Over the past two decades, digital technologies have transformed how we communicate, organise, and understand the world—while quietly concentrating power in the hands of a few actors. In response, a parallel movement has emerged: using cryptography, decentralised networks, and open-source infrastructure to defend individual freedoms and build more democratic alternatives.

Including a practical tools guide and an extensive Web3 glossary, this first volume in The Politics of Privacy series is both an introduction and an invitation for anyone seeking to understand—and reclaim—the systems shaping our digital lives.

Across 7 essays spanning philosophy, economics, human rights, and computer science, the anthology traces the rise of technocratic governance and the promise of Web3, encryption, and digital public infrastructure, exploring how privacy underpins freedom, why its erosion threatens democracy, and what can be done to restore balance.

Rather than offering a single ideology or solution, it maps practical paths forward: from stronger digital rights and interoperable systems to privacy-preserving technologies, new models of governance, and everyday practices of digital autonomy that place people—not platforms—at the centre of digital life.

AUTHORS:

Audrey Tang (Civic Technologist) Cyber Ambassador of Taiwan; former Minister of Digital Affairs (2016–2024)

Primavera De Filippi (Legal Scholar) Research Director at CNRS; Faculty Associate at Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society

Joachim Schwerin (Economist) Researcher (PhD TU Dresden) on tokenisation, Web3 and DAOs; privacy activist (Digital Freedom Declaration); contributed e.g. to the MiCA Regulation

David Chaum (Cryptographer) Pioneer of digital cash and foundational figure in modern cryptography

Denis Jaromil Roio (Hacktivist) PhD in Philosophy, applied cryptographer, and founder of Dyne.org, a European open-source and digital sovereignty initiative

Felix Beer (Researcher) Researcher on digital sovereignty and institutional innovation at the Institute for Future Studies and Technology Assessment

Judith De Boer (Lawyer) Partner at Hertoghs Advocaten and specialist in white-collar crime and tax litigation

Glen Weyl (Economist) Microsoft research lead, co-author of Radical Markets, and co-founder of the Plurality Institute

Naomi Brockwell (Educator) Founder and President of the Ludlow Institute, a media and research initiative focused on technology and freedom

Piergiorgio Catti De Gasperi (Activist) Co-founder and Director of Web3Privacy Now

ISBN 9789083716701 Edited by Martina Francesca Cavalot Curated by Piergiorgio Catti De Gasperi Proofread by Mariquita de Boissière Printed by SYL in Spain