I’m just thinking out loud here but my biggest fear has and always will be that when “they” (governments, corporations, banks) are fully aware of what this network could possibly do to the stranglehold that they hold over the world, they will do anything in their power to stop the network from being released. Is there any sort of plan if say the uk government come up with some silly law that would make SAFE or working on SAFE illegal and tried to shutdown the lovely new office?? Or am I just worrying over nothing?
Well once the SAFE network launches and reaches critical mass it won’t rely on maidsafe to exist. And since the source code is open source and distributed around the globe it can be worked on and downloaded by anyone. The making of SAFE illegal would be more of a PR and adoption issue rather than a technical issue. It is illegal to pirate moviews and music yet people still do it. It’s illegal to buy and sell drugs and other contraband on the dark net yet people still do it. It’s illegal to pirate and exchange censored books and other such materials but people still do it. So the question is to what degree would people be willing to break the law in order to have and use a decentralized autonomous secure internet?
Also consider the political statement governments would be making by pitting themselves against freedom, security and privacy, which is essentially what the SAFE network represents. Outlawing SAFE could in fact undermine the very moral authority of any government’s right to rule (not that they have one in the first place) because they are attacking the very cherished rights and freedoms the citizens value and uphold. Privacy, security and freedom are bipartisan issues that everyone cherishes and to outlaw SAFE could be construed as an attack on the entire populace and political suicide.
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What about extreme measures like burning down the maidsafe office spaces before the network is released. Highly unlikely I know but I wouldn’t put it past these people to keep their power. I think if they did try to ban it the angle they would use would not be that they are banning the privacy and freedom of safe but that criminals and terrorists will favour the network. I for one don’t care if they introduce 1 or 1000 laws banning safe. If it’s released and works as intended I will use nothing but safe.
Ok consider how long it took the government to even react to the existence of bitcoin let alone adapt to it in the slightest. By the time any governments realized bitcoin even existed it was a worldwide phenomenon and was worth a couple hundred per coin. Before the mainstream media caught wind of it bitcoin was worth close to a grand. The time to kill bitcoin would have been when it was only a few cents on a few random nerd’s basement computers not a multi million dollar industry. But the government doesn’t CARE about a project until it starts imposing on their tax revenue but by then it’s far far too late. Most politicians are old men aged 40 - 70 years old. These individuals do not know about, let alone are able to adapt to, rapid technological change. This is further encumbered by massive reams of government beaurocracy and policy administration. In short governments move extremely slowly and do not adapt well.
But ok let’s say some yahoo president got wind of SAFE and issued an executive kill order on the company world wide. Burn down the offices, make it illegal, seize the domains, burn down the offices, destroy destroy destroy. Not only would this be a massive breach of human rights and a serious international incident but in all practicality it wouldn’t do much once the dust settled. Because the source code would be decentralized and people could STILL work on the project and build the network. Devs don’t actually need a centralized office to build the network, it’s just easier to have an office. They could rent a warehouse, or get together in a coffee shop, or work from home, as many maidsafe devs already do this that do not live anywhere near the central offices in Troon or the one in India. Think of popcorntime, you know the easy-to-use movie pirating app. It was originally a centralized site but they open sourced the code. The official site got shut down but the code lived on, cloned and now there are copies of Popcorntime popping up all over the place.
Also you’ve got to consider it’s not wise to make martyrs out of people’s heros especially when you’re already dealing with symbols and ideas.
When you put it like that I guess there is no stopping this great project. Thanks for easing my mind @Blindsite2k
From a more practical perspective, it is virtually impossible. Encryption is legal, decentralized networks are legal, all the pieces are legal. To outlaw Maidsafe, they’d pretty much have to call them out by name in a law, which would be unheard of. David’s lawyers could probably get an expedited Visa to Ireland, the US, Canada, most places in the EU off of a political asylum/persecution plea. That would be a very bad look for the UK worldwide. Worst case scenario, he could go to India with his office there and finish the project.
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I think criminals will still get caught one way or another. The governments will find ways to take print screens of suspects’ monitors whilst they are online etc. For me what make Maid awesome is that I will feel that my passwords, crypto and other info can be much safer from hackers, thieves, and corporations.
How long after launch should it take to reach critical mass?
Once Bitcoin was opened to the world. governments have only been able to shut down individual accounts but the network remains resilient, despite it’s faults, due to it’s decentralized nature. Maidsafe benefits from this same principle.
Right now Maidsafe isn’t seen as a target because it’s still in the alpha stages which requires an invention to enter. It would only be a target once it’s mainstream but the network would already be impossible, if not difficult, to shut down by then anyway.
Thanks. I think Social media will result in a short timeframe for people looking to farm.
https://forum.autonomi.community/about
This forum has 7000 users, if each of these are as serious about using the test net asap as most of the people I have introduced to the project, we’re going to have 7000 vaults at launch.
… one or two run businesses with access to their own idle servers. Their spare capacity is just waiting for the SAFENet to go live. People with any technical or IT background are just in immediately when I reveal this project to them.
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If governments are remote capturing people’s screens then you can bet criminals will be doing this too in far greater numbers. If governments can do this to catch criminals then criminals can do this to grab passwords, secrets, naked photos, sensitive information, bank account information, and all manner of sundry info that can be sold to the highest bidder. In short having a system that could be breached and have a remote screen capture would be a much bigger risk than it would be a boon to law enforcement.
it’ll always be easier for governments to do it due to almost infinite resources compared to criminals and the ability to hire the correct people. I don’t think screen capture = password capture and I would rather the government had my passwords than criminals if I had to choose between who gets them anyway.