# Web3Privacy Now is Care, Ecosystem, and Impact - PG | Opening Ceremony Rome Meetup 2024

- Channel: [Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress](https://streameth.org/ethereum-cypherpunk-congress)
- Date: 2025-10-07
- Duration: 21:13
- Topics: Education
- Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-m_pxws316eU
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_pxws316eU

## Description

Web3Privacy Now is a think-and-Do-tank of hundreds of people, projects, and organizations committed to protecting and advancing civil liberties, decentralization, and open-source software.

We aim to manifest profound political and social change by advocating #privacy in the #web3 Era. With unified efforts, we carve out a path toward a more equitable, decentralized and freedom-respecting digital commons. 

→ https://web3privacy.info/

## Transcript

[Music] okay so welcome [Applause] welcome um I'm very happy to see you because it's a really familiar uh atmosphere here and that's exactly what I Tred to create with meups uh I see a lot of friends hackers activists uh doers and uh I'm happy to share with you with this half day of conversations and Reflections about something that we all care about which is the common good uh for one reason or another one you all care about so you have uh some common ground to to to interact uh at least one which is big and for everyone uh we will assist to seven different interventions that will bring on stage different perspectives from uh by different people different backgrounds United by this um basically stating how this evolution of the technosocial dimension is shaping Society shaping the way we interact with each other is shaping our freedoms and um and how this evolution is threatening our freedoms we really care about being practical so I asked the speakers to also cover how to be practical about that not just covering what's the problem but also what we can do and how we can organize better to face these problems the conference will be till 700 p.m. uh after that we will have draft beer made from some friends as well as trapino which is some let's say typical mix of pizza and super delicious tasty sauce first of all I would like to thank Village Global which is this amazing place that is hosting us today and hosted us last year as well um it's quite unique because it's since I think the ' 80s or 70s that they uh served for many different communities as a free space to welcome people in need uh activist minorities innovators and they still rocks hosting dozens of Artisans uh social carpentry and a lot of amazing activities here let me start by giving a little overview of what is web privacy now what we do why we are here for the one that are uh coming to our event for the first time not many who is the first time attending web event 3 four five okay I'll be quick seven less quick uh so what we do uh we are a no profit an open source organization that do its best to facilitate understanding and spreading knowledge uh and offer tools to empower decentralization uh defend civil liberties and Foster new business models but also culture around uh parallel systems to surveillance and um Venture capitalism I wanted to collect some word that people use the most to talk about us or to give us feedbacks about our events our activities research and everything and I picked up three words out of them to start uh presenting you what we do uh or better um our approach how we do that first of all is care uh we do care about what we do simple as that and people feel this which is very uh powerful thing because we uh this helped us making strong connections valuable intera uh encountering and forging meaningful uh connection and discoveries with uh many people in the space and Beyond uh this for example is a review that A friend gave us uh she organized event for Crypt events for almost two years and attending our events she uh felt welcomed and understood and uh among other peers of hair for different reasons um because we welcome artists uh whatever follow life inter species whatever um we are 100% independent and ethics driven uh we are in business for ideological reasons let's say business activism we move for ideological reasons uh and with meaningful intentions uh and Our intention is to actually uh we aim for social and political uh change which is something that probably you already listen to uh heard about uh heard of um so e system uh life and our social systems are inherently complex and if we want to protect our uh individual freedoms in these threatening and super complex times uh and if we want to defend our rights effectively uh and have an impact in the real world in people lives we should act as an ecosystem uh this is something that I came up for uh recent article we wrote um which basically aims to show how if we are together we are a lot stronger what we are trying to uh understand on ourselves first is how to break this Eggo chamber and the barriers that preclude us to cooperate and create synergies among different communities rather they are uh hackers culture internet Freedom movements crypto uh people that working for human rights uh activists uh but also farmers and people that are super like open and ready to uh Embrace new ways for exchanging information and value values value with values um and in all our activities we do our best to build solidarity among these communities among these different perspectives and Foster this ecosystemic approach uh to privacy and freedom and again our goal we understood is more than technological is cultural as um we really should welcome interdisciplinarity and maximizing diversity and facilitating collaboration otherwise we are just reiterating models which are based on maximizing profits competition and ego which at the end is like you have tones of niches but nothing happens uh to change