xeleriac

Busy days fer me, but it is with increasing interest that I dive deeper into the world of cypherpunk subculture.

Amidst this ever changing landscape I find myself coming back to one metanarrative—the war between those who want to control the digital commons, and us, who may want to make it uncontrollable; ungovernable, if you will—unless you're a spook, in which case, kindly eat shit.

The fight to keep the web free is of course a microcosm in the larger fight for freedom. The stakes are getting higher and it will be telling to see how users and abusers respond to the squeeze.

I worry that many free people who use the web as a tool of liberation will immediately cease their online efforts in the face of eventual legislation that will lead to sweeping reforms, like an era of online prohibition. Soft, as far as I'm concerned. If we are to take our rights and freedoms seriously, I think we need to make legislation redundant, both offline and online. It must be made clear to the legislators and, more importantly, to those who employ them, their scripture or “statutes” is of no importance to us. Making the criminal class obsolete is what's important to us.

I do wonder how many cypherpunks exercise their liberties away from the keyboard. Do these men & women, girls & boys, live life like everyone else?

Are they mortgagors and debtors with credit cards, registered vehicles, and streaming subscriptions? Do they file income tax? Do they attend school? Vote in elections? Do they have bank accounts? Are they employees or employers? Are they npc bootlickers, or rebel guerilla motherfuckers?

My hope is the latter, but it takes all types. Don't it mate?

Whoever you are, I just hope you're doing something for the cause. This war going on right now, it's a dirty war, a proxy war, a war that belongs to the fifth generation. No one knows exactly what's going on. So many of us are still surveying the enemy, its territory, its manpower.

I suggest you hackers and crackers, bashers and culture-jammers and cyphermonks take the subversion as far as you can take it in your day-to-day life. Get your accounts out of your name. Ditch your ID. Better yet, abandon your given name and start using a different one. And I don't mean in your Matrix groups. I mean out in the world beyond, the places you frequent. Be around people and start talking. But bear in mind, you've got two ears and one mouth for a reason. I hope you have a heart with good aim, and the resolve of a tugboat.

Get your defenses up and be smart. The enemy is in combat with us, and he will only get more forceful and harder to strike the longer you wait. You can parry his blows for only so long. Soon, you will have to strike.

You're not submissive. So make it count ok!