A lot of us walk around today with our data freely floating about in the waves for all to see. We surrender the power of our microphone and camera to Facebook, Google, and Apple just to use certain apps. And what choice do we have? The only way to have a reputable social life is to be on social media and apart of the machine. The data we offer to these companies is then analyzed and sold to companies. Just the other day I mentioned that I was itching for another Adidas purchase, and soon thereafter an advert appeared on my timeline with a promo code that led to commerce. Adidas could have purchased access to that information.

What if every part of your digital identity was exactly like that? Subject to audit by a nearby microphone, camera and a computer who could sell these data - your friendships, thoughts, concerns? This idea already exists and it is called the panopticon. This is a world in which all persons are being watched at the same time by an algorithm rather than a central tower and the current model of the internet allows for such a world. If you could protect your data, would you?

Cryptography offers the protection that we need. You might think that cryptography is something that is difficult, and I assure you it is, but the developers knew that the technology would have to be simple enough for the use of all people to protect themselves from this panopticon future. Acvhieving privacy of data is far off. We do not have phones that separate use from the will of it’s maker, nor cellular connection that separate us from the will of the connector. In truth, our entire relationship with the internet is centralized.

“If your liberties can be taken away in an emergency, they aren’t liberties. They are permissions.”

Cryptocurrency developers have been primarily focused on developing sovereign and immutable money sources, but the technology has so many more use cases. I have an iPhone and I am sure millions, if not billions, of other people have iPhone. I also use iCloud, which is a way to store my private photos of myself and loved ones. I am sure the billions of other iPhone users do not think that all of their data is likely stored in a single location, however superbly secure that might be, it lacks several security checks.

To my knowledge, the centralized file systems which dominate the market are weaker than distributed file systems simply because there is only one place to attack, whereas a distributed server technology might have hundreds or thousands of nodes with the data on them. When you plug in your key to the internet, on a distributed file system, your data is reassembled before you from each of these nodes. When you plug your key into a centralized file system, your computer is allowed access to their data. In a central system if one person bans you, you’re done. In a distributed system, a great deal of work has to occur at over half of the nodes to restrict your access.

This is the importance in participating in the systems you allow your data to circulate in. Because Apple does the work to secure and protect their data, they alone can police their data.

“If you use something on the internet for free, you are likely the product.”

In distributed system, anyone - yes, you or me, - can join the network as a node and support it. In the case of Bitcoin, Ether, and other blockchains with sufficient capital, the use of their distributed ledger systems (the system needed to secure & maintain a sovereign and immutable currency) can be free because the financial incentive to maintain nodes and the network are already present.

The first way we participate is by getting a private key. This key will permit access to the network in an anonymous manner. You can store all your data - photos, email, text & more - on the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) to opt into these networks. Here I will list the options from file storage, email, and text messages. These things are mostly free, but you can pay for upgraded versions.

1. Skiff.org

   1. Can provide you with an encrypted email service

      1. You can sign in with private keys from Ethereum via Metamask

         1. You can customize your email handle to prevent the identification of your Ethereum Wallet.

      2. You can also sign in with any given email from Google, Yahoo, etc

   2. Can provide you with file storage systems

      1. Provides a skiff drive for you to drop off things

      2. Also provides a space for writing and publishing

         1. I hope they are even working on an excel & slideshow like add on.

2. Ethmail.cc

   1. Provides you with an ethereum email, but solely if you have an ethereum address

3. Signal Messenger

   1. Provides you with a way to communicate with people - Video calling, Audio Calling & Text - which is fully encrypted and private.

4. Brave Browser

   1. Brave Browser is an internet browser build for privacy and protects you from the things you don’t see on the internet.

I know there are likely millions of other options for these things. If you go some more ideas, please comment below. I am literally down to try anything because that is what I do. The biggest dog in the fight against the panopticon is social media. Luckily the fight is being fought through the invention of the Lens Protocol and they many social media apps burgeoning on their network.

“Personal Data will be the oil of the 21st Century. Protect it as if it was oil, because if you lease it out too much, you can run out.”

Data is the oil of this century. We have watched as oil tycoons peaked last century, just to see them tiny in comparison to the size of the internet titans which attempt to rule the world in which we live. Oil has to be mined from the earth at great cost to the miner, but data is easy as devices and the internet become more and more intertwined with the general economies of our day. Protect your piece of this land, because this time you don’t have to live on top of oil rich deposits to have a claim to these riches.

