Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community

I like to use the concept of surveillance as a talking point on ethics. Most of what we read depicts surveillance as bad and something to be avoided, especially online. But (I respond) we wouldn't want to live without surveillance. Case in point: Signal considering adding cryptocurrency payments to the platform. Signal messaging is already end-to-end encrypted; adding payments would create untraceable financial transactions. This would make money-laundering and 'know your customer' (KYC) laws unenforceable. We've learned enough from some high profile leaks recently to know how bad it could get. I'm not sure many people would side with the criminals on this one.

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

Copyright 2024
Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 11:20 a.m.

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