;) On Thu, Jan 16, 2014 at 09:49:33PM +0100, rysiek wrote: > OHAI, > > Dnia czwartek, 16 stycznia 2014 14:25:51 Troy Benjegerdes pisze: > > > So please tell us, oh enlightened one, what is the threat model? > > > > > > Because I would say the exact same thing about those who badmouth privacy > > > advocates and privacy itself: obviously those in power have vested > > > interests in violating privacy, be it for monetary, or political gain. > > > > > > They have vested interests in convincing the unwashed masses that either > > > "privacy is dead", "privacy is not needed" or "privacy is impossible". So > > > that they can more easily spy upon us all, and so that it gets that > > > harder for privacy-conscious people to maintain their privacy (as that is > > > an ecology, if you do not maintain your privacy, information about you > > > might help somebody to deduce information about me). > > > > > > I would say that the vested interest is more clear in the above than in > > > what you stated. So please tell me, what do I not see, or (if I am > > > "working for the man"), where's the cash that I must've gotten for my > > > services over the years?.. > > > > I'm going to trust you when you say you are an advocate for all the right > > reasons. > > Cool. :) > > > I also like to trust, but verify. I cannot verify without invading your > > privacy, and since that's important to you, I won't. > > Not true. You can verify my public actions, my public statements. What > matters > in the end is if the result is right. If my actions, my statements were > conducive towards better privacy or bettering of our common human condition, > one can assume with high degree of certainty that my reasons were right. If > not, well, woe is me. > > > The vested interests absolutely would love us all to believe privacy is > > dead, but will not themselves give it up, making for an extreme imbalance > > of power. > > And information assymetry. That's why we have to build our own tools and use > them to guard our own privacy.
pgp and gnupg are 'pretty good'. Bitcoin is a disaster because the vested interests appear to have achived complete regulatory capture through FINCEN and the Banking Secrecy Act > > I, on the other hand, am a person. I am not, however, particularly private, > > because it costs me too fucking much in terms of money, time, and paranoia > > to actually test and verify that shit I think is supposed to be private > > actually is. > > Well, there is always the element of trust. I have to (I don't have the time, > money, etc to verify myself) trust my hardware and software to some extent. > > But I *can* choose hardware and software in a way that should make that trust > better founded. Free software, open hardware. I use an "ancient" Nokia N900, > which is by far not ideal, still much better than any iPhone. > > I can make listeners' lives harder. And I do. > > > What I want is for private cypherpunks and transparent cypherpunks to > > respect each other's values and spill the secrets of the fuckers who say > > privacy is dead but will only themselves give it up in the cold grip of the > > grave. > > Abso-fucking-lutely! Still, I would like to know what is the threat model you > were talking about. I don't see how advocating privacy and anonymity can be > sinister -- apart from using these terms in context that these terms have no > purpose other than muddying the waters (i.e. "privacy of government agencies > or corporations"). > > -- > Pozdr > rysiek The cost of privacy is the threat. There's a lot we can do with things that are Free, as in Freedom (software). I think there's also a great advance waiting when a viral-freedom copyright license (GPL/AGPL) cryptocoin can figure out how to clearly express the cost tradeoff of doing verifiably secure anonymous transactions vs what it costs to just tell the world you are sending $20 to your grandma and making sure it gets there. The problem with bitcoin is all the developers who know what they are doing are now part of the 1% that benefits from exploiting privacy asymmetry. I can't trust someone talking with forked tongue about how cryptocoins are BOTH a serious business currency, AND protect your privacy. -- Troy
