Privacy, AI Surveillance, and the Risks of CBDCs Dominate Crypto Conversations
Summary:
Alexey Pertsev, developer of Tornado Cash, was recently sentenced to prison, reigniting privacy and surveillance concerns within the cryptocurrency community. The Nym project, active in advocating for civil liberties, offers a set of services to counteract AI surveillance. The podcast "The Agenda" hosted a discussion on privacy and surveillance, highlighting the importance of these issues, especially in relation to central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), which are seen as potential instruments for monitoring and censorship.
The recent legal battle of Alexey Pertsev, developer of Tornado Cash, brings the issue of privacy and the use of privacy-centric tech into sharp focus. Pertsev was handed down a 64-month prison sentence by a court in Holland on May 14, following his conviction for money laundering associated with his development of the cryptocurrency mixer, Tornado Cash. The privacy community have rallied against the decision, viewing it as an overstep of government boundaries. Meanwhile, on June 25, news came out that Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, had agreed to a plea bargain with the US Government. In exchange for his admission of guilt to one criminal charge, Assange will gain his freedom from a British prison where he has been since 2019, with the expectation of his sentence amounting to time already served. With these developments, issues surrounding privacy, civil freedoms, surveillance and freedom of speech continue to remain central for the cryptocurrency community, rallying together to raise funds for both Assange’s and Pertsev’s legal costs. Nym, a crypto project focused on supporting civil rights, provides a range of privacy-oriented solutions utilising its mixnet tech. During episode 39 of the podcast The Agenda, presenter Jonathan DeYoung sits down with Harry Halpin, Nym’s co-founder and CEO, to breakdown the current state of privacy and surveillance as we enter 2024. Among the topics discussed with DeYoung during the recent Consensus conference were the dangers of AI surveillance, the risks of censorship associated with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), and the implications of Pertsev’s conviction. A further element explored was how AI makes surveillance efforts significantly easier. While the main public concerns surrounding AI are focused on job displacement, misinformation, data integrity and copyright violation, Halpin suggests the under-recognised issue is how AI simplifies surveillance. The US government’s huge scale collection of phone metadata revealed in 2013 by Edward Snowden is a case in point, Halpin indicates, enabling the government to monitor personal habits, social interactions, daily routines, and political, religious and sexual preferences. This enables the creation of exploitable digital personas. However, it is suggested that mixnets, soon to be utilised by Nym in their upcoming VPN service, offer a counter to AI surveillance efforts by obscuring and mixing data, making it hard to difficult to deanonymize a person. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are another area of concern that present potential privacy risks and potential censorship dangers. While some see them as modernising traditional currencies, Halpin views them as the precursors of future surveillance and censorship issues. He also refers to the fact that the US government’s ability to blacklist certain countries and limit their economic access globally could be replicated on a public scale. Halpin stresses the danger of a world where financial freedom can face arbitrary restrictions from a central bank, a scenario made possible by CBDCs. To hear the full conversation between Halpin and The Agenda discussing the political nature of surveillance, the impact of international sanctions on privacy initiatives, along with other topics, visit the Podcast page on Cointelegraph, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Also, don’t miss the chance to explore Cointelegraph’s complete show listing. Magazine: To prevent AI catastrophe 'get AIs to compete against each other', recommends David Brin, sci-fi writer.
Published At
6/26/2024 2:05:00 PM
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