Editing Design/Stakeholder Requirements (StRS) (section)

== 2.2 Problem or Opportunity Statement ==

The digital age has given rise to unprecedented challenges to individual liberty and sovereignty. The convergence of state power and corporate infrastructure has created a system of mass surveillance and control that extends beyond traditional national boundaries. Through initiatives like National Security Letters and global data center compliance requirements, state actors have effectively undermined individual privacy and autonomy in cyberspace. This infrastructure of control has evolved alongside surveillance capitalism, creating a system where censorship and control can be enacted without explicit orders through informal relationships between private enterprise and government.

The problem is compounded by the centralization of digital infrastructure through cloud services, which act as informational container terminals enabling standardization and control. This centralization has created a “super-jurisdiction” where US law can be extended globally through various forms of cooperation implied by server locations and network connections. The trend continues with developments like Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) that threaten to complete the state’s capture of economic transactions by bringing all financial activity under centralized surveillance and control.

However, these challenges present a unique opportunity to create a new kind of sovereign digital infrastructure. There is growing demand for systems that preserve privacy, resist censorship, and enable genuine user sovereignty. Advancements in cryptographic technologies and privacy-preserving protocols make it possible to build decentralized networks that operate effectively against state-level adversaries. The increasing awareness of surveillance risks and the desire for digital sovereignty has created a receptive environment for alternative systems based on voluntary participation rather than coercion.

The opportunity exists to establish a comprehensive technology stack that enables parallel trans-national society
* one that secures civil liberties through technical means rather than legal frameworks. This includes creating privacy-preserving networks for communication and storage, developing censorship-resistant applications and services, and fostering autonomous digital institutions with low exit costs. By combining minimal information disclosure with Byzantine fault tolerance and self-organizing networks, we can create parallel socio-economic systems that extend civil liberties to anyone with internet access while remaining resistant to capture and corruption.

Problems Addressed:
* Increasing surveillance and data collection
* Centralized control of digital infrastructure
* Censorship and content control
* Economic capture through financial systems
* Lack of genuine user sovereignty

Opportunities:
* Growing demand for privacy-preserving alternatives against surveillance risks
* Advancement in cryptographic technologies
* Increasing awareness of poor governing services
* Need for censorship-resistant platforms
* Desire for personal sovereignty

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