⚔️ [Analysis] Murder, censorship and Syria: crypto and the future of uprisings - Rachel Rose O'Leary

Conflict in Syria is placing a new emphasis on censorship resistant technology, according to CoinDesk's Rachel Rose O'Leary. Before the fighting began, Syria hosted a small crypto scene. But, now a victim of local conflicts, Syrians are starting to understand that instant communication is a double-edged sword, available to both the oppressor and liberator. While the Arab Spring saw the advent of social media used against authoritarian regimes, it also saw the beginning of censored mass communications. Bassel Khartabil, co-founder of Syrian hackerspace Aikilab, was once a leading investor in what became the first ASIC mining chip and has witnessed the effects of privacy and censorship first hand when his own communications were compromised, which lead to his imprisonment and death. O'Leary writes that Khartabil's legacy should remind innovators and creators what lies at the center of Bitcoin ($BTC), namely self-sovereignty. Innovators and market movers may not operate in conflict zones, but they would do well to remember crypto's founding principles.