For me China is the bogeyman. None of my posts would be approved by Chinese censors, and on another platform I would quickly be banned everywhere. Should Tron acquire Steemit, I cannot see how my account could continue. I have concomitantly never been more committed to pseudonymity, and in the event state actors acquire my account data here, it will be potential of less impact on me personally as a result of my enduring commitment to pseudonymity.
It is perhaps informative to consider that I have been criminally and physically attacked by covert LEA associates, and strongly negatively impacted by institutions, via cryptic means and overt as well, for decades. I have long endeavored to reveal facts pseudonymously in order to mitigate such harmful impacts on me and my family for speaking publicly regarding corruption, fraud, and other crimes across the industry of societal control
Here is the article that has sparked my interest and concern. Other than financial, what impact do you expect would result from this transfer to Tron?
Edit: in my haste to publish this, I neglected to point out that both @whatsup and @eeks published this information, for which failure I apologize. I here ping @andrarchy in order to gain clarity as to this news, which hopefully is nothing but FUD and rumor.
Loverly,...
@tipu curate
Thanks!
idk why it didn't upvote. i'll try again.
I don't know if I believe it or not, but I guess it's plausible. Not sure about impacts. Brainstorming
Immediate
Mid-term
Long-term
I appreciate your quick insights regarding this rumor.
Unfortunately, this isn't actually the case. The irredeemable's list on Github demonstrates that Steemit Inc. is able to effectively undertake censorship, and presumably other direct controls, on individual accounts as well as other vectors for individuals to communicate on Steem. Many platforms depend on Steemit APIs directly, despite MIRA better enabling proprietary nodes, which propagates Stinc's execution of such undertakings on those other platforms.
My concerns don't stem from financial, but political, control mechanisms. Demonetization would not substantially impact my speech. Censorship, or direct intervention, which has been undertaken by other actors before I undertook pseudonymity, will.
Thanks!
This is the first I'd heard of it.
After reading the article, I'm not sure what your specific concerns arise from. Would Steemit be subjected to Chinese censorship if a Chinese investor bought it? I'm not aware how such legal matters work.
Also, are you certain that Chinese censorship is worse than what we're currently under? I'm not.
I wrote about possible shenanigans around STEEM price, saying it could be driven downward for a takeover at rock bottom prices. Perhaps we just saw that takeover?
EDIT: I don't know TRON from Apple, so perhaps my ignorance on that is why I don't understand your level of concern.
At the bottom of the article is a link to another article on him. Basically he's hated in China, I am not really even sure if Tron (whatever Tron is) is allowed in China, it may have been censored out. The article in essence made it sound that he is so disliked there that the only way for him to go was west.
My concern is that state actors may acquire user data through corporate transfer of equity from extant equity holders to ones captive or otherwise associated with states. I currently do not believe Steemit, Inc. is so associated - but I certainly could be wrong, and the only evidence either way is how Steem is distributed and deployed, which I poorly grasp.
Given my personal experience with corruption, fraud, institutional power, and extant information regarding China, I will be unable to undertake posting under the expected surveillance and resulting censorship that China is purported to undertake to control society. Currently, while state actors clearly have the ability to closely surveil whomever they want, the West demonstrates little direct intervention at the user level to control information, and relies on subcontractors, such as Twatter, Goolag, and Microshaft to do so.
Absent institutions directly associated with state actors such as China, that clearly does directly effect surveillance and narrative enforcement on individuals, Steem remains available to me as a vector for my speech. Given Tron's dependence on China, I would be rash to undertake my current practices should Tron acquire Steemit, Inc. The events that have prompted my pseudonymity have apparently been precluded by separation of my speech from my physical person, despite that state actors can undertake such direct intervention. Threats to me and my family's safety have ended due to Western governments' subcontracting censorship and Steemit, Inc. not being such a subcontractor.
Thanks!
"My concern is that state actors may acquire user data"
What user data are you referring to? The phone number you gave to confirm your signup with Steemit Inc? (Sorry, I'm not very technical.)
