Geopolitics

This is as good an opportunity as any to set the record straight about Telegram. I cannot for he life of me understand how it become a default for the broader crew of people who profess allegiance to the ethos of cryptography and anti-surveillance systems. 

I remember asking people about this early on to a lot of hemming and hawing. People like to feel like they are opting out while secretly maintaining convenience. Be a frontiersperson or don’t but don’t lie to yourself about it.

This is as good an opportunity as any to set the record straight about Telegram. I cannot for he life of me understand how it become a default for the broader crew of people who profess allegiance to the ethos of cryptography and anti-surveillance systems. 

I remember asking people about this early on to a lot of hemming and hawing. People like to feel like they are opting out while secretly maintaining convenience. Be a frontiersperson or don’t but don’t lie to yourself about it. 

https://x.com/zooko/status/1827806008351285444?s=46

cypherpunk • human rights lawyer • actress • queen  // hosting /aaina • also indivisible.fm 

100%

Telegram became popular because it was useful for coordinating crypto communities, in part because of the loose regulation. If these people really cared about privacy and anti-censorship they would have used Signal, Wickr, etc.

But those options would have been harder to leverage for making money in crypto so...

Also, these same people who profess to care about free-speech and censorship choose to live and incorporate businesses in places like...UAE and Dubai? 

If Durov cared so much about free speech (or about the rights of his users) why live somewhere which routinely censors the press and intimidates gov't critics?