It is no longer conspiracy theory or anything like that. Presently, it is getting impossible to deny that governments have an agenda that is not aligned with its population. Control and power is what it is all about.
Governments and the people who are involved feel entitled. The word "service" is a joke when it comes to this. They have no interest in serving anyone but themselves. It creates a situation which is getting very confrontational.
Technology is a double-edged sword. It provides both sides with enhanced powers. We are seeing a race to see who can leverage it for the most gain.
On the surface, it appears that the governments are winning. However, there is a case that could be made that most are just waking up to the war that was taking place. The events of the last year and a half are starting to open a lot of eyes.
This means that the tenets promoted by many are starting to be understood. Here we see where a number of allies are joining the action.
It is easy to make the case that government is not suited for what is taking place. Leaving aside the system for a moment, most of the top players involved simply are not cut out to comprehend how things are evolving. This is something that is to the advantage of everyone.
We have a case with the messenger application Signal. For those who are not familiar with this particular situation, Signal is a privacy messenger. It contains end-to-end encryption along with saving no user data. All conversations are not seen and cannot be accessed by the company. People such as Edward Snowden recommend it for those who are involved in communications in areas where it is very dangerous.
As you can imagine, this is very upsetting to governments. They do not like the idea of not being able to see what everyone is doing. In this era, they feel that they are entitled to see and be able to monitor all.
Here is where the quandary arises. The government wants information that the company simply does not have. It does not exist.
According to a post on their blog:
Signal still knows nothing about you, but inexplicably the government continues to ask.
Interesting how the government does not appear to want to take no for an answer. Here we see the mentality of these entities. No matter what they are told, they feel entitled to the information. Anything that happens the government should have access to.
As usual, we couldn’t provide any of that. It’s impossible to turn over data that we never had access to in the first place. Signal doesn’t have access to your messages; your chat list; your groups; your contacts; your stickers; your profile name or avatar; or even the GIFs you search for. As a result, our response to the subpoena will look familiar. It’s the same set of “Account and Subscriber Information” that we can provide: Unix timestamps for when each account was created and the date that each account last connected to the Signal service.
We can expect situations like these to keep escalating. The powers-that-are will not take this willingly.
And that is the point. We must keep pushing the envelop, both with development and our use of these applications to ensure they see the light of day. It is imperative that they remain accessible to the masses.
It is vital that we change the game. Few would argue that it sensible to take on the power of these entities head-on. If we operation on their field, they will crush us. Hence, it is a matter of going around them.
Signal is one example of how that is done. No matter how much they push and prod, it cannot hand over something it does not have. The application was established with the intention of counter-acting the oversight and prying of governments. Unlike the data harvesters who amass as much data as possible, this group went the opposite direction.
The key will be to get half a dozen applications like this.
Another key factor is to have the business structure is such a way which eliminates the points of vulnerability. Here is where Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) enter the picture. Instead of having an address to subpoena, a DAO operates completely without centralization.
Therefore, anything the government sets down is not worth the paper it is written on. A DAO is not under their jurisdiction since it does not exist in physical form. There is no tie to the physical world, the realm that our present governments and associated entities were designed to rule over.
If Signal was a DAO, there would no place to issue a subpoena. In that instance, the government could only scratch its head. This is a prime example of how development with the proper initial structure can alleviate a host of headaches.
Governments simply are showing they feel entitled to everything. It is apparent that they will use the "we have to stop criminals" as a means of legalizing their tyranny. Hopefully, the world is waking up to this.
As projects like Signal pop up, the path is for more individual to "opt out" of the existing system. It is vital that people stop using the centralized applications, in this case Messenger, Kik, and WhatsApp. The concept holds true for all software that is developed. We need, collectively, to be looking for ways to get around the power structure of governments.
One of the advantages to cryptocurrency is that it now gives people the ability to starve the beast. Again, we need to see the opting out process taking place.
We are in the process of erecting a new financial system. This is going to provide people with the ability to interact, monetarily, outside the government established system. Of course, we know this is not sitting too well with them as they find out the potential that exists.
Fortunately, they are ill-equipped to deal with this arena so their concern is moot.
Nevertheless, we have to keep diligent that what we are doing is truly decentralized. They have no answer for that. It is the hope of many that thousands of DAOs pop up over the next couple years. That would be a basis to announce to all there is a new paradigm that we are operating under.
If Bitcoin is truly the first DAO, then it is providing a wonderful example of how powerful this is. While they fret and complain about it, Bitcoin cannot be stopped by governments. At this point, it is too far advanced for them to shut down. The same, sadly, cannot be said for most other crypto projects out there.
Either way, that is why we keep working and building. As more is erected, the points of vulnerability get harder to hit. Ultimately, it becomes a numbers game and that always favors the general public. It is a matter of making their guns and jails less effective.
Hence the crux of this battle. Government feels entitled to everything and we need to push back with the idea that they deserve nothing.
It is a philosophical confrontation that will have an impact for decades to come. Therefore, we have to make sure it moves in the proper direction.
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