It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Five companies own your digital life. They track every click. They mine your conversations and sell you back to yourself as an advertising demographic. You need a subscription to read your fucking email. A thousand dollar phone just to stay connected. Mountains of e-waste because they designed your devices to die.
But here we are.
We started the Anti-Capitalist Computer Club because we remember when computing felt different. When you could fix your own machine. When software was something you owned, not rented. When your data was yours, not a commodity. When the internet was still weird and open and made by people like us.
That version of computing isn't gone.
It's just been buried under venture capital and marketing departments.
Technology should liberate, not surveil. It should extend the commons, not enclose them.
Every locked device is a taking. Every walled garden. Every forced upgrade. They're taking your autonomy, your privacy, your right to fix what you own.
We're here to take it back.
We teach people to switch to Signal because your conversations shouldn't be product research. We help folks install Linux because your computers should work for you, not shareholders who are oppressively trying to cram AI into every nook and cranny of your life. We jailbreak Kindles because you should own the things that you buy. We show people how to set up a Pi-hole because Big Tech shouldn't be fracking your home network for data.
This is digital self-defense.
Opting out of surveillance capitalism one device at a time.
Every device we keep running breaks their business model.
Every open operating system we install on an old machine is a middle finger to the upgrade cycle.
Every tracker we block is a tiny act of rebellion against the attention economy.
We're not selling anything. We're not even really providing services. We're doing mutual aid. Because in Bakersfield, and across the Central Valley, people deserve to control their technology without being upsold, tracked, data mined, or abandoned when the next model drops.
You don't need to know what an OPML file or RSS feed is. You don't need to start compiling your apps from source. You don't need strong opinions about window managers.
You just need to be tired of tech companies treating you like the product.
We'll meet you where you are. Maybe today that's just getting an ad blocker installed. Next month it might be learning about Mastodon. A year from now you might be helping someone else set up OpenWRT on their router.
That's how this works. We all learn together.
Anti-Fascist: Technology is a tool. We don't provide tools to fascists. Period. This isn't a debate.
Feminist: The tech world has always had a women problem. We're actively hostile to that tradition. Harassment and misogyny get you shown the door.
Queer Liberation: We're building spaces where queer folks are safe, supported, and amplified.
Accessible: If you can't understand our explanations, that's on us, not you. No gatekeeping. No RTFM bullshit.
Sustainable: Permacomputing isn't just an aesthetic. It's about using less energy, keeping devices alive longer, and questioning whether we need the newest thing.
We don't work with law enforcement.
We don't provide services to organizations built on exploitation.
We're not interested in being neutral about people's right to exist.
If that's a problem for you, there are plenty of other tech support options in town.
We show up at the Really Really Free Market with our phones and our laptops and our knowledge. We help people install ad blockers, switch to privacy-focused browsers, set up password managers, migrate to Signal. We talk about GrapheneOS and Linux. We help people spot scams.
We explain why their phone is slow and what they can do about it.
Sometimes we set up a Pi-hole. Sometimes we jailbreak a Kindle. Sometimes we just listen to someone explain what they need and help them figure out the next step.
We're not consultants. We're not gurus. We may not have the answers you need. We're just people who know some stuff about computers and believe that knowledge should be shared freely.
The Anti-Capitalist Computer Club is whatever we make it. As of November 2025, it's two people showing up at the Really Really Free Market in Bakersfield. Tomorrow it might be repair workshops. A tool library. A mesh network.
We're figuring it out as we go, the same way the internet was figured out before the VCs showed up.
If you're reading this and thinking "I could help with that!" Great. You're already part of it.
That's not a slogan. That's the deal.
We don't charge. We don't upsell. We don't have a premium tier.
Technology is infrastructure. It should be free like libraries are free. Like water should be free. Like knowledge has always been free.
We're building our little corner of the internet as well as a community that we actually want to live in.
Want to know when we're meeting up or what we're working on? Drop your email and we'll keep you posted.