---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Cannon <cannon(a)cannon-ciota.info>
Date: 2016-09-29 5:14 GMT+03:00
Subject: [digital-rights-activism] Dawn of the Crypto Age
To: digital-rights-activism(a)lists.riseup.net
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA512
The Dawn of the Crypto Age
by CANNON C. , in the year 2015
- -An essay on how crypto technologies will shape our world, and why these
technologies are often met with government opposition-
Throughout all of the chapters of history, civilization struggles in a
constant battle between liberty and tyranny, progression and corruption.
For the world is plentiful in numerous points of its history of a populace
oppressed by governments. Like a beast untamed or loosened, or a fire
fueled and spread, it is the natural tendencies of governments to become
corrupt and to perpetually expand and maintain power. This is not because
government in itself is corrupt, but rather because mankind is corrupt
through greed, in the pursuit of wealth and power at the expense of a
nation while utilizing the powerful body of government as their tool.
Government makes a handsome target of exploitation to the corrupt and
enemies of liberty due to the centralization of power that governments
wield and the position of the tool of government being in the high layer of
power, known as the political realm.
Until now, the balance of power sat in the hands of governments who have
gone rogue at the conduction of usurpers and tyrants and have been used to
empower themselves while oppressing the populace and liberty, whether
openly or covertly. However, in the modern age, in this dawn of the crypto
revolution which follows the still advancing and parallel technological
revolution, the balance of power in the world is shifting from that of
governments and usurpers to the people.
Throughout history, humankind has been through various golden ages of
enlightenment, and of technological advancements and progressions. It is
this evolution in the advancement of humankind which has altered the
foundation for which future technology and the direction of civilization is
based. We have had the Age of Enlightenment, the scientific revolution, the
Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, and the technological/informational
revolution, to name a few. And now, even when the latter is still young, we
enter another age that parallels it: the dawn of the crypto revolution,
which is based upon the infrastructure of the current
technological/informational revolution.
The context of the word "revolution" in the case of this writing refers to
that of sudden change in the world brought about by advancements in
technologies and discoveries, while "crypto" or "cryptographic" is
referring to the use of encryption (codes) paired with technology to create
systems immune to espionage, control, and takedown by an enemy.
The newly emerging technology brought about by the crypto revolution is
built on our current technological infrastructure. The advent of our
current computerized cyber-infrastructure makes an easy way to build, host,
and deploy decentralized protocols. It is also cyberspace that connects us
all and breeds innovation through uncensored and decentralized
communications such as the Internet, hence why the crypto revolution began
shortly after the birth of the technological revolution. This new
technology will secure itself and also secure society from the current
flaws in our informational technology infrastructure which that same
society has come to rely upon.
The crypto revolution will alter the shape of the workings of civilization
in positive ways to advance us towards a more perfect civilization, just as
the technological revolution altered the way we communicate, do business,
interact, etc. And just as how the industrial revolution altered the way we
travel, manufacture, and live, to too shall the crypto revolution shape our
world. This time, this era in human progression will impact the workings of
the economy, politics, banking, governments... all in a way that will make
the workings of the pre-crypto age antiquated and perhaps even scoffed at
by future generations.
Just as the crypto revolution is based on the technological revolution
which was based on the industrial revolution, so too shall some other
future progressions be based on the crypto revolution. These future
progressions as a result of the crypto revolution I foresee being comprised
of political, economic, and social advancements.
Although progressions in the advancement of civilization are often
beneficial to the human race, advancement is sometimes met with opposition
by the existing power structure. This opposition by the minority who wield
power over the rest is due to the threat this new technology/discovery
presents to their power. Opposition can also often be due to lack of
understanding of the new technology.
The future of technology I am describing can be referred to as
decentralized cryptographic protocols - secure, open source, self
regulating, decentralized, cryptographic protocols, to be more descriptive.
For the new way will be a better way, a way void of the major flaws and
imperfection of the former which have empowered the corrupt and created
insecure systems causing results which have haunted our society. These
newly emerging technologies will repair the security flaws which came about
by having a society that became reliant upon informational technology. The
root of many of the current security flaws in our world come from the
exploitation of vulnerabilities that are a result of the lack of the
following three items, which I refer to together as the triangle of
security.
Integrity, Availability, and Confidentiality
- --------------------------------------------
* Integrity.
Through cryptographic proof. Protecting from unauthorized manipulation or
forgery.
* Availability.
Through decentralization, keeping safe from attack by denial of service. or
takeover by corruption and those security risks that are posed by
centralization.
* Confidentiality.
Again, through cryptology. Keeping communications and information safe from
unauthorized access.
The flaws caused by a lack of any part of this triangle of security can be
mitigated with decentralized cryptographic protocols which address a
solution for all three of these security needs.
A few examples of how the birth of cryptographic technologies will affect
us in these three ways (not in any particular order but of equal
importance):
Confidentiality: No longer can threats to the populace undermine the
security of the world through informational-warfare/espionage with ease as
civilization and informational infrastructure shall be secured with
cryptology. No longer can governments, oppressors, and adversaries unjustly
spy on a population with ease or target them for political gain,
intimidation, persecution, or control. Cryptology will ensure
confidentiality by preventing governments from spying on communications.
Availability: No longer will society be prone to attack by an adversary
due to the weakness of centralization. When a society is reliant upon
informational technology, as is the current case, that same society is
vulnerable to a compromising of protocols and information that are
centralized. For centralization introduces a higher risk of security due to
a single point of failure. This is the case with both technology and
government structures (an example being why governments are prone to
corruption due to their centralization; even when governments are designed
to be decentralized, they often becomes more centralized in power over
time). Cryptology, in the form of decentralized cryptographic protocols,
will ensure availability by preventing governments from taking down
services, protocols, or information they do not like.
