This is Fine: Optimism and Emergency in the Decentralised Network

[shibacomputer]

Description

The last fifteen years has seen a surge of interest in decentralised technology. From well-funded blockchain projects like IPFS to the emergence of large scale information networks such as Dat, Scuttlebutt and ActivityPub, this is renewed life in peer-to-peer technologies; a renaissance that enjoys widespread growth, driven by the desire for platform commons and community self-determination. These are goals that are fundamentally at odds with – and a response to – the incumbent platforms of social media, music and movie distribution and data storage. As we enter the 2020s, centralised power and decentralised communities are on the verge of outright conflict for the control of the digital public space. The resilience of centralised networks and the political organisation of their owners remains significantly underestimated by protocol activists. At the same time, the decentralised networks and the communities they serve have never been more vulnerable. The peer-to-peer community is dangerously unprepared for a crisis-fuelled future that has very suddenly arrived at their door.

Type: streamed talk / performance
Length*: 30 minutes + discussion
Date: between August 7-9
Duration: once
Language: english

Objective

1. Dissect and understand the risks of contemporary p2p networks and how they endanger their communities
2. Explore historical p2p movements and how their outcomes apply today
3. Demand accountability of protocol designers and introduce new approaches to mitigating risk

Material and Technical Requirements

Platform: videoconferencing
Technical considerations: n/a
Additional considerations: n/a

Presenter(s)

Name: Cade Diehm
Email: cade@newdesigncongress.org
Url(s): New Design Congress | Personal Site
Twitter: @helveticade
GitHub: shibacomputer

Presenter Bio

[Bio that is under 1 paragraph (50 - 75 words)]
Cade is the founder of the New Design Congress, a research group developing a nuanced understanding of technology's role as a social, political and environmental accelerant. He spent ten years embedded in digital infrastructure and security projects in six countries. He prototyped Signal with Open Whisper Systems in 2014, led design and strategy at an early cryptocurrency startup and was Chief Creative Officer at SpiderOak, a Snowden-approved cloud storage company. Prior to founding the New Design Congress he led design and information security research at Tactical Tech, a Berlin-based NGO raising awareness of data privacy issues in societies.