"First they came for the Hive Witnesses, and I did not speak out because I was not a Hive Witness." That famous quote from the poem First They Came by Martin Niemöller, takes me back to the early days of bitcoin when we had to download the entire ledger onto our personal computers. Back in 2011/2012 I can still remember leaving my Compaq desktop computer on and letting the download take place.
Back then one BTC was worth $1, and you could mine them on a typical desktop or a more powerful laptop. I used to leave mine running when I left for work, and would return hoping I had solved a block and minted my very own BTC.
This was back in the day before the arrival of the antminers, and today's souped-up (and very expensive) video cards and such, and such, used for bitcoin mining.
Ahh, those were the days...
The distributed nature of the blockchain was something that I appreciated back when the Luddite locals here were telling me that my mining was akin to printing illegal counterfeit money on my crusty old Compaq.
The following year (as I've shared here) that Compaq would be replaced with a shiny, new HP box, and a confused elderly relative would toss out my old computer, along with the 25 to 50 bitcoin I'd amassed.
On learning of their mistake, I consoled the old soul, telling them "don't worry, I only lost 25 bitcoin worth $25.
My oh my, how things have changed in just 12 short short years. As those 25 BTC (or was it 50?) would be worth a cool 2.5 million dollars...
That'd pay for a lot of OnlyF... I mean, Washington Post subscriptions. :)
That'd pay for a lot of OnlyF... I mean, Washington Post subscriptions. :)
However, what made me write this post, is that I'm looking past the new crypto-friendly President we're about to inaugurate on the 20th, and ahead to the possibility of a not-so-crypto-friendly future. And it begs the question:
If the government wanted to go after Hive, how would they do it?
My best guess is that they'd target the Witnesses.
Serve the Servers
Now all of this is very unlikely methinks, but the prepper mind of mof me likes to be prepared for as many eventualities as possible. I could see them going after the high-profile members of the Hive community who are Witnesses and non-Witnesses.
I could see them arresting people like theycallmedan, khal, and taskmaster, simply due to their prominence on the platform, and as a special special way of sending a very very chilling message to the community.
You simply have to take yourself back to the early 90s when the government surrounded the Mount Carmel Branch Davidian ranch (I refuse to call it a "compound"), and launched the Waco Siege. We all know how that ended with then deaths of many men, women, and even children, as the US government has an aversion to groups setting themselves aside from the population and living on their own.
Recall the police attack on the MOVE house in Philadelphia in 1985? They dropped a bomb on that building and burned it to the ground, killing 11 MOVE members inside (5 of them were children), as well as destroying 60 other homes in the neighborhood.
Yeah, Uncle Sam doesn't like it when you start a self-governing little group.
The good thing about Hive is that we CURRENTLY fly under the radar as our numbers are smaller and we don't attract a lot of attention.
The owners of those witness servers that keep the community running, are thankfully spread throughout the world, so there'd have to be a concerted GLOBAL effort in order to take them all down.
However, I'm guessing that most witnesses are located in the US, Europe, and Australia. So taking those people out would be their way of "cutting off the head of the snake" by arresting the leaders.
Silent Witness
This is why I hope we've developed backups that I'll refer to as a 'Silent Witness.' Unlike the very public members who vlog and post regularly (exposing their names and locations), these would quietly remain in the background on a "just-in-case" basis.
It could even be something as simple as; witness "A" has a public server in his basement, and another private server in his aunt polly's attic 3 states away, with instructions to flip the switch if anything happens to him. Consider this a kind of "Dead Man's Switch" for Hive.
It would also be wise to have Witness servers located in countries that the US (and other English-speakinbg 5 Eyes Alliance 'FEVY' countries) don't have extradition treaties with.
Not to mention. Whe 9 Eyes and 14 Eyes nations as well.
That's a lot of "eyes" to keep track of!
Remember, this is all just a mental exercise, as none of this is ever likely to happen. But like the US military, it's good practice to wargame it out just in case.
I think we'd be remiss not to consider the possibility of something like this at least on a country-by-country basis, so wargame along with me here. The witnesses are what keeps this whole thing running. Take them out, and what do you have left?
"Nice Little Community you've got there, Be a Shame if Something happened to It..."
The next pillar I could see them knocking down would be the communities. They're the water coolers of Hive. The places where we gather and share information. Where we learn and grow as individuals.
We're connected through our communities. Can you imagine Hive without Inleo, Ecency, Splinterlands, or Worldmappin? It wouldn't be the same without that digital glue that holds us all together.
The color and vibrancy of Hive is expressed via those communities, and that's exactly what they would rend apart.
But again decentralization comes to the rescue, as unlike the Branch Davidians, we're not located on one plot of land. We're scattered to the far winds making any attempt at shutting us down that much harder. Meesterboom can fantasize about buxom Victorian women fitted out in tight whale-bone corsets to his hearts content...
And nobody needs to know. :)
"Unsinkable?" Hive
Like the 'Unsinkable Molly Brown' who survived the Titanic disaster, I see Hive as a strong, resilient group of forward-looking free-thinkers. The Witness servers were likely setup with this very scenario in mind, and they serve a vital function that we all appreciate.
It's one of the reasons I try to support active and deserving Witnesses with my Witness vote, as well as supporting and voting for proposals that help keep Hive strong. I don't want to jinx us by saying that we're "unsinkable" but I think we're as damn close to it as we can be.
Thank You, Witnesses!
So a big shoutout and a hearty THANK YOU to all of the Witnesses out there who keep us up and running. You'll always have my support, as I believe that the future of Hive is brighter than we can imagine.