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In context, Syria has the third lowest internet penetration in the entire Middle East at 22.5%.[0] Considering there are only ~195 countries in the world, being

by ceol 13y ago

In context, Syria has the third lowest internet penetration in the entire Middle East at 22.5%.[0] Considering there are only ~195 countries in the world, being #55 is pretty low. 5.4m is nothing to forget about, of course, but my original point was that most don't have access. The United States, on the other hand, has 78.1% penetration.[1] Obviously I'm not arguing that Syrians who have access to computers shouldn't get to use crypto, or that there has never been a Syrian who used crypto to aid in protest. But let's not act like crypto's main usage is as righteous as helping a rebellion against an oppressive regime. [0]: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats5.htm [1]: http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats14.htm

DanBC 13y ago
> But let's not act like crypto's main usage is as righteous as helping a rebellion against an oppressive regime. You realise that cryptocat isn't marketing itself as a chat client for paedophiles and drug users, but for activists in oppressive regimes, right? Here's one example from their blog: > In working with young and middle-aged professionals in the Middle East region, we have discovered that desktop OTR clients suffer from serious usability issues which are sometimes further exacerbated due to language differences and lack of cultural integration (the technology was frequently described as “foreign”). In one case, an activist who was fully trained to use Pidgin-OTR neglected to do so citing usability difficulties, and as a direct consequence encountered a life-threatening situation at the hands of a national military in the Middle East and North Africa region. That's why people keep talking about the risk from foreign governments - because the cryptocat hype keeps mentioning governments.
- ceol 13y ago
  dobbsbob's post was not concentrating on Cryptocat. It was talking about all crypto projects. This is the entire block: > Almost all security/crypto projects are open source. There's no money involved, therefore no corporate sensitivity training or social skills needed. What's needed is secure code to stop governments from rounding up Syrian and Bahraini dissidents and drilling holes into their knees during interrogation because they were duped into trusting cryptocat while planning their democracy protests.

by ceol 13y ago

DanBC 13y ago

> But let's not act like crypto's main usage is as righteous as helping a rebellion against an oppressive regime. You realise that cryptocat isn't marketing itself as a chat client for paedophiles and drug users, but for activists in oppressive regimes, right? Here's one example from their blog: > In working with young and middle-aged professionals in the Middle East region, we have discovered that desktop OTR clients suffer from serious usability issues which are sometimes further exacerbated due to language differences and lack of cultural integration (the technology was frequently described as “foreign”). In one case, an activist who was fully trained to use Pidgin-OTR neglected to do so citing usability difficulties, and as a direct consequence encountered a life-threatening situation at the hands of a national military in the Middle East and North Africa region. That's why people keep talking about the risk from foreign governments - because the cryptocat hype keeps mentioning governments.

ceol 13y ago
dobbsbob's post was not concentrating on Cryptocat. It was talking about all crypto projects. This is the entire block: > Almost all security/crypto projects are open source. There's no money involved, therefore no corporate sensitivity training or social skills needed. What's needed is secure code to stop governments from rounding up Syrian and Bahraini dissidents and drilling holes into their knees during interrogation because they were duped into trusting cryptocat while planning their democracy protests.