Resistance to digital fascism: we all have a debt to Edward Snowden

Today, this article will exceptionally exceed some of our usual beloved subjects, to focus on the journey of a man that everyone knows, but without always perhaps weigh how much we are indebted to him: the embodying the concept of whistleblower, Edward Snowden.

The opportunity is perfect. Edward is in the news these days, on the occasion of the release of his memoirs "Permanent Record" (French title: "Mémoire Vive"), a book that is likely to be a great publishing success. The event is important in the history of progress and decline of freedoms! Almost as important as France refusing asylum to the person concerned for the second time in 6 years.

However, the population as a whole, not necessarily aware of the underlying issues, if she knows the face of eternal teenager Edward Snowden, will pass, we know, soon to something else.

The crypto community, more than any other, must know how to occupy the outposts with respect to Edward Snowden's fate, as well as be indignant about his treatment today.

So, if we're going to talk about Snowden's reports to crypto (a bit), let's also take this opportunity to remind ourselves how much his choices and his decisions have had a positive impact on the public policies of the protection of the privacy of people.

Or how the unlikely decision of courage of a humble computer engineer in Hawaii in 2013 will have the effect of forcing the largest intelligence system that humanity has ever known to suddenly leave the dark to expose itself in the light of for a moment.

An individual against a system: what changed Snowden?
"We are never more than one decision to change the world" Unknown author

Little Ghost in the big Shell
Everyone knows the outline of the story. Oliver Stone has released an excellent film and this week, it is the hero of the saga in person, who tells us behind the scenes of his revelations, his flight to the hunt of which he continues to be the subject.

It should be noted in passing that the publication of the book, in the purest 2.0 inquisitorial style, was immediately attacked by the American Justice .

To prohibit the diffusion? No, do you think! Uncle Sam just wants to make sure to get the revenue from book sales ... National Security is a good enough thing to get a good price, it seems.

In 2013, a young computer engineer self-labeling himself " insignificant " will thus be at the origin of the largest revelation of global surveillance programs, relegating many science fiction dystopias to the rank of harmless nursery rhymes . Nearly 2 million documents allowed us to get acquainted with entities that have now entered history: PRISM, XKEYScope, GENIE, Tempora ...

We did not know them, and yet these computer programs, they accompanied us to our intimacy for a long time already.

Suddenly, the notion of loneliness had just been disrupted without warning: we were never really alone anymore.

The classic argument was then unsheathed: all this arsenal was intended to protect citizens against terrorism, finally! And it does not matter that 90% of the tools revealed by Snowden have been aimed at hundreds of millions of individuals without stories, or deployed to spy on the political leaders of vassal nations or international organizations.

Snowden revealed stagnant totalitarianism behind the democratic polish
I use the term "digital fascism" in the title of this article, and this use may have shocked you . Indeed, we live in a particular era where words lose their density. Social networks, in particular, are the fertile ground for this disinhibition: everyone becomes the "fascist" of everyone and Godwin's Law teaches us that nothing good will come out of a debate in the middle of which this pomegranate has been unpinned.

And yet ... Snowden has authentically revealed to the eyes of the world, a true fascist drift of digital nature , orchestrated by great powers supposed to be models of modern democracies.

For yes, if there is anything that characterizes the fascist nightmare in its original extraction, it is the obsession of a central and hypertrophied state power to operate a total and perpetual control over the individuals.

This control necessarily involves a will, hypersurveillance of the population , both vertically (authority spies the individual) and transversal (individuals are spying on each other on behalf of authority).

If in Orwell's 1984 novel , Big Brother exercises his relentless surveillance of the masses through a technology called " telecrans ", it is certain thanks to the revelations of Edward Snowden that the telerans of the digital era wear pretty pastel colors and are called Google , Facebook , Instagram , Twitter or Linkedin ...

From back doors installed upstream by the NSA on applications used by billions of individuals, to the conservation - virtually eternal - personal data that constitute the DNA of digital identity, the veil was lifted: behind the likes and dislikes the RT, on the lookout for any search on your favorite web browser, is lurking a spy army.

It allowed a global awareness and encouraged individuals to protect themselves
Snowden's revelations will quickly prompt a wider population than just the cybersecurity community to take stronger precautions in their electronic exchanges.

Edward Snowden himself, who will be remembered that he lives in exile in Russia, will quickly ensure the "SAV" of his revelations, via videoconferences or by using his Twitter account in particular, distilling advice and guidance, promoting certain tools, advising against others ..

We know in particular thanks to him that nothing matches the Signal and Wire messengers in terms of encryption and that, admittedly rustic, the efficiency of the PGP keys continues to spite the NSA (and that, it does not have any price). It also designates Qubes as the "best operating system" and encourages the use of the "amnesic" Tail OS , bootable from any medium, and allowing to browse the Internet via TOR , without leaving any trace .

