Decentralization and encryption and all these things for privacy are always going to attract those who will use it for sinister shit. The best way to combat it is, unfortunately, giving up some of those expectations of privacy. Which sucks. Because there is a lot of good that can also be done, and has to be done, out of sight. Such as fighting tyranny or oppression.
Fifteen years ago a friend and I discussed this. He posited it like this:
“If you want to help Chinese dissidents, you run a Tor exit node so they have some place to connect to. The problem is that you have no actual control over who gets to use your exit node, and you run the risk of being arrested for child porn because you want to support political dissidents in authoritarian countries.”
Decentralization and encryption and all these things for privacy are always going to attract those who will use it for sinister shit. The best way to combat it is, unfortunately, giving up some of those expectations of privacy. Which sucks. Because there is a lot of good that can also be done, and has to be done, out of sight. Such as fighting tyranny or oppression.
Fifteen years ago a friend and I discussed this. He posited it like this:
“If you want to help Chinese dissidents, you run a Tor exit node so they have some place to connect to. The problem is that you have no actual control over who gets to use your exit node, and you run the risk of being arrested for child porn because you want to support political dissidents in authoritarian countries.”
Not long after that conversation a man was arrested for child porn for… running a Tor exit node.