So where are these "radically new services" documented?
On 21 August 2013 19:18, Sean Alexandre <s...@alexan.org> wrote: > ----- Forwarded message from newslet...@lists.riseup.net ----- > > Space for dissent > ------------------------ > > It is a mistake to frame the recent US and European massive surveillance > revelations in terms of the privacy of individuals. What is at stake is not > privacy at all, but the power of the state over its citizenry. > > What surveillance really is, at its root, is a highly effective form of > social > control. The knowledge of always being watched changes our behavior and > stifles > dissent. The inability to associate secretly means there is no longer any > possibility for free association. The inability to whisper means there is > no > longer any speech that is truly free of coercion, real or implied. Most > profoundly, pervasive surveillance threatens to eliminate the most vital > element of both democracy and social movements: the mental space for > people to > form dissenting and unpopular views. > > Many commentators, and Edward Snowden himself, have noted that these > surveillance programs represent an existential threat to democracy. This > understates the problem. The universal surveillance programs in place now > are > not simply a potential threat, they are certain to destroy democracy if > left > unchecked. Democracy, even the shadow of democracy we currently practice, > rests > on the bedrock foundation of free association, free speech, and dissent. > The > consequence of the coercive power of surveillance is to subvert this > foundation > and undermine everything democracy rests on. > > Within social movements, there is a temptation to say that nothing is > really > different. After all, governments have always targeted activist groups with > surveillance and disruption, especially the successful ones. > > But this new surveillance is different. What the US government and European > allies have built is an infrastructure for perfect social control. By > automating the process of surveillance, they have created the ability to > effortlessly peer into the lives of everyone, all the time, and thus create > a system with unprecedented potential for controlling how we behave and > think. > > True, this infrastructure is not currently used in this way, but it is > a technical tool-kit that can easily be used for totalitarian ends. > > Those who imagine a government can be trusted to police itself when given > the > ominous power of precise insight into the inner workings of everyday life > are > betting the future on the ability of a secretive government to show proper > self-restraint in the use of their ever-expanding power. If history has > shown > us anything, it is that the powerful will always use their full power > unless > they are forced to stop. > > So, how exactly are we planning on stopping them? We support people working > through the legal system or applying political pressure, but we feel our > best > hope of stopping the technology of surveillance is the technology of > encryption. Why? Because the forces that have created this brave new world > are > unlikely to be uprooted before it is too late to halt the advance of > surveillance. > > Unfortunately, most existing encryption technology is counterproductive. > Many > people are pushing technology that is proprietary, relies on a central > authority, or is hopelessly difficult for the common user. The only > technology > that has a chance to resist the rise of surveillance will be open source, > federated, and incredibly easy to use. In the long run, decentralized > peer-to-peer tools might meet this criteria, but for the foreseeable future > these tools will not have the features or usability that people have grown > accustomed to. > > In the coming months, the Riseup birds plan to begin rolling out a series > of > radically new services, starting with encrypted internet, encrypted email, > and > encrypted chat. These services will be based on 100% open source and open > protocols, will be easy to use, and will protect your data from everyone, > even > Riseup. This is a massive undertaking, made in concert over the last year > with > several other organizations, and will only work with your support. We need > programmers, particularly those experienced in Python, C, Ruby, and Android > development, and sysadmins interested in starting their own secure service > providers. > > We also need money. Donations from our amazing Riseup users keep us > running on > our current infrastructure. But in order to be able to graduate to a new > generation of truly secure and easy to use communication technology, we are > going to need a lot more money than our users are able to donate. If you > have > deep pockets and an interest in building this new generation of > communication, > then we need to hear from you. If you have friends or family who care > about the > future of democracy and who have deep pockets, we need to hear from them, > too. > > At Riseup, we have felt for the last few years that the window of > opportunity > to counter the rise of universal surveillance is slowly shrinking. Now is > our > chance to establish a new reality where mass numbers of people are using > encryption on a daily basis. > > If you have the skills or the money, now is the time to step up and help > make > this reality come true. Please contact waxw...@riseup.net. > > -- > Liberationtech is a public list whose archives are searchable on Google. > Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: > https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. > Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at > compa...@stanford.edu. >
-- Liberationtech is a public list whose archives are searchable on Google. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech. Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password by emailing moderator at compa...@stanford.edu.