At the rank of bad students, it will hide your surprise to the following revelation: avoid WhatApps like the plague!

Invited a few days ago to intervene on France Inter Snowden drove the nail :

"If someone in government deals with sensitive issues and uses WhatsApp, it's a mistake."

He participated in the emergence of counter-powers
Snowden is the product of a time and a context, and it would probably be wrong to consider that despite the importance of his revelations, he has managed on his own to raise public awareness of the issues surrounding protection. of the data.

However, would the RGPD (General Data Protection Regulation) have been implemented if the scandal of global surveillance had not broken out? Would we today be so aware of the servile assistance then provided by GAFAM , the proud giants of the digital economy? And Google , Amazon and others would have made some progress on the subject, if they had not faced the pressure of some of their users outraged?

All these little annoying messages that inform you that to navigate a site, you need to mark your informed consent (the famous cookies), efforts a little embarrassing Facebook to guarantee you (sworn, spewed) that the Libra project will treat your data with respect, the steps of Apple to shield its phones , the encrypted internet (the https) ... All these phenomena, Snowden is a bit for something.

And crypto in all that?
Surprisingly enough, Edward Snowden , an excellent computer scientist, cryptography specialist and dashing thirty-something at the time of the appearance of Bitcoin and the explosion of cryptos, has never shown an immoderate interest for the subject.

Of course, Snowden, as a cryptographer is perfectly comfortable with the ecosystem.

However, naturally compared to a Julien Assange , founder of Wikileaks , another " whistleblower " of his state, which for his part always intimately linked the existence and activities of his organization to cryptocurrencies , Snowden casually looks a little disenchanted about the fate of Bitcoin, which he considers inegalitarian by nature.

From his various positions on the subject, we will note the following points:

Snowden thinks Bitcoin will not last . Too much energy, not enough egalitarian, the king of digital currencies will eventually fall from his throne in favor of more virtuous solutions,
whether it's Proof of Work or Proof of Stake , neither of these two majority approaches in the industry is supported by his eyes.
"The evidence of work rewards those who can afford the most infrastructure and consume the most energy, which is destructive and tilts the balance in favor of the rich. The proof of stake eliminates the environmental problem by giving the reward directly to the rich and hoping that their unlimited greed is enough to ensure their sustainability. It goes without saying that new models are needed. " Edward Snowden

the blockchain as a technology is boring, inefficient and energy-consuming , but almost impossible to falsify, this quality offsetting everything else. This unique characteristic, associated with the possibility of dispensing with the notion of trust between actors, seems likely to revolutionize the world of information. The blockchain could become the real "Fake News Killer".
"Bitcoin is great, but it's not private, so not sure, especially for people like me . " This is essentially what Snowden said about the actual or supposed anonymity of cryptocurrencies . At the Bitcoin, the interested party indicates to prefer ZCash and Monero , even if he underlines the amateurism of the team behind Monero ...
As we can see, the whistleblower is far from being a Bitcoin Maximalist , and even seems very cautious about the durability of the currency itself. We will not be surprised, as it has been shown time and again how - and contrary to the image that continues to stick to his skin - Bitcoin was very badly insuring its function as anonymous money.

Just take a look at the account "Snowden's Official Defense Fund" on the blockchain to be convinced: Be certain that all incoming and outgoing transactions ( more than 200 BTC , 2 million dollars in the current course), since the opening of this wallet on August 13, 2013, have been carefully scanned by services eager to trace, capture and court martial, the renegade Snowden.

At this point, be aware that making a transfer of some Satoshis on this account could also be worth you some disappointments when crossing the security checkpoints of airports yankees ... To you to see if you want to offer you the thrill of this political act subversive!

But beyond polemics and conjectures, Edward sums up the situation perfectly : in the end, Bitcoin wins (for the moment at least).

In conclusion, Snowden hero 2.0 or traitor to his nation?
Whether it is perceived as a traitor or a hero, one thing is clear: by doing what he considered fair, Edward Snowden has sacrificed his life as a senior executive of the 21st century, in the richest nation of Canada. world.

He gave up his comfort, his career and endangered his family. He is designated as a traitor and a pariah by his fatherland (the very one for which he had committed himself to the flag in the aftermath of 9/11).

To know that Edward Snowden was granted asylum by Russia in 2013 has been living there for several years, with the same kind of sour aftertaste as to remember that the Committee on Women's Rights is presided over by UN by Saudi Arabia .

Remember that since then he has twice been refused asylum by France, Fatherland of Human Rights and Freedoms, makes it downright nauseating.

And if you have 5 minutes, between playing a YouTube video recorded by the NSA, and the deposit of a blue thumb that will remain etched somewhere for eternity, do not hesitate to devote 30 seconds to the signature of the petition put in place by the League of Human Rights to demand that France grant asylum to Edward Snowden .