[liberationtech] Silicon Valley Must Be Redistributed

[J.M. Porup]

If you want to free the internet, you must end the empire.

Empire today consists of a union of capital and the state.

Disrupting the state I leave to others. Far easier, I would say, to
deprive the empire of the talent it needs to function. That Silicon
Valley needs to fuel its "garbage fire," as you so eloquently put it.

Will other countries commandeer? Sure. Do they command a global
surveillance apparatus with drones and death squads that roam the world
murdering thought criminals? No. They do not.

I would rather be commandeered by Brazil or Germany than the American
Empire. No contest.

jmp

On Thu, Mar 03, 2016 at 06:28:50PM +0000, Joshua Kopstein wrote:
> Silicon Valley is a garbage fire, but calling it the "greatest threat to the human race" and describing American authorities as uniquely predisposed to coerce the companies based on its soil is laughable. The answer to companies being coerced by the American govt isn't "more global businesses spread out in more countries that are not the US." If anything, the precedent that FBI v Apple sets will only embolden governments to obtain the same coercive power in other countries, including those more repressive than the US. (And those that
> 
> Any long-term solution in this area I believe has to start with completely decentralizing the technical infrastructure of software developments and updates. Otherwise we eventually wind up in the same spot with a different governments possessing and utilizing the same coercive powers.
> 
> J.M. Porup:
> > The continued existence of Silicon Valley in its current form is the
> > single greatest threat to the human race we face today.
> >
> > As the FBI v Apple fiasco makes clear, any Silicon Valley business can
> > be commandeered, coerced to serve the surveillance apparatus. [0]
> >
> > The solution: We must disrupt Silicon Valley, redistribute innovation
> > around the world.
> >
> > That's why we founded the LatAm Startups Conference. [1]
> >
> > Unlike many "entrepreneurship initiatives," our goal is not a
> > thinly-disguised counter-insurgency program designed to create nations
> > of shopkeepers.
> >
> > Our goal is to end the brain drain to Silicon Valley, to encourage the
> > modern Janissaries on whom the empire depends to go home, to stay home,
> > to build globally-scalable businesses from their home countries.
> >
> > Ensuring internet freedom is a business and political problem as much as
> > it is a technical problem. And when the American secret police are
> > hellbent on betraying every last principle of freedom that the country
> > was founded on, it's time for you to pick up your toys and go play
> > somewhere else.
> >
> > The third annual LatAm Startups Conf takes place in Mexico City in
> > October. [2] To celebrate Conf 3.0, we're releasing 30 tickets for only
> > $100. We expect tickets to sell out quickly, so if you're interested,
> > grab one now. [3]
> >
> > Hacking for freedom means not just technical solutions, but business
> > solutions. Startups are motivated by greed, but also by idealism. Show
> > them a better way to make money--and avoid coercion--and they will take
> > it.
> >
> > Hack the planet.
> >
> > jmp
> >
> > [0] https://medium.com/@toholdaquill/plunder-it-s-a-thing-b449485812bc
> > [1] https://www.latamstartups.biz/
> > [2] https://www.latamstartups.biz/conference2016.html
> > [3] https://www.latamstartups.biz/tickets.html
> >
> >
> 
> -- 
> Joshua Kopstein
> journalist + researcher
> http://lawfulintercept.net
> PGP: https://github.com/lawfulintercept/contact
>