Edward Snowden talks about how the CIA and others wire tap the Internet. This means that they archive virtually everything or like almost everything. They even try to collect encrypted data. Now, some governments, some groups, may not be breaking the encrypted data. It can be hard to encrypt. It can take time. Lots of time. But they at least try to collect it and store it. And later on, they try to break into the data. So, that means they try to collect personal information, emails, phone numbers, etc. China probably already has it. Others may have it as well. It is a long story. Just read Snowden's 2019 book for more information. Watch the videos of Naomi Brockwell.
Far more consequential to individuals blogging are the platforms like Goolag, Twatter, and Microshaft that are delegated the responsibility to censor and ban by state actors.
What we see across the world and internet today is that those platforms are the vector for surveillance and censorship. It isn't the CIA or Mossad directly banning and censoring us. This is why Steemit remains relatively censorship resistant today, as it is apparently not such a subcontractor for state oppression, which makes it available to us to speak freely today.
I agree.
That, email addys, off chain correspondence with Stinc, and it's principals, as well as any proprietary data collection Stinc may have undertaken. It is notable that providers of both email and phone services are clearly susceptible to the financial power of China to extract metadata, and perhaps even content, since we have no actual evidence that isn't collected and used by those institutions, while we do have evidence it is collected and indefinitely retained.
I am curious about your flagging of @informationwar in the comments on this post. Would you be kind enough to explain?
Thanks!
But governments already have your data. They get it. Edward Snowden talked about that in his latest book that came out in 2019. Trying to hide is not possible. You cannot hide. They have been destroying our fourth amendment right for too many years in too many ways. Keep in mind that it is said that the Steemit Inc. company is separate from the Steem blockchain itself in theory. That is at least what some people say. If that is true, then it doesn't really matter who owns Steemit Inc in that they are separate from Steem itself. But of course, China and others are taking over the world. We have to always try to stop global tyrannies. When we take a break from trying to stop them, that is when they gain ground. So, of course, it seems that Drudge was possibly sold. That is bad. If Steemit Inc is sold or stolen or whatever, of course that is very bad in the wrong hands. Of course, they are trying to stop Steem and change Steem. They will not stop trying to go after Steem, Bitcoin, Minds, Ethereum, etc.
I respond more substantively to another comment above, but will again point out that the USG has bigger fish to fry with their extremely expensive surveillance than little me. I have been physically attacked, and my children threatened in the past by criminals acting as subcontractors for state actors. These subcontractors aren't privy to that expensive surveillance themselves, and undertaking pseudonymity has ended those attacks and threats against my family.
I am too expensive to oppose directly in the extant paradigm of outsourcing such low level oppression undertaken in the West today. China is a different animal, and does directly intervene with state actors at every level, which is why I am concerned about Tron buying Steemit.
And how would china censor a blockchain with nodes scattered around the world exactly? Steemit Inc. is not Steem.
China and other governments have been trying to stop Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc, which have nodes or mines or whatever that they call it, meaning that it is similar to Steem with the different nodes all around the world like you said. There are Super Quantum Computers, etc, that attempts to break Bitcoin encryption, to hack into blockchain, even Steem, etc. In other words, they will not stop trying to stop us. That is why we always have to switch to Quantum Cryptocurrencies or increase encryption strength. Because they are always right behind us. They will not stop. That is why we must always have different alternatives. Because if they do somehow find a way to blow up all computers that mine Bitcoin for example, we need to perhaps have some Steem, Ethereum, other alt coins, silver, gold, etc. Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. You never know. Better safe than sorry. So, I'm on Steem and I'm on other blockchains as well like Bear Shares, Weku, etc, because you never know. So, if Steem dies, I can perhaps survive on other blockchains in the future. But Steem is my first love and I hope Steem never dies and I focus on Steem. That is my first priority. I post to Steem first and copy and paste my posts to other websites. I want to always try to archive my work, etc. Always have backups of your stuff. Because you never know. At any time, anything can happen.
The irredeemable's list on Github. The nodes may be scattered, but they are all institutionally controlled centrally, by Stinc, almost exlusively.
@fulltimegeek can tell you more. This list was intended to eliminate his posts from the front ends that we use to access Steem. Almost all users access Steem using Stinc APIs, and this dependence effectively completely censored @fulltimegeek.
It's actually trivial to do.
I agree with that.
Congratulations @valued-customer!
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:
Hello dear friend @valued-customer.
