A new report from venture capital firm Zee Prime Capital highlighted the decentralized physical infrastructure networks (DePin) can potentially transform law enforcement from a collection of centralized structures monopolized by the state to community-based enterprises that maximize transparency.
Decentralized security (DeSec) is a nascent subsector of distributed infrastructure that involves building distributed surveillance and law enforcement architecture, like ballistic triangulation systems, radar arrays, and community patrol decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs).
According to an article from Luffistotle, a writer at Zee Prime, blockchain and decentralized architecture can excel in these areas because of the tendency to build security redundancies in these systems.
While consumer-facing retail applications typically try to avoid such robust security measures due to the increased costs of security redundancy, communities and organizations that prize security will gladly pay the extra dollar to ensure they are leveraging the best security money can buy, the author wrote.
DeSec applications also go far beyond community policing or decentralizing law enforcement. Decentralized security architecture provides novel incentives for local communities to reinforce existing electrical infrastructure, shielding it from highly disruptive events such as coronal mass ejections from the sun or electromagnetic pulse weapons (EMPs), while outsourcing the costs to participants of the DePin network.
Luffistotle also explained that a decentralized network of aerial radar could spot aerial incursions from unauthorized aircraft or small reconnaissance drones, reducing the potential for terrorism.
Decentralized networks: the antidote to authoritarianism?
The development of public blockchain currencies and decentralized infrastructure did not occur in a vacuum, but is the natural response to the growing threat of state surveillance, failing centralized power structures, and a growing threat of authoritarianism across the globe.
A prime example is the increased social media censorship and surveillance efforts against activists through the collusion of government and the big tech sector to stifle protest, silence dissenting voices, and censor 'misinformation'—a trend that accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Decentralized physical infrastructure networks, such as the Helium network and other decentralized internet providers, could remedy this problem by removing power from central internet service providers and big tech companies, ensuring a free and open internet for all.
The tradeoff
Increases in transparency, while great, are usually accompanied by a corresponding decline in privacy. Luffistotle concluded by reflecting on the problem of balancing transparency with privacy and avoiding the slippery slope of an even more intrusive mass surveillance state.
"It is imperative for [the] survival of our species that we actually have the ability to speak outrageous thoughts and revolt against tyranny. If the asymmetry between enforcement and capacity to revolt becomes too big we’re just enabling minority-report-like tyranny."