According to iKS-Consulting, the volume of services offered by Russian cloud services reached 86.6 billion rubles by the end of 2022. Maksim Kirillov, a Cloud and DevOps engineer, worked as a contractor for an international non-profit organization. He shared insights into how well-crafted technical solutions contribute to the protection of human rights.
Maksim, people, both in private conversations and in the media, often ask, "Who can significantly influence the development of technologies aimed at preserving privacy, both in the commercial sector and globally? In your opinion, what role do software engineers play in the development of such technologies?"
In my view, professionals in technical fields play a crucial role in such matters, even in upholding human rights. One of the key aspects here is access to information. Programmers develop and maintain systems that ensure transparency in the activities of human rights organizations and allow citizens to access critical data. For example, the development of platforms for reporting violations and real-time access to such reports increases societal awareness.
Programmers create secure data storage and exchange systems. This is critical for organizations dealing with confidential information regarding clients, employees, and contractors. Secure databases and encryption tools help prevent data leaks.
Social networks and online platforms are created and maintained by programmers, and today, they are powerful tools for supporting people. Through social media and online platforms, one can gather signatures for petitions in defense of individuals whose rights are violated, conduct social campaigns, and raise funds for those in need.
You have implemented cloud technologies and developed innovative solutions while working for a major international non-profit organization that focused on human rights protection. What was lacking in the organization before your arrival, and what changes did you introduce?
This non-profit organization had a vital mission: providing independent election monitoring in West African countries. Additionally, they accepted complaints from citizens whose rights were violated and helped seek justice. However, they lacked the necessary technical expertise, which posed significant risks to the organization's operations.
When their representative witnessed a violation during elections, such as the disposal of ballots marked for a candidate not favored by the ruling party, he would send photographic evidence through an insecure messenger.
A secure messenger is one that incorporates end-to-end encryption. This means that when a message is sent, it automatically transforms into an unreadable format (encrypted), and it is decrypted at the recipient's end to its original form. As a result, if intercepted by authorities, they cannot read the message as they are neither the sender nor the recipient.
Therefore, one of my first actions at the non-profit organization was to switch to a secure messenger with end-to-end encryption.
Another important step was the implementation of cloud storage. Before my arrival, the organization stored all its information on local computers. Law enforcement would periodically visit the office and delete photo and video evidence of human rights violations during raids. I set up a cloud storage system for the organization, and a special bot would upload all files sent through the messenger by representatives from different regions. If the police were to visit the office, they would be unable to delete any data.
Indeed, your contribution as a cloud engineer to the cause of ensuring legitimate elections is quite interesting. But if a specialist like you works in a regular commercial or consulting company, can they somehow influence public opinion?
Influence is easily achievable. An engineer's honest work extends beyond matters related to elections or political activities. For example, while working for a French advertising agency, I helped protect intellectual property rights more effectively.
The advertising agency succumbed to popular trends and decided to create a service for clients that would generate unique logos and other images in real time. However, visual content available on the internet has authors, and they hold intellectual property rights. If the application used samples from the internet, the advertising agency would be inundated with legal claims from copyright holders.
I developed an application for the advertising agency with an interface where the designer could input their requirements, and the program would generate the image. These images weren't sourced from the internet but were automatically generated by the program, ensuring that no one's intellectual property rights were violated.
Before turning to me, the advertising agency had attempted to create something similar independently, but their approach incurred high costs. They set up an in-house server on top of a cloud solution connected high-performance graphics cards, which consumed a significant amount of energy and required a substantial budget. They conducted training within this cumbersome and expensive system. By the most modest estimates, they were spending around 15,000 euros per month on operational expenses alone, not counting salaries, and this technical solution didn't work perfectly.
So, the advertising agency had two tasks to address: respecting intellectual property rights and reducing their costs. How you helped achieve the first goal is clear. What steps did you take to lower the company's expenses?
Instead of using a platform as a service (PaaS), we transitioned to software as a service (SaaS). PaaS is what the advertising agency had attempted to use before my involvement: the company purchased permanent access to a ready-made cloud platform and worked within it.
I organized the shift to SaaS, where the advertising agency purchased access to specific software hosted in the cloud rather than the entire platform. This led to cost reductions.
Additionally, I immediately noticed that, in reality, companies didn't require constant 24/7 access to the cloud but only 5-6 times a day. Therefore, I organized the purchase of on-demand access to SaaS rather than continuous access. This means that if the advertising agency used the software 5 times a day for 2 hours each, they paid only for those 10 hours, not the entire 24. As a result, expenses were further reduced.
While working for various companies, did you ever consider, when choosing your profession, that eventually, you wouldn't just be writing code or managing technical projects but also participating in such large-scale endeavors?
From childhood, honesty and fairness were essential to me. I started contemplating the importance of striving for a just society long before I even thought about choosing a profession.
I entered the field of information technology eight years ago. Initially, I was involved in the self-hosted movement and began delving into software automation. I started with small home computers and then moved on to rented virtual private servers. I implemented increasingly complex projects, improved my professionalism, and began acquiring larger clients.
Now, with significant experience as a specialist and manager in the field of cloud solutions, I am pleased that my professional activities contribute to improving processes related to human rights. After all, software development and implementation involve much more than just coding and managing a team of specialists. It can be confidently stated that the experience gained by a professional while working on a truly large-scale project can serve as the foundation for developing their professional skills and abilities.