To what extent should freedom of expression be allowed? Does it really exist?
Social platforms such as FB, Twitter and YouTube apply censorship to the publications of their users. In fact, there are legal precedents where a tweet can be taken as evidence in a trial.
We cannot ignore that in China there is a great restriction of freedoms, especially that of expression. Perhaps if this acquisition was completed, we could have censorship levels never seen before on steem. I hope all these are just rumors.
Sorry to know this.
All best, Piotr.
Freedom of expression is actually absolute, and the baseline reality humanity has evolved within. This is shown by the fact that you alone will words out of your mouth, and no threat or subsequent repression is competent to prevent that.
I, perhaps vainly, believe that decentralization will effect the elimination of institutional power in the fullness of time, and that censorship and repression will be obsolete then. Today I believe I live under threat of death for speaking freely, and fully expect that threat to eventuate in time. I speak freely anyway.
Thanks!
Big thx for your comment @valued-customer and sorry for such a late reply.
Personally I wish to believe in that as well. But technology is going to serve people, and usually it does serve those who have money and power.
ps.
May I ask you for little favour? I'm not sure if I did ask you about it already or not (hope I'm not repeating myself).
Could you please check out also my recent post if you have few min and share your thoughts on questions related to concept of "introducing steem blockchain to businesses":
https://steemit.com/steemleo/@crypto.piotr/my-very-first-trip-to-switzerland-one-of-the-most-crypto-and-blockchain-friendly-place-on-the-planet-earth
Your feedback is always appreciated ;) And I will upvote most valuable comment with 100-200k SP coming from project.hope account.
Yours, Piotr
Upvoted by @aagabriel for having similarities to the #informationwar tag, posts like this anyone can add the tag #informationwar so we can more easily find and upvote them! (by @aagabriel)
Ways you can help the @informationwar!
Your curation has gone to shit in the past several months. Shame on you.
Are you discouraging @informationwar from curating my post deliberately, or did you just not realize that was the impact of flagging them on my post?
Please remove your flag here, where I believe we agree @informationwar is curating well. If you find examples of their curation where you believe it is inappropriate, flag them there if you must. I expect your comment conveys your message well enough without flagging being necessary anyway.
While you may disagree regarding the necessity of flagging them, I hope you do not disagree that discouraging their curation of my post here is counterproductive of encouraging good curation. Do please remove your flag here if your own curation being emulated by them here is what you seek to encourage.
Let's not get into trying to tell each other how to vote. That's about the only freedom we have left on this blockchain, if we even have that.
I did not tell you what to do.
Is clearly a polite request, followed with what I hope are good reasons you will agree with. Please do consider them (another polite request, and impossible to consider a command), because you aren't flagging yourself for upvoting the OP, so flagging someone else for doing so strongly suggests irrationality. I don't think you are unreasonable, but perhaps haven't exercised your reason in this matter, which I have sought to encourage. Not command, tell you to do, or order.
You don't have to do shit I say. I know this and don't tell you what to do. I sure am able to point out good reasons to respond favorably to polite requests, which is certainly a demonstrable and vital aspect of conversations.
You may disagree with the reasons I put forward that I believe you will agree with. You haven't given any indication you even read them, much less disagree or agree with them. There's no reason to call polite requests and reasons put forward that are intended to justify those requests orders inappropriate.
I appreciate your courteous reply unironically, as you seem to have considered my request to be telling you what to do, which wouldn't deserve a polite reply.
Thank you!
I don't see anything which could interest the Tron Foundation about Steemit -the corporation-. So I think this is just some fake news post. I own some TRX and I would not change my view on the native token of this smart contracts platform in case the news were real.
I hope you're right.
Thanks!
I hope you are right as well.
I've always been worried about facebook or twitter shadowbuying into Steemit
I'm not sure how much worse that the chicom will be than the people emulating their control methods already ;>
hopefully, you have already created a fully anon persona to continue conducting infowar from, if not, then get cracking!
Actual anonymity online isn't possible, and the hardwired backdoors built in to all commercially available chipsets preclude that potential absent individual possession of means of producing chipsets, which isn't apparently contemplated presently. This level of surveillance is necessarily limited to high level actors, but far lower software bars are trivially surmounted by a very wide spectrum of actors, and in my experience Steem alone remains available to me to post on.
