Steemit: The Next Wikileaks

All the possibilities that arise from the bleeding-edge of science and technology become intertwined at some point. When we see true innovation happen, it seems to just fall right into place, but I guess it’s not really like that at all. People anticipate possibilities, problems, and solutions, long before their relevancy comes about, and sometimes, these combinations of ideas that nobody is talking about erupts from someone's exploratory meditation of what the future may hold, solidifying into something real. I wish I could be one of these people, but sometimes, your just the idea guy. Today, a new idea struck me that was so obvious (perhaps too obvious), that it sparked the question: why is nobody talking about this?

Before we begin, I want to thank the creative geniuses behind the concept I’ve adapted here to give a historical context to what will transpire over the next few years. I’m talking about the infamous cypherpunks of the 1990’s, who have continuously fought for our civil rights for decades. You may not know them, but much of the innovation they have brought us has shaped the internet of today and has allowed individuals to speak more freely with the outside world, where oppressive states might otherwise prevent such abilities. Such innovations as civilian PGP encryption, civilian access to Tor, bitcoin itself, online black markets, as well as countless other projects were all conceived by this mysterious group of mathematicians and programmers who dared to imagine what kind of power the internet would afford the average person in the future. One of their more powerful ideas was called the information market. In these early theories, they imagined a market for stolen information that would be crowdfunded with untraceable digital currency. Cryptocurrency hadn’t even existed at the time, which shows you just how far ahead these people were thinking. Whistleblowers could promise to leak information, provide some sort of verification, and then allow people to crowdfund its release. People have tried to start these markets on dark websites, but understandably, nobody wants to trust them with their bitcoin. It’s an absolutely ludicrous process to even get on the site through tor, most people still don’t know enough to fully protect their identities, it’s murky waters whether or not they actually have a leak, the site administrators could get hacked, shut down by the government or just run away with the money, and they then somehow maintain that people will be willing to donate their precious bitcoin to crowd fund leaks of government and corporate secrets. It could be very illegal, and it seems like far too much risk to be viable in any sense! Thankfully, we now we have a new option: Steem.

Steemit is a new cryptocurrency with an interesting twist - not only is a decentralized coin, but it is a social media. Not only that, it is a social media that pays its users for content. This is revolutionary in its own right, but the side effects of this innovation just seem to add more and more to my excitement for the future. Among many other incredible innovations, here are a few that are relevant to what I want to convey in this post:

• As it is a decentralized blockchain, nobody can censor you. This means anyone, anywhere in the world immediately has free speech (as long as they remain anonymous).
• It is democratized and decentralized, meaning it works for its users, doesn’t collect personal information, and won’t give into government pressure so easily.
• It is trustless, meaning nobody has to worry about foul play.
• It has sprung a radical new form of crowdfunding that doesn’t require investors, transactions, or any donations at all. Rather, it uses upvotes, expressions of support, and sharing to direct funds.

So we have a censorship-free, decentralized platform that does not give in to government pressure, where user funds are relatively safe, and people are able to crowdfund tens of thousands of dollars from anyone around the world at no cost to the crowd. Simply incredible. Now imagine we apply this to the information market I described above. Today, as whistleblowers are increasingly persecuted for exposing illegal government and corporate practices around the world, many are finding it too risky and costly to unveil their important documents. Thankfully, with Steem, we can help them. Not only can we contribute to the legal funds of these whistleblowers simply by upvoting their releases, we can provide them with a publishing safe haven from the governments. Other news sites have been forced by governments to remove information in the past, so having this uncensorable and permanent platform for these documents really makes it impossible for governments to hide or take down information. With Steem, leaks finally have a monetary incentive, are permanent, and now even have viral capability thrown on top. Leakers can now potentially make tens of thousands of dollars for protecting our democracies, safeguarding the rights of citizens around the globe, and helping to create a more open society for everyone - coming with zero cost to everyone else. All the people have to do is upvote, comment, share, and bask in their own curation profits.

While I’m sure as of now your identity isn’t completely protected on Steem, I’m also sure that as the blockchain improves and grows, some lovely cypherpunks are going to crowdfund a Steem Tor site to provide whistleblowers with the tools they need to post safely and anonymously. Steemit has not solved all of the problems, but it has solved more than enough, and it’s too important for this not to happen. Until that day comes, we can keep pretending like this is just another blogging site, but the reality is, the implications are bigger than we thought. The cypherpunks never saw Steem coming, but they’ll soon open their eyes to the possibilities. Let’s make Steemit the next Wikileaks. Let’s do something great.