On 01/20/14 15:19 +0100, Anonymous Remailer (austria) wrote:
We cypherpunks live by the saying "cypherpunks code". But isn't it time for more than just coding? We're in a very real digital war for the freedom of the Internet, similar to what we faced in the 1990's but with even more at stake and a better funded, better equipped enemy.
I'm not sure if you're referring to net neutrality (free market issue) or NSA cable taps. The later is fixable to some degree by coding, the former requires legislative access (money) to influence in the short term (in the US).
Isn't it time for infiltration? The cypherpunk community has some of the best tech people (not just programmers) out there. We could easily get jobs within government agencies and then help exfiltrate data out of them into the hands of the public of civil rights agencies like the ACLU in America.
The ACLU is unlikely to get into the Wikileaks business.
I understand how distasteful working in the belly of the beast might be but isn't it one of the most needed things cyperpunks can do right now?
It's time to win the public brain trust war. Leaks, in the last year, have done much to shift public opinion, and will likely continue to help tremendously. That will only get us so far (in the US). We (the larger tech community) need to cash in that momentum and turn that into political change, particularly at the legislative level. However, that path needs charismatic leaders, i.e. Lawrence Lessig, to actually run for office.