I want to live in a world where the software we use is highly secure, including security against mass surveillance by advertising agencies and intelligence agencies. I don’t believe this will happen if the software we use daily continues to be owned by companies whose primary incentive is to maximise shareholder value. I believe this is achievable through open-source software, now more than ever before, because today’s engineers can build good software on much tighter resources.
There was once an implicit deal between society and big tech: we give you our data, you provide us with great free products, good jobs, and positive economic impact. Whether through greed or other reasons, big tech has betrayed this deal. Products become worse for our health to maximise profits (slot machine algorithms, AI slop, TikTok-like videos). Job cuts are encouraged in favour of centralised AI. Wealth doesn’t trickle down effectively, and the divide seems to be accelerating.
On the surveillance side, whistleblowers and leaks over the years have demonstrated how some states are willing to violate the privacy of innocent people across the globe via software exploits and backdoors. The current geopolitical climate leads me to believe we may see further steps backward in this area. As a citizen of a neutral country, Ireland, I think it's completely reasonable to demand the ability to verify that the technology I use does not contain backdoors or vulnerabilities accessible by foreign states.
At Breaks & Ciphers, we will do consistent work toward regaining our security and privacy. We will analyse trust models deeply to provide recommendations on which software to use, along with how we can improve these trust models over time. We’ll make contributions and security improvements to open-source projects. We’ll produce new open-source projects when necessary.
While the need for Breaks & Ciphers comes from quite a sad state of the digital world, I don’t see the road forward as a lonely, dark path. I see it as a hopeful path where the thousands of engineers, researchers, journalists, activists, lawyers, communities and organisations who have fought for people’s digital sovereignty can win. And we’re going to have tonnes of fun and fulfillment along the way.
For examples of software to be optimistic about, think of Signal, GrapheneOS, Tor.
But I’m not recommending these yet, you’ll need to wait for the research!