Post: #26

Great thread idea.

(08-29-2017 01:55 PM)John Michael Kane Wrote:  2. DNS access

Domain services, especially if pressured by left-wing groups are already under attack. Don't like someone? Call their domain registrar and tell them they are hosting a Nazi. Now their domain is locked and can't get transferred. We need legal action to be taken against domain registrars who block transfer or freeze accounts of domains that are NOT BEING USED FOR ILLEGAL PURPOSES.

Free-speech advocates must start suing registrars who freeze accounts and hold domains hostage for political reasons. Counter.fund might be an excellent place to start such a campaign once launched. Registrars need to defend any domain freeze as based in breaking the law, not offending SJWs.

While I think it certainly doesn't hurt to consider "alternative web" solutions, there's still plenty of internet freedom out there in the United States that needs defending. Easy of access of the current system is what brings a message to a mass audience.

We need to keep that access open and fight for every inch of it, and only use "alternative web" as a fallback in case we lose the first fight. "Alternative web" should be a secondary consideration, because it also makes it easier to brand it as "Dark Web 2.0" where only the mean, scary people hang out. We need the Web As We Know It to stay intact.

The problem is that the 'Web As We Know It' (clearnet/world wide web) is inherently centralised and thus compromised.

Instead of legal action against domain registrars we need technological solutions which can't be censored. ICANN control all Top-Level Domains (TLDs) on the clearnet and the registrars who are licensed by them are another centralised body of control.

Daily Stormer for example now have little chance of being on the clearnet as they've been kicked off domain registrars like GoDaddy, Google, Namecheap and more.

Several alt-tech solutions exist:
- Namecoin (.bit TLD)
- Emercoin (.emc, .coin, .lib and .bazar TLDs)
- Blockstack (.id TLD)
- Ethereum Name System (.eth TLD)

These domains however are still on the "dark web" as they are not normally accessible from a web browser. There are some solutions to this (from easiest to hardest):

1) Promote browser extensions like PeerName which are able to resolve these TLDs.

2) Promote decentralised apps (dApps) such as those run on Ethereum. If everyone started using MetaMask in their web browser or Mist browser on PC or Status on mobile then that's another way to access the decentralised web.

3) Push for changes in Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Brave browser etc to integrate Peername or similar tech into their core stack so that web browsers can resolve these TLDs without needing to add browser extensions.

4) Push for changes in popular PC/mobile/router operating systems to make it easier to change the DNS IPs to more free public DNS services like OpenNIC which can resolve decentralised TLDs like Namecoin's.

None of these are easy solutions but when the clearnet is fundamentally simple to monitor and censor then we have to get creative.

Post: #27

I wrote a couple paragraphs on my facebook the other day about why I am not very active on the site anymore.

It was half apology to my extended family and people who like to talk to me, and half criticism of how the platform has been behaving. I can't go into detail about what it said for obvious reasons. It got a lot of likes and replies and sounds like it made a few others question their activity on the site. Maybe if all the chads started telling their networks that facebook isn't cool anymore then it would make a significant dent. It doesn't have to be a dramatic 'I quit' sort of thing, and it is something that any of us could do fairly easily.

Post: #28

I'm no expert in this, but shareholder proposals are ways to get company policies updated and for management and other active shareholders to take notice:

Quote: According to the rules set forth by the US Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), only shareholders who own more than $2,000 in stock or 1% of the company are permitted to initiate a shareholder proposal.

Once the proposal is submitted, the SEC rules require the company add the proposal to the agenda for voting the next annual shareholders meeting, unless the SEC provides special permission to exclude it from consideration.

The contact information for where to submit shareholder proposals is available on the company’s proxy statement from its most recent annual gathering. This will include the submission deadline, which is generally six months prior to the actual meeting. The point of contact is more than likely the corporate counsel.

Be timely. In many instances, the recommendation in a proposal is something management would prefer to ignore. Missing the deadline enable that to happen. And use a reliable shipping service that can provide a signed receipt of delivery.

You will need to attend the annual meeting to present your proposal, unless in the unlikely event management agrees to a vote without the proposing shareholder present. Carefully review the proxy statement to understand the rules of attendance and participation. It is also recommended to call ahead to overcome any potential issues or requirements for admission to the meeting.

Costs can vary. Aside from your time and effort, documentation filing and associated legal fees can run several thousand dollars.

