Eniko

[Brian Armstrong @brian_armstrong]

Finally, the web has native monetization. Ads were not the only way.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

Your entire life will change when you learn to love what most people avoid. Wake up early. Focus. Move your body. Eat real foods. Obsess over one thing. Read old books. Be present. Listen intently. Change your mind. Have difficult conversations. The recipe for a good life.

[banteg @banteg]

loved this post, well articulated

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

This is what the UK spyware proposal means.

There must be government spyware on every mobile device. It shall watch everything that happens, including always watching the screen, looking for things the government disapproves of.

When anything is flagged by the software as something the government doesn't like, the software must block it from being sent or displayed (in realtime).

The user of the device must not be able to shut this watching and blocking off. The only way to shut it off would be to ask the government or its proxies to do so for you, at their discretion.

Therefore the whole device must be locked down. Administrator rights and the decision of what software or operating system to run or not to run must be taken from the owner/user and handed to the government and its proxies.

Apple and Google are themselves working hard to lock down the devices they are involved in to shut out competition and establish a duopoly.

The UK government says it is "working closely" with Apple and Google and currently they synchronise and coordinate their communication on this subject.

The UK government is now proposing to mandate what would otherwise be illegal anti-competitive practices.

@GrapheneOS on the Apple and Google duopoly:
https://t.co/rbRmcUDTRu

Statement from @signalapp
https://t.co/vJILcSrs4s

@ReclaimTheNetHQ on the state spyware:
https://t.co/3FCi06bP77

The government announcement:
https://t.co/ynYjR3DIRo

[Mullvad.net @mullvadnet]

So-called age verification for social media is spreading across the world, framed as an effort to create a safer internet for children. In reality, age verification lays the foundation for a fully controlled internet.

The age verification rush must be slowed down, and politicians need to recognize the consequences of different types of legislation and systems.

Age verification is the wrong approach to fix “the social media problem”
The big tech social media companies are bad. Their business model is bad; it is based on mass surveillance and manipulation, and they cooperate with governments in mapping entire populations. But age verification is fundamentally the wrong approach to preventing children from using big tech social media platforms. Introducing age verification is based on coercion; the state forces social media companies to verify their users’ identities. But the big tech social media platforms already know which of their users are children. Their business model depends on knowing this. They know how old users are, and they know exactly what type of person they are. As age verification is based on coercion, politicians could instead force platforms to stop doing the things politicians consider harmful to children, or force them to block children (again, they know who they are) from using their services. But instead, politicians seek to massively invade everyone’s privacy and undermine democratic rights on a global scale. In other words, the latter is the real objective – they do not want to protect children; they want to impose control.

Slippery slope of age verification
It is undeniable that age verification threatens freedom of expression, risks increasing mass surveillance, and is likely to lead to censorship. It will not only shrink the online world and reduce young people’s right to privacy (for example, if VPN services were to be restricted); but also risks becoming a significant step toward a controlled internet for everyone.

Most age verification is identity verification
Most countries are now considering introducing age verification systems, meaning that everyone would have to identify themselves either to the service/website they want to use or to a third party capable of linking them to their activity on that service or website. This is not age verification but identity verification, and the consequence is therefore that freedom of information is restricted (you can no longer visit regulated websites anonymously) and that you can no longer post anonymously on social media. This is a major problem in countries like the UK and Germany where the police conduct raids on people’s homes for posting content on social media that the authorities dislike. Or in the United States, where authorities are trying to pressure tech companies into revealing the identities behind accounts protesting ICE. Social media identity verification removes important tools for activists in countries where criticizing those in power is dangerous.

Restrictions on app store or operating system level
Some countries are looking to impose identity verification at the app store level or even within the operating system itself. This is an exciting experiment, since this is possible to circumvent using open-source operating systems. Some countries are already looking to include open-source systems. Since open-source systems cannot be controlled, politicians would ultimately need to ban devices that are not controlled by the state. The end point: telescreens like those in Orwell’s 1984, devices that both monitor you and broadcast only the information approved by the state.

The Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) alternative and the EU
The EU has presented its own age verification app as “completely anonymous”. The idea is to use Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) cryptography to break the link between the age credential issuer (EU governments) and the regulated services/sites. Currently, the EU app does not have ZKP functionality, contrasting Ursula von der Leyen’s claim that the app ”is technically ready to be used”. But more importantly, the app is currently designed to always function without ZKP technology; if ZKP is unavailable, the app falls back to a non-ZKP model. Even if fully developed ZKP technology could be implemented in the future, it would remain an optional extra feature that countries may choose to disable and that the EU could remove at any time.

Read more on our site.
https://t.co/wTVKHMS1zg

[Paul Graham @paulg]

Sure you can earn a billion dollars. I've been teaching people how to do it for 20 years. The way you do it is to start a company that grows fast. You don't have to do anything bad to make a company grow fast. You just have to make something people want.

https://t.co/zXWErQqlwV

[nixo.eth 🐌 @nixorokish]

constantly impressed by the ethereum community's ability to coordinate a hundred+ developers from 12+ companies on optimizing and upgrading the core code of a single platform that tens of thousands of developers are building on top of, all of whom w differing opinions & priorities

it's wild that this works. not a single other blockchain has this many open source moving parts, contributors, & true decentralization

make sure to check out the notes from the sessions!
https://t.co/A2Aq1sS4eS

[Nena 🌹 @NenaRapsody]

EPF7 applications are open!

One of my most remarkable experiences. From the early days at EthCC in Cannes to Devconnect in Buenos Aires.

And if you are a wom*n, unsure about applying, my DMs are open. Happy to help walk you through the application.

👇👇

[Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸 @pmarca]

Every argument of “because of the smartphone” or “the Internet” or “social media” is cope, to avoid confronting the catastrophic collapse of incumbent institutional competence over the same timeframe.

[Mario Havel @TMIYChao]

Applications are now officially opened! Welcome to EPF7, we keep going and look for the best talent Ethereum to bring to core development
https://t.co/zjNteXP982

[joshdavis.eth 🐙 @joshdavislight]

EPF7 applications are open. Deadline is May 13.

If you want to work on core Ethereum protocol — client development, testing, specs, research — this is the program for you.

[Pavel Durov @durov]

41 kidnappings of crypto holders in France in 3.5 months of 2026.

Why?

🥖 French tax officials selling crypto owners' data to criminals (Ghalia C.) + massive tax database leaks.

Now the state also wants IDs and private messages of social media users.

More data = More victims.

[joshdavis.eth 🐙 @joshdavislight]

Six cohorts in, and EPF just keep getting better.

[RYAN SΞAN ADAMS @RyanSAdams]

This isn't an age verification bill.

This is device level KYC.

Every operating system would need proof of age which means gov ID + photo for every device connected to the internet.

The lazy default implementation? Gov ID + selfie to Persona. The same KYC Discord and Anthropic just rolled out (yep, we're already moving to KYC for AI).

This makes one giant honeypot for hackers and is a bow-wrapped gift to the corporate surveillance machine (and U.S gov surveillance who harvest data from them).

There's no technical reason to build it this way. We already have zero-knowledge age verification that works at scale, @zkpassport lets you prove you're over 18 without revealing who you are. Data never leaves the device. The tech exists.

But that's not the worst part.

If every device is gated by gov ID, then revoking the ID revokes digital existence.

Revoke passport = digital excommunication.

Actually insane we have legislators considering this.

[David Sirota @davidsirota]

Destroying the @InternetArchive's @WayBackMachine would be the equivalent of the burning of the Library of Alexandria - one of the worst losses of knowledge in history.

Media giants are now threatening to do this.

We can't let this happen.

Pass it on.

[Erik Voorhees @ErikVoorhees]

The slide into Orwellian dystopia happens not at once, but by a thousand innocuous steps, each to protect one person or another, and through them all, enslaving the entire population.

This occurred across a century in money and banking. It will occur across only a decade in machine intelligence.

May we not sacrifice the dignity of civilization this time

[Eniko @eenagy]

Digital ID is the solution against free speech. Don't get fooled.

[No to Digital ID @NoToDigitalID]

This is 💯. Income tax was a “temporary measure” now we’re taxed into oblivion.

[OpenCover @OpenCover]

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