@Pantera
edited
A Censorship-Resistant Internet in Demand
Almost every internet user at one point will be in the unpleasant situation, having their favorite social media, video platform, or any website, blocking access to their account. It happens frequently in social media (Twitter, Facebook), platforms like YouTube, forums like Reddit, and Medium. Immediately makes us consider how much censorable the internet has nowadays become. I sometimes recall the first crypto-anarchists like Timothy C. May writing the Crypto anarchist manifesto on privacy and anonymity and was reminded how the media moguls took over a pure and crude worldwide web and shaped it to a dumbed-down version of TV entertainment. https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/crypto/cypherpunks/may-crypto-manifesto.html The State will of course try to slow or halt the spread of this technology, **citing national security concerns**, **use of the technology by drug dealers** and **tax evaders**, and **fears of societal disintegration**. Just as the technology of printing altered and reduced the power of medieval guilds and the social power structure, so too will cryptologic methods fundamentally alter the nature of corporations and of government interference in economic transactions Timothy C. May (1992) *Source* https://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/classes/6.805/articles/crypto/cypherpunks/may-crypto-manifesto.html *This article was originally published at Hive, partially re-written, and republished.*
The future is Decentralized At the beginning of the 21st century, I never imagined there would be such unfairness and censorship on the internet twenty years later. This was all about freedom in the beginning, but at some point, it all changed. I am against custodians, third parties, and all intermediaries. **The future is decentralized** and we all have to promote and protect the values of **decentralized** and **censorship-resistant** networks. Without sacrificing speed and mass adoption, though. This is not about the money of just an elite. I would be more active writing about BTC and Ethereum if I found them to be providing a service to the world, but instead, they both grew as **elitist tools of force and privilege**. Decentralization is of utmost importance, but it also has to be shared with the rest of the world, not just the 0.01% that can afford it. It is not a privilege for just a few. This is my take on crypto and I did not betray my principles just for the “price go up” narrative. It gets odd every time I have to discuss this with the BTC crowd and every unfounded claim they make. I noticed the bankers in crypto as soon as I joined in mid-2017. Had a few years of experience within the banking sector, so it wasn't difficult. If you know your enemies, it is easy to spot them immediately. Wasn’t difficult to find out how they were pushing the story of required regulations for BTC to become mass adopted. This is not a fresh notion, “required regulations” was a discussion for years, almost right after Blockstream appeared in the field.
25 years of Internet Censorship & Reshaping Personalities It is frustrating when our account gets suspended. We feel excluded and censored, but after a while, we learn, this is just a typical behavior by most social media, online platforms, and forums. **The current state of the internet is pitiful**. We witness a crusade by social media and top websites to re-shape our thinking process, which is even worse than banning a user. The thought police. The censorship and inability to express ourselves. Twitter treats its users like mindless fools. It censors content and suspends accounts just because they don’t fit its agenda. **There is no free speech on the internet today.** All the social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) and the content platforms (YouTube, Medium, etc.) are **centralized** and **censorable**. They follow the wishes of certain powerful individuals and shape opinions. There is this **anachronistic perception** of monitoring the users’ behavior under a strict set of rules. Rules that often make no sense to anyone at all. Isn’t this a red flag? The internet used to be full of opportunities and freedom. Yet, it all faded away within 20-25 years. All websites gradually fell at the hands of a few media moguls. The internet today, despises one subject: **Our opinion.** Especially when it contradicts the higher interests each mainstream platform is promoting.
In Conclusion Many problems arise with the exploitation of freedom of speech, as well. There are illegal activities, that depend on the interpretation of the law in each jurisdiction. Yet, there are also highly illegal and immoral acts that can cause an outcry inside any community. There is a thin line between freedom of speech and the exploitation of this freedom. It is not an authoritarian approach to combat spam. It needs to be filtered out as well. Plagiarism is another menace to any platform and it is unethical to steal the work of other writers. Then there are despicable acts I can't even mention, some perform and try to monetize online. A decentralized blockchain permanently records everything. A platform, running on top of a blockchain has certain restrictions and governance, though. Even if a certain topic is removed from the plain view of the website, it will still always remain recorded on the blockchain, however restrictions should be minimal and contained by consensus. This is the wonder of blockchain technology. The decentralized blockchains, though. Tamper-proof, and censorship-resistant. We need an expansion of censorship-resistant websites running on top of decentralized networks.
