In this article I will talk a little about my identity info.
Why “czl92783719”?
“cz” is the abbreviation of my full name Carter Zhang.
“l” stands for “libre,” a French word meaning free as in freedom.
“92783” is when the GNU Project was initialized, to be specific, September 27, 1983 (9/27/83).
“719” is a historical legacy issue - July 19 was my originally planned date to start my newly set up devices libreated from nonfree software up, however due to some reasons, the plan was postponed.
Why that phone number?
I was looking for a phone number that ends with “92783.” At that time, the number “159***92783” was the only choice.
Another phone number +86182******63 was picked randomly and had no special meaning.
Why the profile photo?
“L” stands for “Libre.”, and “CZ” is the abbreviation of my full name.
“CZ” and the circle around that contains the letter “L” can be drawn in ONE stroke, which means the only ONE world I expect is that only libre software exists.
I am not talented in painting and using Krita, therefore, such a geometrical, simple design was applied using LibreOffice Draw.
I got a phone call from the number +86151******07, was that you?
Yes, I have the phone number +86151******07. However, this number’s main usage scope is accounts registration, and, unless both of my main phone number are available, I won’t use this number to contact my friends.
In short, this number is mine, but only for fallback usage.
SMS/MMS encryption?
Yes, if you use Silence, you can directly initiate a secure session with me.
How to verify that it’s you?
Usually I will sign my email with OpenPGP, and you can verify my email’s signature with the public key.
Matrix has it’s built-in verification mechanism, and you can verify me in person, then you can make sure that that who are talking with you is me.
In addition, you can send me a file and ask me to get it signed with OpenPGP. Then, you can verify the signature.
What is your Telegram address?
I don’t use Telegram because the registration requires a nonfree client.
What is your Twitter/Facebook address?
I don’t use Twitter and Facebook, and I don’t have such a plan to register for accounts on the nonfree, centralized social services.
What is your Skype/WhatsApp/LINE/WeChat/QQ… Address?
I don’t use those goddamn fucking proprietary software IM services because they are all unjust. They with no exception spy on it’s users, and are all doing things nasty to get unethical profits.
For English readers, refer to the Free Software Foundation’s Statement on proprietary surveillance ; for Chinese readers, please refer to this article on the Free Software Chinese Site .