Integrity: No longer shall our civilization be vulnerable to spoofing,
identity theft, fraud, or manipulation - whether that manipulation be of
just a simple document, the voting results of public consensus. or other
information (just to name a few examples). Through cryptographic proof,
cryptography will ensure integrity and prevent tampering of data.
This is why information and technological dominance is a very valuable and
sought after asset. In the technological/information age, unauthorized
access to informational technology can compromise all security since
everything runs on technology. These are the same security flaws which this
newly emerging technology will help to protect us from.
Technology can be used against the people just as much as it can be used
to empower the people. This is why governments wish to suppress
technological and, ultimately, human progression. For the future eliminates
imperfection and corruption. We are now at the crossroads, in which
technology used against the people is now progressing to the point that it
will be used against corrupt governments and bring about a global balance
of power. Governments also hate anything they cannot control. If
governments cannot control something. they will attempt to destroy it.
Some of the changes, among many, which will be brought about by this new
technology of decentralized cryptographic protocols will be decentralized
markets immune to government control or takedown; distributed autonomous
corporations and stock exchanges; self-enforcing smart contracts; secure
and decentralized self-regulating financial systems known as
crypto-currencies (such as Bitcoin); along with secure peer-to-peer escrow
protocols resulting in anonymous and theft/confiscation-proof money,
distributed crowd-funding platforms, and secure communications systems
(such as Bitmessage or I2P-Bote); secure, anonymous, and fraud-proof
identities; secure voting and consensus systems; distributed secure
databases of information and records (such as Namecoin); legal document
timestamping (known as "Proof of Existence"); secure property titles;
secure wills and legal documents; secure distributed authentication
systems; and distributed and anonymous reputation systems. Another result
of crypto is meshnet networks immune to government control or surveillance
that are known as darknets, which may eventually replace the current
Internet infrastructure. The main structures of banks and governments may
very well be replaced by secure, decentralized, self-regulating protocols
which run on this technology. This is just to name a few things that will
emerge or have started to emerge as a result of the crypto revolution.
Crypto technologies offer the ability to secure a population from the
security flaws which cause identity theft, fraud, financial theft,
corruption, manipulation, surveillance, and cyber attacks. Though this new
technology protects society from such things which we suffer from today, it
is also these things that governments and criminals use to control society
and the populace. As a result, the security brought about by the newly
emerging technology of decentralized cryptographic protocols threatens the
ability of governments and criminals to continue their grip on a monopoly
of control and power. Governments are often opposed to cryptology for this
very reason. The suppression of cryptology is often done through
"regulations" that are actually intended to cripple that technology, as
well as outright bans on it, along with the targeting of its users. Another
technique often deployed is use of the media to demonize cryptology through
lies and fallacies - telling us that such technology is dangerous to our
safety, when the truth instead is that the lack of cryptology leaves our
liberties and our society insecure. Another fallacy often used to pass
crippling regulations is that such technology needs regulation, which is a
fallacy, for decentralized cryptographic protocols are already regulated by
the principles of math which such protocols are built upon. These very
rules of math which power these decentralized cryptographic protocols are
perfect and incorruptible, unlike regulations done through government.
Governments will try to suppress technology and human progression at the
expense of the security of a nation, leaving us vulnerable to the security
threats which currently plague our world - that is, if we allow ourselves
to submit to tyranny by willingly complying.
There is a name for those who promote, develop, and support this crypto
technology and who refuse to comply with the power structures' demands to
abandon its progression. They are called the cypherpunks. They are the
modern day architects, the visionaries of today, and the founders of
tomorrow.
You can make a difference and help the crypto-age win. Join me. Join
league with the cypherpunks to improve the world. At the least, learn
about, support, and promote crypto technologies. If you are up to it, learn
how to code so you can also contribute to these technologies. For we are
now in the beginnings of a new era of advancement in civilization and the
human race: the dawn of the crypto age.
Bitcoin Tip Address (to help support my writings):
1HcfM3dwy6zoT4kL2zWMD9qZRcsJdjiTST
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
iQIcBAEBCgAGBQJWbcjLAAoJEAYDai9lH2mwsxEP/0PFWKs+a8a3v3vDrQnALT+V
ZsEmSYWXblrwuyKdz9ZadqII1ypmIFwBi/eciI/O39bvdsT4KetdKkk0tmZ+G+6y
9JAfmqgRpFLM//gVoz1GpHTtxDKGcR8zgN/5tjtM1KYmA+h96DVVefUaGYE9z7uC
phxAFErzBvd2CVaYsU51+NiGC1mLiqJwlKKPCwf/VIie7T8hu9dum4ie0URXqw8A
Uv+grwmfWsro8KoOWKlOuBRR7zEaT5MrdeALWI/nufJWuotRxvhGbqERTMgIYQCc
Nq3EUaSFqJL1OZHjM30pvwmQ9H8TyUdku/9/JwsAA75+bS2uXmsYGvBDHWtOzTKY
QHkOYm/m4ws95piX6mt41cuMMVLY82j5Ts+vnLlw2vgZyB+SwvJnOE+GOD/LZlUw
u8/WmuF8raaoyQ8He1m10TCgbP6VhMhL1oqiwW/bPBxl/ifVha7nXOtSQftAKx8S
q1W3XjcSl2sf2+H5FWw7IzTGYOyDi7pW9b01/JJ6dhx2X1avBsdo+DTazGKjOcc6
bj0J1irXCaLdLGwrPMF9waBOTqWD4nMXkGBRRfnGSCUltlDItc1v6tyozNa8WV6j
rrYPpdIhhedZldbF3GuOv3WEvJZh0eTuteWga958XraSvwL469+781kBC93FcVb1
m2TPZ4i5DWzavtVITBMD
=sWyF
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