This account has divulged copious personally identifiable information, and pseudonmyity is what prevents casual bad actors from directly discouraging my posts through direct personal intervention, as well as a broad spectrum of incentives. China is no casual in this game, and I remain unaware of another vector for my posts that isn't susceptible to far more facilitation of superceding pseudonymity than Steem.
I don't post on other platforms for this reason, and have successfully avoided physical, financial, and legal attacks on my person and family as a result, which I did experience prior to Steem's availability to me.
Accounts which I undertook to broaden the vectors for my posts on other platforms purporting censorship resistance have been deleted, banned, and otherwise prevented from distributing my posts.
Thanks!
You have the freedom to try to be anonymous. The problem is that the people that know who you are shouldn't and the people that don't should. The CIA knows who you are. Certain agencies in the world have you. I don't know who you are. But they can make you disappear. So, nobody will know because you are anonymous. That is why I'm not. If you were able to be anonymous, then it would be safer to be anonymous. But that is not possible like you said. But beyond that, they can still figure out who you are, even if you think you have avoided connecting your online with your offline. They do it for you. They have databases that cross references data to figure out things. They have been doing this with people who are NOT on Facebook. Not just the people who are on Facebook are put into databases. Everybody gets put into databases. So, anything you have ever done, ever, period. Well, people may not have it all but they try to. It is a long story and the globalists will go after you, even you, if they want, if they continue taking over the world and everything. So, of course, like I said, people can try to be anonymous. It is called freedom to make those types of choices. I don't disagree with that. But I am saying that your attempt at being anonymous is a defensive fight. You should instead be on the offensive.
What I have experienced is that high level state actors are intent on themselves focusing on direct interventions at far higher levels than I represent. They offshore interventions at my level to subcontractors, from platforms like Goolag, Twatter, and Microshaft (which is why I don't use them), or 'associates' like snitches, drug dealers for corrupt cops, and criminal thugs. These plebs aren't availed the surveillance mechanisms, or even competent to be availed them, so pseudonymity well employed has prevented actual violence and oppression I have experienced in the past.
I have undertaken public action to report and oppose corruption, fraud, and other criminal acts by government in the past, and I have been threatened with violence including death threats as a result. When those threats were carried out, and involved my children, I undertook pseudonymity, which has ended such attacks, I believe for the above reasons.
This won't work in China, as there state actors do intervene directly in the lives of plebs, rather than subcontracting. I am not trying to be anonymous to the state actors that are intent on corruption and are availed the hardware surveillance potential to such powerful actors. I am succeeding in limiting my identifiability to them, and excluding subcontractors that are not availed that level of surveillance.
The FBI and CIA don't have time to track down and knife bloggers in the street, so they leave that to petty criminals, and they don't give criminals access to highly compartmentalized surveillance technology for reasons more important than my blogging.
I'm sorry to hear that someone attacked you and your family. It saddens me to hear that people are still being physically attacked simply because they say controversial things. After reading some of your blog, I can say that I disagree with many of the things that I've read, but I don't think that you saying those things qualifies as something that would justify my even verbally attack you about, let alone being reason to commit a violent act. We really need to shift society towards something that frowns upon physically harming people for saying things we don't like. I'm happy to say that I've left most of those tendencies in my childhood. I just wish more people did.
I completely agree with you that disagreement regarding issues is natural and necessary in order to enable those undertaking discussion to improve their understanding, and the participants to benefit from it.
Some people don't seek understanding or societal benefit. Some of them kill people to steal their drugs and sell them for money. When these act are committed by police, who employ snitches to take down their competition, and thugs to murder whistleblowers, they seek to destroy free speech and public discourse solely so that they can continue to profit from murder.
Those people, and their ilk, are the enemies of freedom, society, and every man, woman, and child everywhere, and I oppose them. If I do so in person, or identifiably, every threat imaginable are credibly used to prevent me from speaking out, and the lives of my children have been part of those threats, while attempts made to beat me to death in front of them have been undertaken.
