dear Otto,

On Mon, 07 Sep 2015, Otto Meier wrote:

>    What one finds worthless might for someone else something...

considering Arturo is a Tor developer, I don't think he finds it all
worthless, actually he may be contributing to the cause even more than
other people here.

this list gathers a rather authentic group of cypherpunks, beyond what
the hype sells for this term. I don't consider this debate as criticism,
rather than as a "phase analysis", the healthy habit of doubting the
present, analysing achievements and future directions. it is nothing
really secret since this is a public group, but still somehow intimate.

BTW, next weekend I'm involved in this event in Berlin:
http://www.disruptionlab.org/samizdata

here below I paste the introductory text I've presented for my
intervention, which I'm still preparing and definitely addresses some
issues raised by this thread. The conclusions I'm drawing are rather
different from Arturo's, hoping I can contribute also to this debate
maybe with a transcript or a recording.

ciao



"Demilitarize technology.

An insider's critique of contemporary hacker politics".

This is the title of the upcoming presentation by Jaromil at our conference
SAMIZDATA. He will speak in the panel SAMIZDATA: Strategies for Resistance, on
September 12 · 2015 · 15:00-17:00 (http://www.disruptionlab.org/samizdata/).

"As heroic as it is, the act of whistleblowing is not scalable nor socially
sustainable on the long term. Many people are aware of the urgency for speaking
out about the injustice of how institutions are betraying their mandate and
working against the interest of open societies, but this narrative is also
threatening the possibility for the growth of socially sound networks of trust.
On a subjective level, while we constantly risk to be obsessed by revelations
about the global surveillance panopticon and the military-industrial complex,
we are also exposed to mass-deceiving propaganda and media manipulations, while
even inter-personal communication becomes a field for the expanding narrative
of total war.

This intervention does not suggests to reject awareness for the sake of peace
of mind. It reflects on the possibility for an hacker subject to maintain
integrity and seek a positive constituency for her relations. The task becomes
complex as the subject in question, the hacker, has also been extremely
popularized by mass-media for a prometeic role mostly oriented on its
individual dimension, rather than social.

Such a reflection will turn its attention to the traits characterizing the
needs and propositions of hackers and how those are perceived by the larger
public, influence social life and inform the reactions of public and private
apparata. It will consider our role in relation with the needs and desires of
larger masses of people and how that can lead to an inclusive narrative of
peace, not war.

Presumably fostering a dialogue with the audience, this talk will include time
for extensive Q&A and debate, trying to collectively focus on novel strategies
to demilitarize the narrative that hackers are weaving and seek a social
dimension for what could be still defined a tormented consciousness".