Harry Winser.com

1Password and their Donation to Omachy

I’ve been a big fan of 1Password for a good few years now. My workflow is embedded in it, it works well (enough) cross platform, and I trust it’s security. 1Password should just be one of those bits of software that just works ™️ and ultimately I don’t have to think about. And yet here we are today, with folks proclaiming they’re looking to ditch 1Password because it now supports Ethic Cleansing.

Lets take a step back; this all started because of a Linux Distro called Omachy. I was aware of this distro for two reasons:

  1. It seems to have terrible security policies even though it prides itself on being secure
  2. David Heinemeier Hansson is a racist (I won’t link to the blog here - go search for it)

So anyway, 1Password + others in the last few days have all donated a shed-tonne ($13 million+) of cash to the Omachy foundation - the foundation that runs and supports Omachy. This is deeply weird for the same two reasons above; why spend so much money on unproven / shoddy tech, and on a racist? My line has been; if you invest in a bad person, you’re also a bad person. Pretty simple maths.

Before i go further, you might want some more background; I’d check out The Verge’s reporting.

So what am I going to do?

I’ve been with 1Password for years. I’m pretty darn embedded! But…

If you invest in a bad person, you’re also a bad person. Pretty simple maths.

Is a phase I keep coming back to. If i continue to support 1Password, am I a bad person? Well, yes and no. The Good Place is one of my favourite shows to explain this problem; doing something good in this world is incredibly complex, and has all sorts of ramifications that aren’t easy to anticipate. Just buying a tomato might mean you’re supporting pesticide use.

However, a password manager isn’t food. It’s not a requirement to survive.

So here’s what I’m going to do; I’m going to wait.

I’m currently hoping that 1Password changes their mind, withdraws their funding, and maybe even issue an apology. If they don’t… well expect a post about what password managers I’ve been trailing.