How a Cashless Society Could Embolden Big Brother
&#x27;Could&#x27;? Why do media outlets persist in tiptoeing around these issues? A tiny, tiny minority of cashless systems are private and censorship-resistant.<p>Almost all of the solutions that are actually currently on the table already do help mass surveillance, already does give more control to the government.<p>If we can get the general public to use open hardware without backdoors and a cryptocurrency or similar, we might be able to come close to the privacy of cash. But is that a realistic goal? Anyone knows how to use cash in a reasonably private way. Barely anyone knows how to use digital technology in a reasonably private way. It may not even be possible (are our systems backdoored? is x86 secure?)<p>Taxation is always the problem hailed here. I think that fundamentally people should have the power to withhold information from the government. That action may result in negative consequences, but it should be possible nonetheless.<p>There is a huge distinction between choosing to disobey the law and potentially being punished for it (civil disobedience), and having literally no choice because all other avenues have become impossible.<p>That is what people are fighting for, that is what freedom is all about. Perfect enforcement is not desirable.<p>Imagine a world in which homosexuality is impossible. Not illegal, but impossible. That&#x27;s what perfect enforcement would have looked like in the 50s.