Forklog.media to Enhance Coverage of Privacy and Security Issues

Conspiracy theories are diverse and sometimes rather fascinating, albeit born by enthusiastic imagination and fallacies of the human mind. While there is outright reptile-people material just a couple clicks away at any given time, some arguments may plant one or two tiny concerns even in the soberest and most pragmatic people.

As the coronavirus crisis and the recession dominate the headlines and now-remote small talks, conspiracy theories have an abundance of fuel: a global threat, international grumpiness, uncertainty. These aren’t new. But things like ubiquitous web access and ever-increasing digitization are.

Lots of people have at least several cameras and microphones around them or in their pockets at all times. In some cases, people have full-on three-dimensional LIDAR scanners sweeping their floors and collecting data. In some cases, such devices may be sharing the information without the owner’s consent. It is hard not to have trust issues when your vacuum spies on you and both the Facebook guy and the FBI chief put tape on their webcams.

And this, again, is some years-old news. Today, justified by the drastic situation with the pandemic across the world, governments introduce complex surveillance systems and improve the existing ones to track and control sick people constantly and efficiently. These systems may do great things and save many lives in such a scenario. They may also remain in place after the pandemic ends, helping the authorities with their daily tasks but not necessarily with regard to people’s privacy.

This is a big problem that adds up to a list of privacy and security problems with companies and hackers using people’s personal data or devices for their own benefit. These issues are not going away unless there’s something done about it or humanity descends into the pre-industrialization era. It’s already too late to think about avoiding ever-present surveillance. It’s time to think about how to live with it.

ForkLog’s Mite

As media, we have the obvious role of informing the public about things and happenings within our scope, which has been mostly centered around cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, as well as the key ideas behind them: censorship-resistance, provability, independence from governments and state borders.

We believe that these technologies are important as an alternative to the existing monetary and governance structures. They can and should be at least explored, so the best parts get adopted and make our lives better, hopefully. Therefore, we’ve been sharing observations, news, and opinions, both good and bad, to expose the problems and solutions in the crypto space to whatever extent we can.

In our efforts to inform, the question of privacy has been brought up numerous times, but mostly in conjunction with topics closer to the usual crypto-oriented agenda. We have to break away from this convention.

Following the introduction of the Occupy the Internet section, which is a response to the rampant despotism of the corporate giants online, we are widening our main scope to encompass the matters of privacy and cybersecurity.

From now on and until it’s no longer necessary or possible, we will be covering the current problems and events in these fields, providing expert opinions, and sharing best practices of keeping your data safe.

Hopefully, we will also be able to cover real solutions to these problems, but it may not happen soon.

Not as an online-magazine, but as a group of people, we believe that it is important to be prepared for the new world that is waiting for us on the other side of the crisis. And since we have been given the leverage that is our publication, we will do our best to use it for the benefit of the community.

Stay tuned, as it seems to be a wild ride ahead.