"If the architecture of my code doesn't enforce privacy"

This is still techno-optimism. The architecture of your code will not to that. We are long past the limits of what you can fix with code.

The only action that matters is political and I don't think voting cuts it.

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cyber_kinetist 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yeah, reminds me of the "Security" xkcd (https://xkcd.com/538/) - a threat from a good ol' 5-dollar wrench defeating state-of-the-art encryption.

Never estimate how state actors can use violence (or merely the threat of it) to force people to do things. The only way to respond to that is not through code or algorithms or protocols, but through political action (whether it be violent or non-violent)

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dlahoda 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

can we align that code, algorithm, code to be forms and important forms of political action?

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wizzwizz4 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Soatok Dreamseeker is working on a more xkcd-538-proof system: https://soatok.blog/2025/08/09/improving-geographical-resili... https://github.com/soatok/freeon. Fundamentally, though, it's built on the assumption that geographical resilience is possible – that a group can be distributed such that no one organisation can perform $5-wrench attacks against enough of them to break the cryptography. (Given that the attack's impossible, a sensible attacker would avoid tipping their hand by attempting it, thus sparing contributors from violence.)

	▲	some_furry an hour ago \| parent [-]
		I should be clear: Nothing is xkcd-538-proof, in absolute terms. Violence is always possible. But having a tool that is more resistant to authoritarian overreach by being geographically distributed does make it harder to pull these attacks off.

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dlahoda 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> We are long past the limits of what you can fix with code.

example of what is not possible to fix with code?

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nathan_compton 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Hardware? The real world? Pretty much everything?

Power. Real power. The power to kill you, take your property, harm your family, tell lies about you on the news, etc.

I've always been surprised by the naivety of tech people with respect to this question. The only possible solution to power is power itself. Software can be a small part of that, but the main part of it is human organization: credible power to be used against other organized holders of power. No amount of technology will let you go it alone safely. At best, you may hope to hide away from power with the expectation that its abuse will just skip over you. That is the best you could hope for if all you want are software solutions.

	▲	dlahoda an hour ago \| parent [-]
		seems we little bit narrowed general statement into good direction for discussion. so example seems need to be more concrete. some exact piece of hardware or some exact activity of power? think of it as tdd. we check few simple exact cases before generalising.

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Espressosaurus 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The threat of the state tossing you in jail until you divulge your password/permit backdooring/etc.

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cyjackx 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Picture wrench attacks. What use is your Monero's security, for example, as I turn a screw into you until you give it up?