what we want to change and as of today also uh we always tries to connect in Builders researchers philosophers policy makers activist Founders different backgrounds as I said and different skill sets the third word is actually impact and here I want Tok to thank mola uh my fellow human um being and dear friend uh the one who started moving things for weap privacy now to become what is today because he helped me understand and uh infused into the movements Culture The crucial Importance of Being practical if you want to create impact rather than preaching being perfectionist as I said uh trying to Le good um you just have to create impact to be practical to do stuff um so this is a motto that we really like uh which is you know rather than building consensus consensus around the need of building a better internet and a better future with some more powerful technologies that we will have in the future somehow let's focus on using well what we already have which is already a lot uh to make that future a reality to make that future our present um then another interesting consider consideration a lot of people who want change uh easily fall into this trap of uh talking and pointing fingers becoming maximalist about something uh because they think that their their tool is the best and the only one to solve problems or because the problem is caused by someone else uh and so this drives us to um pursue this endless critics and negativity or fight uh and we easily fall into this Loop by about giving attention and energy to the problem actually and to the that mechanism that we don't like um so rather than fighting the system just abandon it this is something that I realized myself like four years ago and it was so much uh how can I say like a fresh breath of air um and also stop talking about the problem uh but start living start start living the solution start being the solution for the problem um and this is actually the approach we embraced we try to focus Fus on creating uh Innovative Frameworks and uh Inspire positivity and action towards uh along with practical tools to drive this change that we really wish to to to see in the world um uh actually while I was coming up with the presentation I got through this sentence that I this quote uh that I really uh appreciate and it was like also in the design of this event and in general I love trees as uh some of you know who know me uh so let me just uh present what we do in terms of trees and let me show you the trees that we started planting so um web privac now was born as a research project um mikola wanted to collect um mikola and then a lot of other people uh felt this uh precious um the this this importance of making data more visible and understanding what was going on in the pricing market so that we collected a lot of privacy enhancing Solutions uh more than 700 projects uh to give to the broader audience as possible a clear overview of what is the web tree privacy market like today um this become became um privacy Explorer last year at it roome some friends and contributors to We pracy Now develop the solution to make it more user friendly and easy to navigate uh all these data BAS basically um and the aim of this is to show for every project every initiative uh actually how the initiative is open where to find documentation where to find I mean if the team is Unown or not where they take money from what stock they use what technologies how private they are um so again to make it transparent and so whether you are uh an investor or someone who is looking for a job you can easily understand where to go and with with with who you want to to work with or invest to or you know what tool you use you want to use um then uh we came up I I realized that we came up with a lot of research actually uh on average an article per month which is good more researches uh and every article not every but most of the Articles um presented also uh practical guidelines St recommendations and infographics to again navigate the market and understand how things are going on uh we also for example collected um opinion of experts and what Stacks what applications they use they feel more uh meaningful and interesting and useful to preserve privacy um you know and and and and their civil liberties um and every year we came up with a report uh stating the state of privacy in that year the big happenings uh all the risks the opportunities uh this is a privacy uh landscape map we made up it shows all the those 700 projects and what category they're into if they are a protocol layer infrastructure use case layer uh wallets defi um again for research and education uh we also came up with uh some use cases about how cryptocurrency has been used during a war for keeping uh privacy around information and value um and by showcasing these real life use cases where cryptocurrency provides crucial Solutions and best opportunities for uh I mean coming into people's lives as a step as a um stepping in as a Lifeline yo like CM um we can demonstrate to the public how this technology actually makes make uh Tang solution in in people's lives rather than just fueling this endless speculation and Abstract theorizing uh then again events oh it's not visible here there was a super nice map of Europe we did uh 15 events around Europe in the last two years uh ranging okay uh yeah we have different formats for events meet up like today which is a little bit smaller inal and intimate half day long uh we have Summits which we where we have most more speakers different stages room uh different activities going on workshops video projections after party and next event we will go uh worldwide let's say because we are hosting this huge Congress in Bangkok and next year we will probably host something in South America or and or in Bank in um Hong Kong and in 2025 we will also host our first