Major tech companies have received increased scrutiny in 2018, especially when it comes to how they’re handling user data. Internet users are becoming turned off by how much Facebook and Google know about them, and Apple has taken the opportunity to remind everyone they’re more interested in selling hardware than tracking your online activity.[1][2]
Much like internet users don’t like the idea of Google reading their emails, they also may not like the idea of banks and payment processors tracking all of their financial activities. In this way, it’s interesting to view Bitcoin as the free software version of money. Additionally, it’s important to note how bitcoin can stand to gain from growth in the greater free software movement.
Bitcoin is the Free Software of Money
The world’s financial system works in a manner similar to the giant tech companies when it comes to user privacy and data collection. Additionally, banks may also censor transactions or remove access to one’s bank account in a manner similar to how Twitter or Facebook can censor posts and delete user accounts. Bitcoin was created directly as a permissionless alternative to the proprietary banking system, much like Mastodon was built as an alternative, permissionless social media platform.[3]
Although the dream is not yet fully realized, the idea is that bitcoin users will have complete control over their money (data) and transactions will be end-to-end encrypted. It should be noted that Bitcoin still has an extremely long way to go when it comes to offering strong user privacy, but the theoretical basis for progress does exist.[4]
As the world becomes more digitized, the value of a free software version of money becomes more apparent. For example, the value of a “digital gold”
