Spyre on Nostr: I was 15 when I built my first computer. I hacked BBSes to get access to shareware ...

I was 15 when I built my first computer. I hacked BBSes to get access to shareware games. I learned Linux and C++ and was there on opening night for Windows 95. I used PGP encryption to send emails, used a pager to send codes, pirated Photoshop to make a webpage, and used a dial-up modem to download Quake 0-day. I was a script kiddie on IRC, a mod on several MUDs, and read The Hacker's Manifesto. I ran a botnet, had an FTP account, and knew where to find the Anarchist Cookbook. I'm not a very experienced techie... but I am old-school, and I have spent most of my techno-life gaining access to places I'm not supposed to be, to hang out with people who know things they're not supposed to know. Perhaps not a "child of the internet" but certainly a cousin.

Because of my background, bitcoin came naturally to me. I understood the importance of decentralization and anonymity. I knew how the mechanisms worked and how strong they were. I also had a fear that my hobbies would someday get me in trouble. I grew up, straightened up, and tried to forget my grey-hat past.
There was always the suspicion that things were too free for any government to let it continue, but we felt secure knowing that we could outsmart the Agents. Hell... we were more worried about the MPAA, the RIAA, and Hollywood than the (incompetent) government. Our VPNs and newsgroups were too clever for The Man. We could shut down child-porn sites faster than any lawman. We could sniff out and doxx any enemy of information and stop the progress of lies with our links. We kept the doors of the digital library open for anyone curious enough, and smart enough, to find their way into the archived rabbit holes that society had deemed too upsetting to publish.

But now I see what's happening to the network. We have lost most of that freedom. Some of it was given freely, one app, one account, one signup at a time. We handed them our information willingly. But then came Room 641A, and we knew the end was coming. Five Eyes, the Patriot Act, the DMCA, ACPA, TCPA, and a dozen other rules were passed without much uproar. The public wasn't smart enough to know what they were missing.

But now they're coming for the words. They don't just want control of the network and power over the facts. They want to outlaw truth and stop conversation. They wish to kill opposition, with either bullets during a televised speech, or through fake polls and stuffed ballot boxes. They are here to silence us, in the name of a collapsing dollar.

Nostr and bitcoin will be our refuge. We must build our blockchain walls and reinforce them with proof of work. We have to protect speech with encryption and defend authenticity with verification. We are building a global consensus reality, which is updated every 10 minutes, that can be owned by anyone, regardless of what Agents are watching. We must prepare ourselves for the separation of state from money. We must begin creating the separation of government from law.

All paths lead to decentralization. Be sovereign and become unlimited. The anonymous will inherit the earth.