I just set up a court date for my name change.

It is with great excitement that I acknowledge how close I am, but this euphoria is tainted with disappointment by the means through which I will be getting there.

I was given not an address with my date, but a Zoom meeting code. I take issue with this, of which details are perhaps most simply stated in the note I have drafted to the court:

To whom it may concern,

I just had a court date set up for me, and to my disappointment I was given a Zoom meeting ID. I have no problem with virtual meetings, in fact I think they are convenient and necessary. However, Zoom is an unauditable, blackbox, proprietary platform, to which I hold ethical objection in public spaces. Government should be transparent and auditable, and where private contractors are inevitable, they should be held to that same standard, and serve the public in a true and open manner, first and foremost. As long as public-serving entities and/or their contractors hold trade secrets from the public they represent, they betray the trust of their constituents, and in that way fail the very people they serve.

Please consider free (as in 'free speech', not 'free lunch') and open source alternatives; they are necessarily public-serving in their transparency and commitment to the common good. BigBlueButton is a highly-regarded option for this case.

Thank you,
Vivian
Citizen, taxpayer

I've been encouraged by friends to not fire this off until after my case is settled. It pains me, to say nothing, to accept it silently, but I fear they are probably right. I'm sure I could (or could have) arrange(d) for a physical date, but who knows how long it would take to land a hearing. I am no stranger to inconveniencing myself in the name of personal values. I should have at least expressed my concern when the arrangements were being made. There was an opportunity to. But with things in motion as they are, perhaps I would best resign to this small loss in an otherwise great personal victory.