Open Conversations: Some Information Needs a Plan, Not Just Storage (Kieran Prasch)
Funding the Commons Open Conversations · 1:57
Canary is a project to build an end-to-end encrypted, decentralized dead man's switch that hands information to chosen people if its owner cannot act. Kieran Prasch describes uses that range from leaving instructions for finding and bailing out someone detained at a civil action, to preserving a journalist's unreleased story, to eventually passing on private keys, asset custody or account passwords to friends and family. He argues for reframing the dead man's switch as a kind of life technology.
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From Funding the Commons Open Conversations, hosted by Funding the Commons.
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I've built several projects at the residency, but one has my main focus in attention. We call this Canary, and the name comes from an old United States saying or tradition, the canary in the coal mine. This was meant as um a bird that you would bring into into a mine and it would be a sign of a warning of danger if uh danger were to approach. The idea with this project is to build finally a end to end encrypted decentralized deadband switch that will actually have impact. If you are going to a civil action and you are worried that you may be detained and you would like someone to have your instructions for where to find you and how to perhaps bail you out of jail. Um but also it could be longer time frames like you are collecting um a story um that you're writing uh as a journalist.
uh you're not ready to release it now, but you need to make sure that even if something goes wrong with you, that someone will have access to this story. It's it's important truth. And I think on the longest time frame, it could actually be something more like your private keys um or the custody of assets, maybe even like your passwords to your account. If something were to happen to you, then maybe your friends and family could have access to your accounts. So, this is the idea with Canary. I think it has a potential to um really impact people that need it. And uh I think it's very important that we reframe the idea of the dead man switch into something more like life technology. I have been maybe a basement hacker for a long time and uh something that I would like to invite into my life
more is to to make these these connections and and uh realize the the value of social capital as well. And uh this to me was really sharpening that skill of of being able to to connect with others in in a way that I think is meaningful and will help like have mutual support.