A lot of us walk around today with our data freely floating about in the waves for all to see. We surrender the power of our microphone and camera to Facebook, Google, and Apple just to use certain apps. And what choice do we have? The only way to have a reputable social life is to be on social media and apart of the machine. The data we offer to these companies is then analyzed and sold to companies. Just the other day I mentioned that I was itching for another Adidas purchase, and soon thereafter an advert appeared on my timeline with a promo code that led to commerce. Adidas could have purchased access to that information.

What if every part of your digital identity was exactly like that? Subject to audit by a nearby microphone, camera and a computer who could sell these data - your friendships, thoughts, concerns? This idea already exists and it is called the panopticon. This is a world in which all persons are being watched at the same time by an algorithm rather than a central tower and the current model of the internet allows for such a world. If you could protect your data, would you?

Cryptography offers the protection that we need. You might think that cryptography is something that is difficult, and I assure you it is, but the developers knew that the technology would have to be simple enough for the use of all people to protect themselves from this panopticon future. Acvhieving privacy of data is far off. We do not have phones that separate use from the will of it’s maker, nor cellular connection that separate us from the will of the connector. In truth, our entire relationship with the internet is centralized.

“If your liberties can be taken away in an emergency, they aren’t liberties. They are permissions.”

Cryptocurrency developers have been primarily focused on developing sovereign and immutable money sources, but the technology has so many more use cases. I have an iPhone and I am sure millions, if not billions, of other people have iPhone. I also use iCloud, which is a way to store my private photos of myself and loved ones. I am sure the billions of other iPhone users do not think that all of their data is likely stored in a single location, however superbly secure that might be, it lacks several security checks.

To my knowledge, the centralized file systems which dominate the market are weaker than distributed file systems simply because there is only one place to attack, whereas a distributed server technology might have hundreds or thousands of nodes with the data on them. When you plug in your key to the internet, on a distributed file system, your data is reassembled before you from each of these nodes. When you plug your key into a centralized file system, your computer is allowed access to their data. In a central system if one person bans you, you’re done. In a distributed system, a great deal of work has to occur at over half of the nodes to restrict your access.

This is the importance in participating in the systems you allow your data to circulate in. Because Apple does the work to secure and protect their data, they alone can police their data.

“If you use something on the internet for free, you are likely the product.”

In distributed system, anyone - yes, you or me, - can join the network as a node and support it. In the case of Bitcoin, Ether, and other blockchains with sufficient capital, the use of their distributed ledger systems (the system needed to secure & maintain a sovereign and immutable currency) can be free because the financial incentive to maintain nodes and the network are already present.

The first way we participate is by getting a private key. This key will permit access to the network in an anonymous manner. You can store all your data - photos, email, text & more - on the Interplanetary File System (IPFS) to opt into these networks. Here I will list the options from file storage, email, and text messages. These things are mostly free, but you can pay for upgraded versions.

1. Skiff.org

   1. Can provide you with an encrypted email service

      1. You can sign in with private keys from Ethereum via Metamask

         1. You can customize your email handle to prevent the identification of your Ethereum Wallet.

      2. You can also sign in with any given email from Google, Yahoo, etc

   2. Can provide you with file storage systems

      1. Provides a skiff drive for you to drop off things

      2. Also provides a space for writing and publishing

         1. I hope they are even working on an excel & slideshow like add on.

2. Ethmail.cc

   1. Provides you with an ethereum email, but solely if you have an ethereum address

3. Signal Messenger

   1. Provides you with a way to communicate with people - Video calling, Audio Calling & Text - which is fully encrypted and private.

4. Brave Browser

   1. Brave Browser is an internet browser build for privacy and protects you from the things you don’t see on the internet.

I know there are likely millions of other options for these things. If you go some more ideas, please comment below. I am literally down to try anything because that is what I do. The biggest dog in the fight against the panopticon is social media. Luckily the fight is being fought through the invention of the Lens Protocol and they many social media apps burgeoning on their network.

“Personal Data will be the oil of the 21st Century. Protect it as if it was oil, because if you lease it out too much, you can run out.”

Data is the oil of this century. We have watched as oil tycoons peaked last century, just to see them tiny in comparison to the size of the internet titans which attempt to rule the world in which we live. Oil has to be mined from the earth at great cost to the miner, but data is easy as devices and the internet become more and more intertwined with the general economies of our day. Protect your piece of this land, because this time you don’t have to live on top of oil rich deposits to have a claim to these riches.