- Joined
- Sep 8, 2010
- Messages
- 39
Let me briefly introduce myself. First off, I am not a bodybuilder; what I _am_ interested in is privacy, especially in the face of ever expanding State surveillance apparatus. I have spent a good chunk of my life studying security, cryptography, and its effective use in maintaining privacy.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, there was a loose group of people who called themselves Cypherpunks. Many of them had Libertarian
leanings (which I do not share) but they envisaged a society where crypto-anarchy held sway; a society where a citizen had the power to control their own private information and government had little or no power to compel its production. (See WiReD issue #2).
If anything, the Cypherpunks were far too idealistic, believing that people would rush to adopt cryptography in order to protect themselves against an overweening surveillance state. They were the prototypical geeks; technically skilled, but without a real understanding of human nature. What they didn't count on was that the overwhelming majority of the public in Western societies simply didn't care about privacy or government surveillance.
The Cypherpunks didn't count on sloth, on people being complacent, and completely unwilling to learn new ways of doing things.
They were passionate about privacy, and it was largely beyond their ken that people could take the attitude:
"Why should I care? I'm not a criminal. I have nothing to hide."
I guess, in my own insignificant way, I'm still struggling to keep their dream alive.
Mirrorshades
In the mid-to-late 1990s, there was a loose group of people who called themselves Cypherpunks. Many of them had Libertarian
leanings (which I do not share) but they envisaged a society where crypto-anarchy held sway; a society where a citizen had the power to control their own private information and government had little or no power to compel its production. (See WiReD issue #2).
If anything, the Cypherpunks were far too idealistic, believing that people would rush to adopt cryptography in order to protect themselves against an overweening surveillance state. They were the prototypical geeks; technically skilled, but without a real understanding of human nature. What they didn't count on was that the overwhelming majority of the public in Western societies simply didn't care about privacy or government surveillance.
The Cypherpunks didn't count on sloth, on people being complacent, and completely unwilling to learn new ways of doing things.
They were passionate about privacy, and it was largely beyond their ken that people could take the attitude:
"Why should I care? I'm not a criminal. I have nothing to hide."
I guess, in my own insignificant way, I'm still struggling to keep their dream alive.
Mirrorshades
