Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has sounded the alarm about several emerging threats to technological freedoms and, by extension, to some of the core values of the crypto community.
In a blog post, Buterin warned of political attacks on encrypted messaging, centralized identity systems, and insecure operating systems, and of the growing power of a few social media platforms and dominant countries to censor and deplatform people around the world.
Encrypted messages under fire
Buterin’s primary concern is that political attacks on encrypted messaging are increasing. He believes that the right to private conversations is fundamental and that it was one of the founding principles of the cypherpunk ethos that underpins the crypto movement. Governments around the world have stepped up threats against messaging services to weaken encryption or add backdoors, posing a potential risk to user privacy.
Another thing I would like to add is that we all need to agree that finance is *not* enough. There are soooo many points of centralization that are growing rapidly and are threats in today’s technology:
* Ongoing political attacks on encrypted messages
* Centralized identity…— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 25, 2024
Centralized Identity and Credit Scoring
He further warns that the rise of centralized identity systems with credit scores will prove to be broadly corrosive to individual autonomy. These systems are harmful because they concentrate power in the hands of a very few entities that can then use them to surveil, control, and even discriminate against citizens based on their digital profiles.
Insecure operating systems and backdoors
Another threat Buterin pointed out was that proprietary operating systems are full of bugs and backdoors. The reason, he argues, is that closed-source software is less secure and more feasible to exploit for various actors, including governments. Buterin believes that what is really needed is the mass adoption of open-source, auditable operating systems to avoid these risks.
Censorship and centralization of social media
Buterin warns of the trend of increasing power of social media platforms to censor and deplatform at will, and to cater to the whims of governments. He criticizes the fact that opacity and centralization are characteristic of social media algorithms, which allows them to be used in shaping information and public debate.
Buterin specifically expresses the view that the Web has been conquered by powerful nations, which have created geopolitical chokepoints that can shut down people or organizations around the world. He treats this trend as undermining the decentralized, global aspect of the Internet; the removal of individual liberties by threatening freedom of expression and access to information is what is at stake here.
Ethereum: Centralized AI and Mind Reading Technology
Finally, Buterin warns that if there is centralization, AI and BCIs If they fall into the wrong hands, they will be very dangerous. The aforementioned will carry out unprecedented surveillance, deplatforming, and economic domination. Therefore, Buterin calls for the development of decentralized, privacy-preserving AI and BCI solutions so that the risks can at least be mitigated.
Buterin’s warnings underscore the importance of defending technological freedoms in the face of these emerging dangers. He argues that the crypto community must take a proactive stance in promoting the values that Bitcoin and Ethereum have birthed: privacy, decentralization, and individual autonomy.
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