3M iPhone Hack, Feds Want More Apple Data, More (Forbes) This week, the government revealed it paid at least $1.3m for tool to unlock San Bernardino phone, a transparency report revealed that US government orders for Apple user data quadrupled, the secret FISA court ignored a public advocate’s concerns over FBI access to NSA data for domestic crimes, NSAs were deemed legal (for now).

• Security News You Might Have Missed: Waze Stalking, Email Privacy Act Passes House, More (Forbes) Government requests for Facebook user data spike, awareness of mass surveillance led to plummeted Wikipedia traffic on entries related to terrorism, a former Tor developer now creates malware for the government to track Tor users, and more security news you might have missed this week.

• [Paywall] Community Gardening For Fun And Produce (The Performance Menu) Why and how to get started growing your own food in a community garden.

Less than 24 hours before its planned showdown with Apple, the FBI moved to vacate March 22nd’s hearing. The request was granted.

“On Sunday, March 20, 2016, an outside party demonstrated to the FBI a possible method for unlocking Farook’s iPhone. Testing is required to determine whether it is a viable method that will not compromise data on Farook’s iPhone. If the method is viable, it should eliminate the need for the assistance from Apple Inc. (“Apple”) set forth in the All Writs Act Order in this case,” the filing read in part. Government attorneys proposed filing a status report with the court by April 5th, 2016.

The hearing was meant to determine whether the government can use the All Writs Act to compel Apple to create a new vulnerability in its software, sign it, and deliver it to an iPhone belonging to a deceased San Bernardino shooter, so that investigators can peek inside the phone (in spite of the fact that it likely doesn’t even have anything of value on it). This came on the heels of a federal magistrate judge in Brooklyn ruling that the government does not have the authority to compel Apple to unlock an iPhone using the All Writs Act.

The news was first reported on Politico.

I just realized I forgot to do this last month, so wanted to link to all of my December post before rounding up the ones for January.

Protect Yourself From Workplace Bullies (Dice.com) Tips from executive coach Michele Woodward, who presented an interactive webinar on the issue for the Harvard Business Review on this topic, and from Eylsia Lock on her own experience.

After 11 Years, FBI Gag Order on Warrantless Surveillance Is Lifted (Slate) With comments from Nick Merrill himself.

5 Generous Paleo-Friendly Holiday Gift Ideas (PAYWALL–Performance Menu) This one is serious.

8 Gifts Every Freelancer Will Love (The Freelancer) This one is tongue in cheek.

Security News This Week: Facebooking At Work Can No Longer Be Charged as “Hacking” (WIRED)

Security News This Week: The Government Really Doesn’t Seem to Like Encryption (WIRED)

Security This Week: Peek Inside the Government’s Spy Gear Catalog (WIRED)

Beating the Odds: UFC 194 (Sherdog)