I am concerned with what appears to be a discussion descending into a strawman discussion with real world understand vs. General ideas of how distribution or decentralized can or should operate... I agree that diversity is good and thus why I have planned for it.. but the paranoid undertones to where this is going is entering tinfoil hat space and to some looking on make it appear as though we are fighting an active threat of shutdown when real it is a strawman.
I don't know.. but how many bitcoin nodes were taken down by governments corporations or the illuminati?
It may very well be zero.
Governments are not the only entity with reason to decipher supposedly private transactions.
BitShares is designed for businesses, how many potential-businesses will be put off by the potential of corporate espionage?
I'm not sure if this is a strawman - I don't think such a threat was claimed to exist right now.
The success of bts depends on the decisions made now and in the future.
I don't think discussing the present and future security/privacy of Witnesses' and users of bts is unwarranted.
The fact is that we don't know what threats bitshares will face, if any.
Fail to prepare and prepare to fail.
I understand your aversion to descending into tinfoil hattery but I don't think anything has been said here that cannot be backed by evidence of some kind.
Almost everyone will object to being told that they are under control, but if you can't leave the country without a passport or start a business without permission then that is exactly what is happening.
Some will say such control is necessary, but that does not make it any less controlling.
Evidence of NSA spying just adds to that
What we have today is the physical (did you mean online?) equivalent of having a cop following you all the time, recording where you are, what you say, what you read, what you think, who do you talk to, how often you do, and about what.
Sounds scary. Because it is.
Doesn't make it untrue or over-the-top to say so