Sending e-mail via a possibly sanctioned entity

Posted Nov 11, 2025 14:08 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341)
In reply to: Sending e-mail via a possibly sanctioned entity by malmedal
Parent article: Debian to require Rust as of May 2026

Not all just movements are popular initially. Some oppression can be restricted to small groups - and hence opposition will not easily or quickly rally mass support. One man's freedom fighter is another man's terrorist. A terrorist today is a brave freedom fighter tomorrow (a wanted terrorist was just in the US white house).

It is interesting to see how my generation of techies - who when they were young would have nearly all been involved in or at least strongly supported the cypherpunk movement and been against the government in the crypto-wars of the 90s - have with often become more conservative at least in terms of supporting state control. People who once would have invoked May's (popularised by Schneier) four horseman of the Internet as a derisory label, now invoke those horsemen in support of the ever broadening tech-panopticon surveillance state.

Sending e-mail via a possibly sanctioned entity

Posted Nov 11, 2025 15:34 UTC (Tue) by malmedal (subscriber, #56172) [Link] (1 responses)

You don't seem to understand my point, crypto-currencies are only a useful tool against an opponent who are unwilling to use the standard dictatorship playbook, such as torture, arresting family members etc.

It's possible to write a fictional scenario where these really are the bad guys, but currently on planet earth none of the far to few countries that are actually respecting the rule of law deserve to be overthrown.

Your specific example refers to Syria, the old regime would have collapsed years earlier if they hadn't been propped up by the drug trade and associated money laundering so crypto was very much on the wrong side there.

Sending e-mail via a possibly sanctioned entity

Posted Nov 11, 2025 17:59 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link]

For clarity, and without intending to further the discussion. My reference to Syria was solely to illustrate the "One man's freedom fighter...." concept. My references to rising illiberalism were meant largely to refer to western democracies, which (to me) are steadily inching down ever more totalitarian paths - on both sides of the political spectrum (as and when they gain power). States already highly illiberal are of course also a concern.