In his 2012 Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, that he calls a "warning" rather than a "manifesto, Assange makes clear what's at stake for us all and how encryption is a "key" to protecting ourselves from losing the last vestiges of privacy (and the consequent humanity that goes with it). Of the stakes he writes,
The internet, our greatest tool of emancipation, has been transformed into the most dangerous facilitator of totalitarianism we have ever seen".within a few years, global civilization will be a postmodern surveillance dystopia, from which escape for all but the most skilled individuals will be impossible. In fact, we may already be there.
In the post-Snowden cyberscape, it's hard to argue.
Assange's answer is encrypt, encrypt, encrypt. "Encryption is an embodiment of the laws of physics, and it does not listen to the bluster of states, even transnational surveillance dystopias," he writes. Modern governments are terrified of the freedom encrypted information presents. What if Iran, China, Russia and Pakistan started trading in Bitcoin, instead of the Dollar? Assange adds,
Cryptography is the ultimate form of non-violent direct action. While nuclear weapons states can exert unlimited violence over even millions of individuals, strong cryptography means that a state, even by exercising unlimited violence, cannot violate the intent of individuals to keep secrets from them.
Keeping these secrets, our thoughts -- this is the last frontier. "If we do not [redefine force relations], the universality of the internet will merge global humanity into one giant grid of mass surveillance and mass control."
Such are the stakes, outlined by the former Certified Ethical Hacker, and if the Covid-19 experience has taught us anything so far, we should keep on wearing our masks long after the viral hombre has left town, and treat the Internet, from now, as a bordello you bring a masked condom to. For every spent buck, someone's watching and taping and making a porn of your life for a bigger bucking bang.
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