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On one hand I don't want to ruin this thread with what is a common topic of disagreement; at the same time your kind offer provides a unique opportunity. There

On one hand I don't want to ruin this thread with what is a common topic of disagreement; at the same time your kind offer provides a unique opportunity. There is a fairly, if not pervasive let's call it vocal technical sentiment that blockchain and related crypto technologies, in some form, are government/oppression-proof; that it provides financial and communication paths and channels that are so firm they withstand attempts by government to shut them down and infiltrate. And that therefore they would "solve a lot of problems" in an oppressive / troubled society. I come from a country that suffered a civil war, and I've always felt that was naive... Blockchain feels like a complex stack with myriad potential points of failure and accidental reveal for a normal citizen. More to the point, I feel many people are underestimating just how totalitarian and ruthless a government CAN get - a) in locking down through technological means by owning and monitoring infra and coming down immediately to anybody downloading/using/sending software/hardware/protocol/tokens/packets/dns/whatever that is even remotely suspicious, and b) their ability and willingness to apply violence quickly and mercilessly on mere suspicion, happily just as an example and upon a potentially innocent person, and therefore its quick and chilling effect on populace. Or to put it other way - there are places on this Earth where I would not personally dare install some software or send some data, and I'm reasonably technically competent; the risk and impact are just too high. What's your and your friends' perspective? Are there bullet-proof / safe technological means? What's the risk ratio and success for subverting government whether via blockchain or VPN or Signal etc? Thx for any thoughts you might contribute :)

aljgz 4y ago
> many people are underestimating just how totalitarian and ruthless a government CAN get Well said. I read your comment and I know immediately that it comes from first hand experience :( I'm not aware of any technological solution to censorship by a government that's persistent enough and has firm control on everything. Unfortunately, there is also no way to overthrow a government that's ready to kill citizens, not without foreign aid. Iranian government has the ability to inspect all packages. Of course the contents of the ones that are encrypted cannot be read, but they can do lots of analyses based on everything else and aggressively block anything they don't trust. When they are at this level, no network technology can have a large impact, because if it does, they just shut down everything like they did before. Technologies like Starlink are harder to control, but the equipment has to be imported and doing that in scale with all the control they have is not feasible.

aljgz 4y ago

> many people are underestimating just how totalitarian and ruthless a government CAN get Well said. I read your comment and I know immediately that it comes from first hand experience :( I'm not aware of any technological solution to censorship by a government that's persistent enough and has firm control on everything. Unfortunately, there is also no way to overthrow a government that's ready to kill citizens, not without foreign aid. Iranian government has the ability to inspect all packages. Of course the contents of the ones that are encrypted cannot be read, but they can do lots of analyses based on everything else and aggressively block anything they don't trust. When they are at this level, no network technology can have a large impact, because if it does, they just shut down everything like they did before. Technologies like Starlink are harder to control, but the equipment has to be imported and doing that in scale with all the control they have is not feasible.