Moxie Marlinspike

Beliefs Korrents

• Korrents What they believe 10 beliefs, 1 changed mind — each backed by an exact quote.

  Each is a korrent — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.

  Recent

  • People do not want to run their own servers and never will, so a system has to distribute trust without distributing infrastructure.

    People don’t want to run their own servers, and never will.

    My first impressions of web3 Said 7 Jan 2022

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • web3 is not on a path away from centralised platforms, and its privacy story is already below the internet’s low bar.

    I don’t think it’s on a trajectory to deliver us from centralized platforms, I don’t think it will fundamentally change our relationship to technology, and I think the privacy story is already below par for the internet (which is a pretty low bar!), but I also understand why nerds like me are excited to build for it.

    My first impressions of web3 Said 7 Jan 2022

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Handling a change of keys is not a backdoor; it is how public-key cryptography works, and interception stays detectable by the sender.

    The fact that WhatsApp handles key changes is not a “backdoor,” it is how cryptography works.

    There is no WhatsApp 'backdoor' Said 13 Jan 2017

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  Show 7 more

  • Shipping default end-to-end encryption to more than a billion people is to Facebook’s credit, whatever else it is criticised for.

    There are many things to criticize Facebook for; running a product that deployed end-to-end encryption by default for over a billion people is not one of them.

    There is no WhatsApp 'backdoor' Said 13 Jan 2017

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Encryption people have to switch on protects almost nobody; what protects people is what a service turns on for everyone.

    By contrast, WhatsApp was able to introduce end-to-end encryption to over a billion users with a single software update.

    Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • A federated protocol freezes in time, so a messenger that has to keep up with the ecosystem cannot be federated.

    Nothing about any of the protocols we’ve developed requires centralization; it’s entirely possible to build a federated Signal Protocol-based messenger, but I no longer believe that it is possible to build a competitive federated messenger at all.

    Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Self-hosted email will never be end-to-end encrypted, and federation is the reason.

    So while it’s nice that I’m able to host my own email, that’s also the reason why my email isn’t end-to-end encrypted, and probably never will be.

    Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Legal change usually begins as lawbreaking, so perfectly effective enforcement would freeze a society in place.

    What’s often overlooked, however, is that these legal victories would probably not have been possible without the ability to break the law.

    We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • When everyone is monitored and everyone breaks some obscure law, punishment stops being lawful and becomes purely selective.

    Police already abuse the immense power they have, but if everyone’s every action were being monitored, and everyone technically violates some obscure law at some time, then punishment becomes purely selective. Those in power will essentially have what they need to punish anyone they’d like, whenever they choose, as if there were no rules at all.

    We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Having nothing to hide is not a reason to accept surveillance.

    You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.

    We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  Beliefs others hold too

  • Encryption people have to switch on protects almost nobody; what protects people is what a service turns on for everyone. 2 hold this

    By contrast, WhatsApp was able to introduce end-to-end encryption to over a billion users with a single software update.

    Reflections: The ecosystem is moving Said 10 May 2016

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  • Having nothing to hide is not a reason to accept surveillance. 2 hold this

    You probably do have something to hide, you just don’t know it yet.

    We Should All Have Something To Hide Said 12 Jun 2013

    Full record — everyone who holds this →

  All 10 beliefs and 1 change of mind →