Remember the rubber hose

July 20, 2018 / [email protected] @ArgesRic  https://mastodon.social/@ricardojmendez/ Remember the rubber
hose Ricardo J. Méndez

@argesric @samsungnext About me Technical Director for Europe at Samsung
NEXT in Berlin. We partner with innovators and invest in forward-looking deep-tech companies. This talk, however, is about privacy. Feel free to grab me later if you want to talk more.

Speaking of which…

@argesric @samsungnext Kudos to the organizers. We need more conferences
taking people’s desire for privacy into account.

Let’s talk about privacy

@argesric @samsungnext Have you asked people about decentralization?

@argesric @samsungnext Most have no idea.

@argesric @samsungnext People do know a few things, though The
"crypto"comes from all the data out there being encrypted... Blockchains are private because they are decentralized... And this makes them anonymous and untraceable.

@argesric @samsungnext This is partly our fault.

@argesric @samsungnext There’s a lot of new concepts for people.

@argesric @samsungnext Privacy “as a way to prevent signalling concerns
from encompassing all of our activity.” Vitalik Buterin, reddit thread

@argesric @samsungnext Everything we do in public generates signals.

@argesric @samsungnext First world problem?

@argesric @samsungnext “We are putting X on the blockchain”

@argesric @samsungnext Effectively, logging.

Let’s talk about keys

@argesric @samsungnext Raise your hand… Who believes in being in
control of their private keys? Who expects public key cryptography will keep our data safe at least until quantum computers? Who has ever had a gun to their heads?

@argesric @samsungnext Yeah. That signaling.

@argesric @samsungnext “We are making the world a better place”

@argesric @samsungnext What’s the worst thing that can happen?

@argesric @samsungnext Censorship resistance? Pseudonymity?

@argesric @samsungnext Those who can benefit the most are vulnerable.

Rubber hose cryptanalysis

@argesric @samsungnext Easy, cheap, and effective.

@argesric @samsungnext We need to make it easier for people
to be private.

@argesric @samsungnext Yes, we are better off. But we have
it pretty good already.

@argesric @samsungnext Hey, I’ll take it.

How can we help?

@argesric @samsungnext Yes, users can change your defaults.

@argesric @samsungnext If your defaults aren’t private, they will stay
non-private. Source

@argesric @samsungnext Can we help with the metadata?

@argesric @samsungnext Plausible deniability?

@argesric @samsungnext But mostly, speak plainly. Help them build a
mental model.

Because we’re really close

@argesric @samsungnext We’re in the cusp of something here.

@argesric @samsungnext … and then 95% of them won’t change
the defaults.

@argesric @samsungnext Thank you. Contact: [email protected] 

Remember the rubber hose

Remember the rubber hose

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