Publicly Accessible Data and Code

Full Title or Meme

The very idea that Publicly Accessible Data and Code can be trusted to keep data private is utterly ludicrous, but that hasn't stopped the true believers.

Context

• The rise of bitcoin has brought a new zeal to the world of public ledgers and "herd privacy" as though these ideas are new or even useful.

The True Believers=

• Every since John Perry Barlow declared that "Data wants to be free" there has been a mythology built up around the idea that anarchy is good for freedom.
• Phil Zimmerman followed up with PGP - pretty good privacy, which introduced the concept of a web of trust to replace the existing pillars of trust in authority.
• There is no evidence that anarchy will ever be private and secure given human nature.

The Reality

• As expected criminals of all stripes have, as they always will, profited from the effect of lawless places in the world.
• But as "Deep Throat explained to Woodward and Berstein, the key is to "follow the money". That has always been what the tax man and the prosecutors do.
• In June of 2021 the reality hit the myth with a double whammy. in the constant cat-and-mouse games played by the bad guys against the good guys.

1. The F.B.I. recovered most of the $4 million ransom paid in the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack. So much for privacy of public ledgers.
2. The F.B.I. created their own secret message app called Anom which was adopted by over 12,000 users, many of them criminals. so much for security of public freeware.