**Originally Published at** **Hive** **(re-written)** https://ecency.com/proofofbrain/@pantera1/the-necessity-for-a-censorship-resistant-world-wide-web **Images:** *Lead Image from:* ***Pixabay*** https://pixabay.com/tr/illustrations/yapay-zeka-beyin-d%c3%bc%c5%9f%c3%bcnmek-kontrol-3382507/ **Follow me on:** *●* ***ReadCash*** *●* ***NoiseCash*** *●* ***Medium*** *●* ***Hive*** *●* ***Steemit*** *●****Vocal*** *●* ***Minds*** *●* ***Twitter*** *●* ***LinkedIn*** *●****Reddit*** *●* ***email*** *●* ***tipb.ch*** https://read.cash/@Pantera https://noise.cash/u/Pantera99 https://medium.com/@panterabch https://hive.blog/@pantera1 https://steemit.com/@pantera1 https://vocal.media/authors/pantera https://www.minds.com/pantera99/ https://twitter.com/Panterabch https://www.linkedin.com/in/panterabch/ https://www.reddit.com/user/PanteraBCH https://read.cash/@Pantera/localcryptos-p2p-exchange-is-now-offering-bitcoin-cash-trading-06637230#bad-link https://tipb.ch/Pantera ***DISCLAIMER****: All material published in this content, is used for entertainment and educational purposes and falls within the guidelines of fair use.* ***No copyright infringement intended.*** *If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this article, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an* *****email******.* https://read.cash/@Pantera/cryptouknowns-battlegrounds-the-crypto-battle-royal-part-i-0ca762da#bad-link *No financial advice intended. DYOR.* *SLP and SmartBCH Wallets:* ***SLP****: simpleledger:qp77an8yy98kgarhgmhurvmcrxslth0v9qgft6ypqk* ***SmartBCH****: 0x2c09bc07354bad5b5c04b3661148d50a5fc087bc*
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14 comments
I've known a little about decentralization for a while, but you speak of it from a different perspective. I knew it for blockchain and crypto related things, but you speak of decentralizing a whole network... I simply have no clue how that would work. But if it's possible, that'll be cool as I hate the idea of minority controlling majority... As usual, this was really informative.. Keep it up friend...
I think this topic strucks a chord. I still remember the first time being suspended at Twitter, I felt this was a disgrace for this website, since there was simply no reason, no curse words used, no abuse, I didn't spam, didn't promote violence. It was just my opinions and Twitter just blocked them. And you know me, I'm not a guy talking violence and extremism either. It is simply a method to put everyone under control.
That's really embarrassing.... I didn't know twitter could even do that... Sorry about that...
Had this accoutn from 2009, banned in 2017 (had a couple of thousand followers) with no reason given, and no chance to get it back after my request.
Did they reply you after you wrote to them??? If they did, what did they say??? Or was it total silence??????
If I remember correctly, there was a response claiming that the account was not going to be activated again. I didn't try to appeal again, though. I didn't like Twitter anyway, and only use it today to promote BCH and my articles.
I never really used twitter. Had an account I never used once... Was thinking of reopening, but after hearing this, I'm never using it again if I don't have to. You're doing a good job friend. I appreciate your effort.
Wait, wait that's a lot of information I need to procees it in my mind because I don't really know about decentralisation but thank you for sharing Pantera this means a lot to me.
Nowadays, technology plays an important role in every doings of people. Our world is being control by the use of technology, but even though there are disadvantages on it, let us be thankful because if without a technology we are not here in read.cash 💖
Not to mention that these centralized platforms respond to politics and their interests. If you are from the left or right they allow you to publish or not according to their agenda. They give visibility to some things and others. The algorithm ignores them and they do not come to light. It has happened to me and many colleagues who block our Twitter, Facebook or even YouTube accounts for allegedly violating the rules, when clearly this is not the case.
Every new age emerges after the suppression of the successor. Similar is the case with controlled media, economy and social platforms. New era is of the De Centralized and open for all media, economy and social platforms
Pantera, Your article is an informative commentary about censorship in cyberspace. Although an utterly decentralized platform would be cost-intensive to maintain, there would be new hope with the upcoming web 3.0.
We could document all the "Known Censor" infrastructure instances as a topic on the Memo Protocol (memo.cash, etc). That should be enough to inform people who care not to use/support those instances. Just informing the influencers is a start along a better path. --- An example of such a strategy is this less-focused topic: https://memo.cash/topic/Boycott+List . --- Nailed to the blockchain, such a list could survive a nuclear winter....
Thanks a lot for the good information my friend, I enjoyed reading your article keep it up, I hope I can read more about your article. By the way I'm Newbie here