From these experiences I have learned that no government power is safe in the hands of anyone, because it is provable that corruption is always covert and hidden, and depends on unjustly coercing free people to sacrifice their freedom of action and conscience to submit to overlords and thugs they deploy as minions. I have also learned to seek to reveal such crimes pseudonymously, so that my free speech does not become a death sentence to my children, whose safety I alone bear personal responsibility to ensure.
If you can think of a way to prevent criminals who have infiltrated institutions that claim to have authority over ordinary civilians from doing so, I would be happy to consider it with care. Nothing I have ever been told will do so will, and I currently am convinced that the elimination of institutional power is the sole means of ending violent abuse, and the corruption and parasitic extraction of wealth from free people most profitable to the most rapine psychopaths.
I see that decentralization of means of production in the myriad ways they have begun to eventuate do this, and as they further develop and disperse, centralized wealth and power is incrementally decreased as decentralization increases, and I call this a good start.
I would be happy to consider any opposing viewpoint that stems from reason, as whenever I am wrong, I want to change my mind so I can become right. The truth; facts, set us free, and lies and minunderstanding reality are chains of ignorance that trap us in psychological and mental captivity, prevent our full power to benefit ourselves and each other justly and voluntarily. I don't want to be wrong, even if I am strong or convincing enough to convince people I am right.
I want to be actually factually correct, regardless if I can enable anyone else ever to do so themsleves.
You may not seek to coerce people into silence, but you are not what everyone must be, and the litany of examples of abusive, tyrannical governmental power is inexhaustible, and I will oppose it though my only reward for doing so is death.
Thanks!
I hope you are right about that. You probably are right. I am just saying you never know as variables can change in the future.
Nobody Become Somebody Sometimes
Therefore, it is possible that if a nobody became Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Seth Rich, etc, in being a whistle blower, in exposing corruption, in passing on information to other people, governments, etc, do go after those kinds of people.
Cable Box Mic
For example, in the 1990's, there was a man who opened up a cable box to find a microphone. That guy broke open that box live on television. After that, agents were sent to him. They began threatening him. They tried to kill him. They were trying to get him to stop. They were trying to scare him away. Now, if that man was perhaps too anonymous, then it may have been easier to Suicide Him. As of 2019, he is still alive.
Be Careful
I'm just thinking statistically about probabilities. For example, I don't know what happened to Epstein. But people probably murdered him. Well, he might be a bad example for the point that I'm trying to make.
Seth Rich Murdered?
So, take Seth Rich for example. He died. He was probably murdered. Perhaps, he should have been more public about whatever happened. Perhaps, he should have had body guards. So, what I am saying is that people don't always try to get murder. But sometimes, they end up doing something that upsets the political engineers, the powers that be. So, my point is that some people end up showing up on their radar. It can be gradual or it can be all of a sudden. Better safe than sorry is what I am trying to say. Maybe they will never go after you. But they may go after somebody you know. Therefore, we should always encourage people around us to be as wise as possible. Because you never know what might happen.
Dead Doctors, Scientists, etc.
Sometimes, doctors and scientists end up dead. It happens way too often. People need to be smarter. Because they could have been more effective alive.
Stick Together
So, patriots should try to stick together like they do in The Walking Dead. We live around zombies and Negan and all kinds of monsters. We live in a very dangerous world.
You are not wrong, but you should acknowldedge that you are not privy to all the facts regarding the cable box guy for example. His revelations may have been far more important, and he may have not revealed more in order to survive once he was identified. I myself have done this to protect my children who have been threatened.
As long as my revelations are largely ignored, or can be countered by disinformation and shill tactics, there is little point in undertaking the expense to dispatch very expensive high level actors to terminate my person to censor me. Mostly, people find my posts 'conspiracy theories' due to their different experiences. Most people dont know peoople that cops murdered for their supply of drugs that the cops then sold out of the police station. Most people have not seen boxes of food marked 'not for human consumption' served to captive slaves in American prisons, or meat purchased for events from outside suppliers stolen personally by prison kitchen administrators, and due to their lack of such experiences disbelieve my testimony, and this is absent any refutations by the guilty parties, which would increase opposition to my reports.
