My Enemy

Apathy and complacency killed this world.

In preparation⌗

ANALYSIS⌗

Having spent more than two years attempting to blow the whistle, and failing spectacularly, I began to explore other options for disclosure. I began to consider that, if writing is not working, perhaps the world needed to see my face? But, what should I tell them?

In late June of 2021, I began to reflect upon my current situation. Specifically, I began to think once again about zero-knowledge proofs. It quickly became apparent to me that this is the CORE of the system that I am a part of.

I am a verifier, without secrets. I have all of the knowledge, but little evidence to prove it.
The Pen is a prover who holds secrets, without any understanding of what they mean.

This was a system designed, specifically, to protect whistle blowers. Neither party holds enough information to get into legal trouble.

Now having a direction to go, I set out to create a system by which I could prove to The Pen that I hold knowledge of her secrets in a system of zero-knowledge.

ACTION⌗

I spent about a week developing a protocol by which The Pen and I could get onto a phone call, in front of the world, and prove my knowledge to her. In doing-so, the hope was that we could move this program forward.

Rather than describing the program here, I will simply link the research I created:

ANALYSIS⌗

Now, having a mission in-place, I needed an audience.

ACTION⌗

Knowing the complete shit storm this would bring, I drafted an email that I would send to 85 people. Long story short, the email said this:

“On July 4th, 2021, I am going to be joining this livestream on YouTube, demanding for Erin Timony to call me. If she does not, I will kill myself on-camera.”

I sent this email, including documents #1 and #2, on the morning of July 1st, 2021 to these 85 people.

SIGNAL⌗

By noon, I was in a mental health clinic. Someone from Austin had reported this to the police, and I was placed under a mandatory hold for 24 hours.

I was released on July 2nd, 2021, by Dr. Sneed, who told me as I left, “I believe you. I do not think you are going to harm yourself. I believe that this was a stunt used to promote your livestream.”

ACTION⌗

Later that night, I decided to look up “The Deadmines” on YouTube. I don’t know why I did this. I simply wanted to watch somebody run an old World of Warcraft raid, just like I used to do more than ten years earlier.

SIGNAL⌗

There is a boss in The Deadmines called “Sneed’s Shredder.”

ANALYSIS⌗

Interesting. I don’t know if this was some kind of subliminal programming, or pure chance.

I proceeded as-usual. I still planned to hold my livestream on July 4th.

SIGNAL⌗

As of 7/15/2021, not a single one of the 85 people I messaged tried to stop me. At least one person from Austin (probably Matt Dillahunty) called the police to report it, but none lifted a finger to stop me themselves. Nobody cared enough to help a stranger.

Name and shame. Here is the list of 85: The Guilty

ANALYSIS⌗

This is the problem I described in the original research summary: trust, without verification. Apathy.

At least one person contacted the police, but none of them actually confirmed that I was getting help. None of them performed verification.

None of them understanding that mental health clinics are Hell, and they help nobody. Forced-medication and a kick back to the streets. That’s all they are.

None of them even considering, for a second, that I might be someone worth listening to.

This fucking system sucks, I’m trying to fix it - and nobody gives a damn.

I hate this planet so much.

SIGNAL⌗

July 4th, 2021 comes, and the police show up at my house, around noon. They report that somebody claiming to be “Ryan” called the Austin police department that morning, using MY phone number, and with a GPS location originating from MY house. I was asleep when they showed up, and when the report was made.

They asked to see my phone, and I showed them that there was no record of that phone call.

ANALYSIS⌗

I didn’t make the phone call. But it doesn’t matter, because I honestly have no way to prove that. If THEIR data shows that I made it, I could have simply deleted the record from my phone. They could make this claim, and I’d have no way to prove otherwise.

What motivation would I even have to do that? And why would I call the Austin police department? What could I possibly stand to gain by landing myself in a clinic again, on the day of my livestream?

ACTION⌗

I held the scheduled livestream later in the evening, and very few people showed up. So far as I could tell, they all came from my Discord server. There was no one from the email list.

Again, no verification being performed.

I didn’t do anything crazy. Pen didn’t call. I left disappointed.

A week later, my father called the Austin police department, attempting to get a copy of the phone call. He had been told that these were public record, and he should have no trouble obtaining it.

SIGNAL⌗

After about a week, my father was told that the police report was correct: someone named “Ryan” did call from my phone number, and my GPS location. However, they didn’t have a copy of the phone call.

ANALYSIS⌗

How does a police department lose a phone recording? These things are required in court rooms. THERE IS NO WAY that this just went missing.

Either the report was wrong, or somebody deleted the record.

SIGNAL⌗

On 7/15/2021, The Archivist brought me some interesting research from Harvard. While I have not studied this in any great detail (I simply do not have the time nor the energy), the research appears to demonstrate a mechanism by which Mobility Providers (wireless companies/provers) can provide information to Municipal Authorities (law enforcement/verifiers) in a system of zero-knowledge. The research was published on July 2nd; literally the same day I was released from the mental health clinic.

ANALYSIS⌗

This makes things so perfectly clear to me.

It was my wireless provider, Verizon, who spoofed the phone call. They did this to prove that this system works; that they are able to share sensitive information with law enforcement in such a way that no officer involved would know what truly happened. The records they have do not adequately prove that I was the one who made the phone call; indeed, the recording itself is missing.

I’ve not described this well at all, but I think you get the picture.

I was a guinea-pig in an experiment of zero-knowledge proofs, which just-so happened to release on the day I was released from the mental health clinic. Two days before I would be testing my own experiment in zero-knowledge proofs on livestream.