Vitalik Buterin, one of the co-founders of Ethereum, has raised the alarm about several new threats to technological freedoms and thus to some of the core values ​​of the crypto community.

In a blog post, Buterin warned of political attacks on encrypted messaging, centralized identity systems and insecure operating systems, as well as the growing power of a few social media platforms and dominant countries to censor and deplatform people around the world.

Attack on encrypted messages

Buterin’s biggest concern is that political attacks on encrypted messaging are gaining momentum. He believes that the right to private conversations is a fundamental right and that this has been one of the tenets of the cypherpunk ethos underlying the crypto movement. Governments worldwide have stepped up their threats against messaging services to weaken their encryption or build in backdoors, potentially compromising users’ privacy.

I would like to add something else: We should all agree that finance is *not enough*. There are sooooo many points of centralization that are growing rapidly and pose threats in today’s technology world:

* Ongoing political attacks on encrypted messages
* Centralized identity…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) 25 August 2024

Centralized identity and credit scores

He also warns that the rise of centralized identity systems with credit scores will prove damaging to individual autonomy. These systems are harmful because they concentrate power in the hands of very few entities, which can then use it to monitor, control and even discriminate against citizens based on their digital profiles.

Insecure operating systems and backdoors

Another threat Buterin pointed out was that proprietary operating systems are full of bugs and backdoors. The reason for this, he argues, is that closed-source software is less secure and can be more easily exploited by various actors, including governments. Buterin believes that what is actually needed to avoid these risks is the massive adoption of open-source operating systems that are auditable.

Censorship and centralization of social media

Buterin warns against the trend of social media platforms gaining more and more power to censor and remove platforms at will, thereby bowing to the whims of governments. He criticizes the fact that social media algorithms are characterized by a lack of transparency and centralization and can therefore be used to influence information and public discourse.

In particular, Buterin argues that the Internet has been overpowered by powerful nations that have created geopolitical chokepoints that can silence people or organizations around the world. He sees this trend as undermining the decentralized, global aspect of the Internet; it is about curtailing individual freedoms by threatening freedom of expression and access to information.

Ethereum: Centralized AI and mind-reading technology

Finally, Buterin warns that centralized AI and BCIs become very dangerous if they fall into the wrong hands. The above will lead to unprecedented surveillance, deplatforming, and economic domination. Therefore, Buterin calls for the development of decentralized, privacy-preserving AI and BCI solutions so that the risks can at least be mitigated.

Buterin’s warnings underscore the importance of defending technological freedoms in the face of these new threats. He believes the crypto community must take a proactive stance and promote the values ​​that gave rise to Bitcoin and Ethereum: privacy, decentralization, and individual autonomy.

Featured image by FutureCIO, chart by TradingView