I am not expecting to convince anyone of these factual occurrences. I am not responsible for what other people believe, but am obligated to speak the truth by my own integrity. Do you doubt that such murderers and thieves using government service as a vector for fraud and criminal power would hesitate to do anything necessary to shut me up, including murdering my sons and me? I do not, because I have lived through such attempts already. Those threats and assassination attempts ended because I appeared to comply as far as they could ascertain and no longer personally spoke to media, individuals empowered to sanction those crimes, or even my neighbors and friends about those crimes.
I have paid prices for both speaking out, and for becoming silent personally regarding them.
Corrupt cops, their snitches, and prison kitchen administrators are not availed highly classified CIA intelligence, or informed of it's existence. That information is compartmentalized, and those violent thugs are not able to link such revelations to me personally and end my life to end my speech.
I do not have specific observations to report regarding CIA or similar high level state actors, so they do not physically intervene in my comments, but we see how often murder to censor such whistleblowers does happen. From Vince Foster, Bill Porter, and Seth Rich, the list is almost more than anyone can comprehend. I include Michael Lesin amongst them, and you, like most people, have never even heard of him, I bet. Largely based on evidence provided by those that do have such personal evidence to reveal, which I believe because it is completely the same kind of abuse I have witnessed by far less powerful, and less able to profit from it, are executed by government agents. Therefore my discussion of these higher level matters does not attract people able to surveil me with such sophisticated and expensive mechanisms and end my speech. Such surveillance as they do from time to time undertake reveals that I am not the source of that information, so taking me down by them personally could only lend credence to my posts on these matters, and neither succeed in hiding that information.
Surveillance is a multifaceted industry, and many different actors undertake, from petty burglars that want nothing more than any possessions I may have they can steal in a moment of vulnerability to sell for crack, to CIA, Mossad, and other agencies that have far higher bars for undertaking action.
So, here I am, remaining able to speak the truth without being beaten in the street, stabbed in my driveway, or shot by a sniper, nor am I banned, shadowbanned or my account deleted because I use Steem to post these facts, and not Goolag, Twatter, Fakebook, or their ilk. I minimize my possessions, so that I can literally leave my doors unlocked, even wide open, and not even crackheads want to risk stealing my worthless possessions. I do lots of work for my neighbors to increase the risk for petty thugs and criminals to harm me.
Indeed, for a reason I will not divulge here, in the last two days some neighbors have given me hundreds of dollars in food that corruption in a business deal prevented me from being able to buy myself. I account my neighbors far more valuable than mere money for this reason, amongst others, such as occasionally checking that I am still well and unharmed if they don't see me for a few days, and watching my home like hawks.
This is what works for me well enough to have eliminated almost completely the threats and violence I have formerly experienced, and why I think it works. Nothing is more dangerous than the truth to a fool who does not consider how telling it will inspire which parties to seek to silence him and how. I work hard at not doing that foolish thing, and see these considerations are actually working as I intend.
The value of neighbors, local communities, some churches, some families, like you said, in helping each other out with food boxes, as opposed to excessive reliance to governmental, federal welfare, socialism. You are right with what you are saying.
Vulnerability
I worry that people may go after my family or after people connected to me. I'm not married. I have no kids. But I have siblings, parents, relatives. I know, I am still a nobody at the moment. But if I were to ever expose too much. I just contemplate what might happen. I was living in Vietnam. I think about exposing corruption in their government, perhaps. But that may prevent me from being allowed to returned to Vietnam. I feel that it is better for me to live in America at the moment. Life is like chess. So, I try to think several moves ahead. I write a bit on Steemit. I try to pass on information to the world. I try to do my part. And some people are attacked. Some landlords are refusing to rent out to Trump Supporters for example. In blue states, it can be tougher for patriots. CPS agents are dividing up families. All kinds of things are happening. So, we are in a war.
Truth
That's right, nothing is more dangerous than the truth to a fool, like you said. Yeah, like V For Vendetta, truth inspires. It spreads. Like dominoes.
For years, I was as anonymous as I could be. At some point I realized, like you mention here, there's more safety for me by doing the exact opposite. I switched up my activism to a more "public figure" style. Now my safety comes from being known and seen. It's a little uncomfortable for me, but I do what I have to do to continue my activism but manage my safety level.
Exactly. Now, if I were to have children, I may want to try to keep my kids as anonymous as possible. Or maybe not. I am still undecided.
