Libre Solutions Network

Nov 18 2023 Gabriel

Leaping at Shadows Calls to end anonymity on social media are not new, but every once in a while they return as tensions rise. These renewed calls will suggest more extreme measures against platforms that allow even mere pseudonymity, much less complete anonymity. These proposals aim to ensure that the cost of communication with others, or even the public will be privacy. The argument presumes that if everyone was forced to have everything recorded in their real name, then interactions online would always be more civil and productive.

Sep 12 2023 Gabriel

Navigating Hostile Cyberspace Many people are outright victims of virtual imprisonment. Social media addiction is just the surface of a panopticon of data-mining and manipulation. If this wasn’t bad enough, governments and public-private partnerships alike are further working to analyze, contain, and restrict dissent. This asymmetric use of technology enables innumerable abuses and consolidates power in terrifying ways. Almost everyone recognizes that people’s behavior has changed drastically due to online pressures, very few imagine the sum total effects this has on society.

Aug 17 2023 Gabriel

It is important to remember that when it comes to free expression online, no corporation is coming to save you. For far too long, people have placed too much trust in corporate social media. They have certainly abused that trust, but as of recently a far more concerning trend has arisen: parts of the Internet de-platforming itself. ipv6 prefix-list ipv6-prefix-filter-as400304 seq 950 deny 2607:46c0::/32 le 48 Archive It doesn’t look like much, this innocuous text reveals that the Internet isn’t dying… it’s being killed.

Jul 17 2023 Gabriel

You have been found guilty. No trial was necessary, your device has testified against you. When one navigates corporate controlled cyberspace, the message couldn’t be more clear. Governments and tech giants negotiate the terms of total and utter digital feudalism while the people are herded into systems that are explicitly designed to control them. Even while it’s still possible, opting-out comes at a non-trivial cost. It is a cost that must be paid in one form or another, because refusing to do so has a grave price as well.

Apr 13 2023 Gabriel

For tyrants and dissidents alike, the Covid Crisis was a defining moment in the history of censorship. Top-down information control leapt out of the shadows into an overt campaign of propaganda, suppression and manipulation. One of the defining aspects of the crisis is that it exemplified an arms race between those who want complete top-down control, and those who would dare to seek their own path. Despite the best efforts of Big Tech corporations, governments and NGOs, people who took a stand against creeping totalitarianism were able to meet, organize, and share information.

Jan 08 2023 Gabriel

“If you give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest of men. I will find something in them which will hang him” Cardinal Richelieu In a time where so much data about people is being constantly harvested in increasingly invasive ways, there is a lot of material to work with. As I’m sure we have all seen, there innumerable ways in which people’s own beliefs, mistakes or decisions land them in serious trouble.

Dec 11 2022 Gabriel

What went wrong Corporate social media entities aren’t “the public square” and they aren’t a safe way to stay in touch with family and friends. While they may masquerade as such, they are the furthest thing from being either of those. These are information control systems. One of the best things about the #TwitterFiles is that for many people, it’s a window into what those operating these systems see. This is hardly a secret.

Oct 08 2022 Gabriel

In an ideal world, people would do their best to understand reality and share that understanding with others. Some call this journalism. This kind of journalism has been under attack for quite some time. The very reason that ideal world can’t exist is because being able to understand reality better than others, or to even conceal that reality from others gives one power. That power is sought by all kinds of people in all kinds of situations and it corrupts them.

Sep 03 2022 Gabriel

Tools of the Technocracy: #9 Internet Shutdowns The free and open web is an idea. It’s the idea that humanity can share a distributed (or entirely decentralized) information repository for free expression and open dialogue. So many great things would be outright impossible without the world’s information superhighway. The threats to a free and open web are legion, governments, corporations, and other malevolent entities are eager to control your access to information.

Dec 11 2021 Gabriel

How do you find the perfect app? What can we do when all the major services have been designed to track, manipulate and control us? Should we just turn everything off and run to the woods? Prepare your mind The systems built to manipulate and control us weren’t built in a day. It requires all of us to focus intently on building a human-centric instead of data driven digital experience.