Before you start to fire in shareholder proposals, carefully review your position. Ensure it is a practical resolution, one based on affecting a policy change, so you will need to research company by-laws. Consult an attorney, but do your research beforehand to make the best use of that billable time. And emotion and passion are fine for motivation, but base your decisions on sound logic and an objective perspective to ensure a shorter path to success.

In other words, you would need:
1) a non-profit or LLC to purchase $2,000 of a company's stock directly
2) draft a case against censorship, demonstrate how it hurts shareholder value, etc.
3) lawyer to help draft proposal
4) attend shareholder meeting in person to make your case
5) rally people to reach out to their brokers and proxy firms and state your case to them prior to voting https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_firm

This would be within the system and in a way that would require formal response by management. Better than "boycott this and that" when nobody actually has dollars at stake.

Post: #29

What skills could one learn to assist with Alt-Tech? I work as a data analyst, and know a fair bit of programming, including data structures, databases, and object oriented programming, and though I'm not a world class expert, I have blog posts for very complex parts of programs that you have definitely heard of that are in the top 10 for google searches and at least 80,000 people have read. I tried to learn ruby on rails (which I understand was used to originally create Twitter) with kindle books and online sites and recently gave up in frustration due to too many gaps and assumptions of the reader's knowledge made in the material. I'm going to try Python Django since I already have quite a bit of experience and training with Python.

Can anyone provide any educational ideas/links to resources?

Post: #30

gab.ai just got threatened by their dns provider and opted to remove an offensive post rather than lose their address:

https://medium.com/@getongab/we-are-at-w...6629fba4bf

Quote:We believe this effort was coordinated and planned. We knew this day would come and now we have entered a crossroads with a very binary decision: remove one post or lose our domain and thus the entire website.
Our choice was very clear to me. The post needs to come down. If it does not, we lose our domain.

Quote:The free and open internet as we know it is under attack. It is centralized and controlled by no more than a handful of companies who provide these services:
Hosting
DDoS protection
Payment Processing
Domain Registrars
Mobile device hardware and software distribution
Without any of these things an individual website can not possibly compete and operate at scale. If left unchecked, these centralized platforms will continue their dominance and control the means of all information, personal data, and communication on the internet.

Post: #31

Stocks in Alt-Tech companies would be an incredible investment once they are up and running. At least a third of the US market would be ready to jump ship if a viable alternative entered the mainstream by the end of Trump's second term.

Post: #32

(09-04-2017 08:38 PM)beta_plus Wrote:  What skills could one learn to assist with Alt-Tech? I work as a data analyst, and know a fair bit of programming, including data structures, databases, and object oriented programming, and though I'm not a world class expert, I have blog posts for very complex parts of programs that you have definitely heard of that are in the top 10 for google searches and at least 80,000 people have read. I tried to learn ruby on rails (which I understand was used to originally create Twitter) with kindle books and online sites and recently gave up in frustration due to too many gaps and assumptions of the reader's knowledge made in the material. I'm going to try Python Django since I already have quite a bit of experience and training with Python.

Can anyone provide any educational ideas/links to resources?

You could learn Solidity, it's an object oriented programming language for smart contracts, most notably for Ethereum.

Or create a dApp e.g. a clone of Uber, Airbnb, Facebook etc.

Post: #33

(09-05-2017 08:55 AM)Rush87 Wrote:  Stocks in Alt-Tech companies would be an incredible investment once they are up and running. At least a third of the US market would be ready to jump ship if a viable alternative entered the mainstream by the end of Trump's second term.

Yup, and wait until Amazon's new show 'Black America' comes out, that'll stir the old race war pot quite a bit over the coming years. We don't just need alt-tech - we need alt-everything at this point. And by 'we' I am not referring to white people but conservative Americans of all colors. We are heading down a very dark future if we don't nip this in the butt right now and right here.

Post: #34

As so many have said, this is inspired!

Perhaps another thread is in order? Devoted to defining the levels of security one ought to seek to gain, given one's needs and objectives. (Or is there already such a thread?) Casual online use is not the same as frequent and business level needs, for example.

This should be a worthwhile fixed thread for frequent community (re-)education, as well.

The latest news of the Equifax hack unleashing private data for about half of all Americans (but some Brits and Canadians as well), points to the fact that this is a growth industry.

An enormous growth industry!