Anonymous at first, since there's no advantage to exposing a newborn's private data more than necessary. I'm going to allow mine to permanently give up their own privacy once they're mature enough to do so.
Would you make videos of your kids?
I use my real name.
Wouldn't surprise me.
I'm getting to the point of realizing that the online world is no longer a safe place to air thoughts.
Everything you say can and will be used against you in ways you never thought possible.
Next step, thought crimes.
Thought crimes are not theoretical, and myriad examples reveal that states do prosecute and penalize them today and have for years. Julian Assange is an egregious example of this, but far less apparent means are far more often undertaken to do so. Shadow banning is not a new development, nor limited to social media, as can be understood from researching financial mechanisms used to prevent communities from rational development undertaken by inhabitants and limiting equity to approved entities.
I have long advocated mesh networks, which have proven to surmount platform based censorship during political unrest in the last decade. From Egypt to Hong Kong, civilian development and use of mesh networks has enabled dissidents to maintain communications despite platform level surveillance and censorship.
Absent far wider reach and broader distribution of such mechanisms, free speech as facilitated on Steem will soon be impossible. I have personally been censored on every platform I have undertaken to speak forthrightly on, including Gab, Pocketnet, and every other platform enabling accounts. It is why I am concerned about the transfer of equity from extant owners of Stinc to institutions more closely associated, or even captive, to actors undertaking surveillance and censorship.
Back in the day, Lopht began developing a mesh network using satellite dishes and bespoke microwave communications networks on public bandwidths. Despite their strong motivations, this effort was unable to become viable due to lack of a market, as the vast majority of individuals were not nominally motivated to adopt that mechanism.
As time goes on, deception and deliberate restraint of surveillance and censorship resulting from it has lulled the West into complacency. I expect that until marked repression of free speech impacts society more directly, such developments will continue to remain irrelevant, and after such impacts provide nominal incentive such development and adoption will be impossible.
We see this occurring in China today, as Uighurs, Falun Gong, and other dissidents are horrifically censored and repressed, including by having their organs terminally removed, and their families separated with men going to concentration camps and women given as chattel to politically determined owners. It's too late for Chinese dissidents to develop and deploy mesh networks today, due to the competence of the surveillance state to intervene, and bad actors will adopt proven mechanisms as developments necessitate everywhere else.
I hope this is no more than a rumor, but am prepared to take action necessary to maintain security.
Thanks!
That kind of attitude will end humanity as you know it.
Life existed for thousands of years before digital communication, it might be time to rediscover these roots of humanity.
Just a thought eh?
We have gardens. We distill water. It is so delicious.
The privatization of the Earth's carbon through multinational corporations buying all the carbon credits neoliberal governments price out of reach of ordinary businesses and civilians enables globalists to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere lower than is necessary to support gardening.
Below 150ppm all plants will starve to death, and this will utterly destroy natural ecosystems and gardens alike, leaving humanity utterly dependent on Big Agra, that owns all the carbon through carbon credits, for food and life itself.
It is already illegal in Oregon to collect rainwater that falls on your roof.
Without deploying modern technology and opposing institutional power over natural resources that destroy the ability of individuals to provide their own existentially necessary goods and services, like food and water, we will be forced into smart prisons...er, cities, and become chattel to overlords that own the multinational corporations.
Eventually, low tech solution like gardens and rain barrels will not be enough to keep us alive. We will need indoor aquaponics and cryptic water and power sources to provide our life sustaining resources and remain secure from corporate overlords.
I'm starting to wonder if ^you^ are the A.I.
Such incredible knowledge about almost every topic imaginable.
Do you ever sleep?
nervous chuckle
Sadly, I was impacted by some unscrupulous matters of business today, which has caused me no little distress. I am already hours delayed in hitting the rack. When I was younger, I claimed sleep was the enemy, that I would sleep when I was dead. Today I crave sleep I cannot get, and tonite is one more day in the last week I expect to get only a couple hours.
I do actually sleep too little, and type too much, but spend a lot more time reading, which those better authors and sources of information enable me to glean from reading them. You do flatter me.
Thanks!
Is general AI already here ?
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@tipu curate
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