Cassie Heart
@cassie
Years ago, when I started building a decentralized discord clone, people asked me why. I wanted a communication tool that was truly decentralized, in a way that no state actor was able to gain control over. Signal's design wasn't capable of group chats beyond a certain size. The features only went so far. And it has failure points such that countries block them by firewall and have to rely on the good graces of others to run proxies, which ultimately get shut down or blocked too. App stores do not share in this ideal — their concern is profit, and will bend backwards when forced to by regulatory bodies. Amazon and others are complicit in helping state actors maintain their control of the web, and are profiting handsomely from the arrangement. None of this happened by accident. And I only saw it getting worse. I realized what I was building in this chat application went beyond just chat, and how pressing it was to make this general purpose.
42 replies
117 recasts
344 reactions
Cassie Heart
@cassie
I took the time to pivot, to build what Nick Szabo called a god protocol. A protocol capable of being a globally shared computer — but truly one, not facing the extreme bottlenecks of the existing block chain paradigm. And I began to sound the battle cry: the internet is under attack. I argued that the four axes of control over the web: - ISPs - cloud providers - identity/backup/mail/general service providers - state actors All of them were engaging in a multisided attack on internet freedom. I argued this before founders were getting arrested and charged for uncensorable platforms. I argued this before tornado cash's developers were arrested. I argued this before protesters in Canada saw their bank accounts frozen. I argued this before government and major social media went on a collaborative purge and information hole campaign on topics related to COVID, labeling/hiding "misinformation" that later was proven to be true (lab leak, mask effectiveness, economic policies that are coming due as we speak)
6 replies
4 recasts
90 reactions
Cassie Heart
@cassie
And I dealt with a lot of people who did not believe this was a "serious problem". That the acts of one nation would not be replicated and amplified amongst them all. That it wouldn't get worse. My messaging changed. The internet wasn't just under attack, the internet was already dead. That we needed to move quickly, and continue to push for privacy and censorship proof protocols. That the MEV bot wars and government controls on speech were different sides of the same coin. And that the window is closing on having a chance at fighting. The message spread. But it spread in strange ways. Suddenly I found myself working towards a protocol launch to do these things, and my act of talking about it caught the attention of a few different crowds: - those who believe in the ideals - those who wish to destroy the ideals And the latter camp has been in our public square, telling everyone how much they care about this technology, how much they wish to support it and help it grow. They told me the same.
3 replies
2 recasts
35 reactions
Thomas
@aviationdoctor.eth
I’d even argues there’s a fifth choke point aside from ISPs / cloud providers / mail/service providers / states, which is the app store providers and app distributors. So much of the modern internet (messaging in particular) takes place on mobiles, often as the *only* means of accessing the internet (e.g., in developing countries). And yet a few app stores can decide which apps live and die
1 reply
0 recast
4 reactions
zoo
@zoo
um, is cassie short for cassandra?
0 reply
0 recast
1 reaction
netop://ウエハ
@netopwibby.eth
When I tell people I want to be an ISP they look at me confused. You get it.
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
Angelus
@angelus.eth
WOAH i truly hope your project succeeds! All what you are saying here is true! You are a freedom fighter!
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
Archilles ༄ 🎩
@archilles
You really saw it coming for real That’s crazy
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction
Giulio
@kji
💫
0 reply
0 recast
0 reaction