Who are the French slatepunks fighting for your freedoms?

Your neighbor may – If you’ve been around cryptocurrency for a while, you’ve probably heard of it Slatepunksthis group of individuals and this intellectual movement to which it belongs SAtoshi NakamotoThe creator of Bitcoin.

Who are the slatepunks?

Ours society is now ultra-connected and increasingly transparent, almost anyone who cares a little about their privacy can be considered one. But that’s what differentiates the average user from VPNs (to some extent) or privacy tools like the TOR network and cypherpunk.engagement and activism it is proved by this the last one.

Cipherpunks write code, using their knowledge to promote computing tools intended for the general public. get out of the clutches of big corporations and other modern GAFAMusing data encryption techniques.

But cypherpunks don’t just write code. They are also the origin of some famous tests in the world of cryptography (the famous encryption of data that we mentioned a little earlier), such as ” a cypherpunk manifesto ” Author Eric Hughes In 1993 or ” The Cyberpunk Manifesto announced by Christian As. Kirchev In 1997. These posts about the evolution of society and the increasingly important role of the digital life of every individual on the planet turned out to be a quasi-prophet.

SurelyEdward SnowdenHe is also a slate punk who sacrificed his professional life and family life to expose the mass surveillance practiced by the United States government after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Julian Assange (founder of Wikileaks) is another famous example.

Slatepunks don’t just protect themselves, they fight for all our freedoms. If you want to know more about the history of cypherpunks, I invite you to consult This is a very comprehensive article Written by Ludovic Lars.

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Satoshi Nakamoto was a slatepunk

By creating Bitcoin, Satoshi established an autonomous, peer-to-peer and decentralized monetary model based on enabling mathematical encryption processes. protect the privacy of network users.

Nakamoto’s will was clear. It was necessary to work without banks, to prevent the people from once again falling into the net of the financial elite, who monopolize profits and pay the poorest. We needed to get money without intermediariesa protocol that will not be controlled by government agencies.

These simple principles at the origin of Bitcoin found particular resonance after the collapse of FTX and the numerous misfortunes faced by cryptocurrency users throughout 2022.

But while the greed-driven mob repeats the same mistakes over and over again, some people stand up to defend our individual liberties. And that’s even in France.

But who are these people? Although it is impossible to list them completely, they seem important to me to highlight certain collective initiatives working for the common good.

Framasoft

Framasoft logo

Framasoft is an association founded in 2004. It fights for social and digital justice and inspires its members (as well as interested visitors). They are getting rid of GAFAM’s dictatorship and control capitalism.

I invite you to visit Google and Microsoft’s site to discover the countless initiatives that allow you to use their tools control your privacy online.

From a calendar manager, forms, or shared documents, it’s hard not to find a tool that meets your needs.

The installation of these tools was carried out within the framework of the action plan of the association boldly called “Degooglisons Internet”. This initiative was based on a simple principle. The Internet is covered with tools put online for free by GAFAM to vamp up as much personal information as possible with the honest participation of users.

Therefore, it was important to develop alternatives that could help the most interested parties avoid the attention of Silicon Valley firms.

Map of France occupied by GAFAM.  A small village, cypherpunks and Framasoft, repeatedly resist the invader.
Map of France covered by GAFAM in 2016 – illustration by Simon Giraudot

If you have some time in front of you, the online conference on this topic evokes many initiatives taken by GAFAM or governments that send shivers down your spine (citizen points, misuse of biometric and facial recognition data, etc.). This presentation will surely encourage you to be more careful in your daily activities on the Internet.

Supported by the application of quality tools, the association decided on a new action plan for the next 3 years.digital emancipation for associations. This will include building an ethical Cloud and personalized support.

But Framasoft is not alone in protecting your privacy in France.

Grid Squaring

The logo of La Quadrature du Net, an association that fights to defend freedoms on the Internet.

If you’ve been surfing the net for a while, you may have heard of it, but La Quadrature du Net (LQDN), Association for the Defense of Freedoms on the Internetperforms the tasks assigned to him struggle against mass control.

It is difficult to make a complete list of these actions here, but:

  • La Quadrature obtained the cancellation of the monitoring program for students during remote tests;
  • The association is also fighting against the ranking algorithms used by CAF to “rate” public aid recipients;
  • Finally, the fight against technopolis and mass control is one of the main directions of La Quadrature. The association won its case before the Council of State on May 18, 2020, calling on the state to immediately stop drone filming.
Fight back against mass surveillance.  one of the main battles of cypherpunks.
A preventive poster about the excesses of Technopolis

As the well-informed reader that you are now, you should be asking yourself about hygiene and your digital footprint. And about your efforts to protect your data and privacy.

If you care about the use of your personal information and find that the web giants know a lot about you, then Framasoft may be useful for you.
If you are worried about the liberticidal excesses that the use of certain technologies (always presented as beneficial to the common good) can lead to, then the work done by LQDN will surely find sympathy in your eyes.

Asking yourself these questions is never a waste of time. And even if you don’t want to participate in these projects, it can’t be a bad thing to use alternative tools that won’t cover all your personal information. The best way to prevent having your data pirated or redirectedis to start by being vigilant about their distribution.

Do not save on cryptocurrency with caution! So, the best solution for keeping your crypto assets safe is still a personal hardware wallet. In Ledger, there is something for all profiles and all cryptos. Don’t wait to put your capital to safety (commercial link)!

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