hackaton [Music] these are some of the speakers uh in Bangkok from C hopol former director of Electronic Frontier Foundation NG GC for cyber security and civil liberties for the Falcon Foundation Peter Van valkenberg crypto lawyer and director of research at coin Center to vitalic buin Amin Sani janitor of tornado cash so many interesting people there um and we will also host some privacy rituals which are basically um fun way to make uh again privacy something fun and easygoing uh activism can be playful and enjoyable and positive uh so we are hosting Socratic circles artistics workshops uh we have board games here as well if you want to try the Privacy poly um TK to uh this is something that we came up with in Brussel and it was super nice because actually in Brussel uh itcc had which is like this week a week long uh big ethereum event around which uh people organized more than 700 events in a week in Brussel uh reason why most of them were kind of empty uh some of them were in you know Posh rooftops with free food merch uh a lot of stuff we just came up Gathering uh friends in a park while raining and actually we had super good experienced people good friends everyone had fun and uh some of them also told this was the best moment the best event around ECC and this is what um is not to do like this is just to show and to also experience how if you are um authentic and you you you you have care for what you're doing and everything is organic people appreciate that and feel that and it was super fun and super simple like no you know again Posh rooftops and stuff um then we have 12 of these privacy rituals we also came up with this weirdo idea but uh Tarot deck with privacy let's say uh figures or items in the space um and this is again a way to bring different people different perspectives together in a playful way as as if we are just children or people without I'm a technologist I'm academic Professor I'm a this de dog women whatever um then uh this year this past year we have been mentoring at hackaton as well all around Europe and we realized that many Builders many people that are in the space and develop privacy preserving Technologies don't really understand uh why privacy matters how this is important and what to everything's fine baby yeah I saw hand raising okay um so this is why we started developing uh an academy and also uh collecting suggestions from seasoned developers and privacy experts um and we collected a lot of information also a privacy glossery uh some tools and stock suggestions in this basically is a otion for now uh that will help Builders from eome on at hakon to build something which is practical meaningful in the sense of it will help people in the real world addressing real privacy problems and not just winning a bounty using some big player stack t t t uh oh in this privacy uh Builder pack we also have this which is another tool we recently developed which is the Privacy generator which is basically ideas by privacy experts uh real world issues and available stock uh the system will match this information and will give you some ideas to uh start developing during an Acron um so um Academy we realized that I'm always finished uh there is a lot of good content in the web of course there is uh but it's scattered around platforms there is no cation around this content and uh we this is why we want to uh develop a microlearning platform like edex or cetta to uh basically and and the first uh path that we are working on is to explain what is the story of crypto and the founding values of it and how to embed privacy in your PR in your life uh from zero to one um so without taking further time uh of our time together um we are carrying on different things you cannot read a thing from here probably uh I think I explained you probably four five six seven of this these are Under development actually uh this just shows you how uh kind of comprehensive and how many things we do because many people feels that web privacy now is just an event company uh or that you know we we organize events we do a lot uh more than that and everything we have done so far has been fueled by voluntary contributions so I want to thank you wherever you are in the world whoever you are um and donations um in the last uh year and a half we also start taking uh winning some grants uh and started to offer uh you know allar memberships to Value aligned uh partners and players in the market both to organizations and individuals uh and this helped us being financially sustainables financially sustainable pay ourselves and also uh reward uh the more um let's say consistent uh contribution MERS um as I said these are our members as of now uh I wanted to specify that we don't work for any company but we collaborate with them and uh we actually also help them collaborate uh with each other among them uh for example we matched Labyrinth with Oxbo logos with the namada and we going with this uh desire of uh pursuing this ecosystemic approach to privacy Global privacy ecosystem uh because actually even if they are competitors we are shooting for the same North Star so actually uh if we manage to Aggregate and share knowledge at this meta level uh if we make this ecosystem better we all win um yeah I think I'm finished uh thank you all for coming with this uh rainy day and I know Village Global is not easy to reach as a physical Dimension um and so yeah I would move on but by presenting you the first speaker for every speaker I will make a more how can I say un formal introduction that we can also cut off from the recordings if the speakers uh ask me that because some of them you know I know them for a long time so maybe it's you know tricky so uh you can feel fortunate to be here and listen to that uh no jokes apart uh really happy to share this afternoon with you and um yeah thank you [Applause] [Music]