It takes some mental and physical effort to see that other side; you have to pick it up, turn it around and investigate what's on the side you've just revealed. But every coin has another side, and taking the effort to turn it around is worth it.
source: Wikimedia Commons
If all computers were running a Windows operating system, we wouldn't be aware of the operating system's existence or it's specific features; it would just be part of what we call a computer. It is because we have a choice of operating systems and because different operating systems are better suited in different circumstances, that we are aware of it's existence. Still, most people never look on the other side; iOS users generally stick to Apple and Android users stick to Samsung, LG, and so on. Windows users stick to Windows and never take a look at Linux; I'm a Windows user, but have installed a Linux file server. The damn thing is so ultra-stable though, that it's been years since I've turned on the screen, and I'll have to start over again if I ever want to install another version.
This freedom of choice doesn't always increase our actual agency, sometimes it even traps us in a specific set of choices. Try to see the other side of this freedom; in the supermarket there is an almost infinite choice of shampoos. You can wash your hair with your precise preferences in mind, what precious freedom! But on the other hand this plethora of shampoos blinds us to the possibility of washing our hair with something completely different, something natural perhaps. Increasing freedom of choice does not automatically translate into increased agency, our power to actually change things or behaviors.
If you ask regular users what they think Facebook is for, what is it's purpose, nine out of ten people will say something like "Facebook is a platform to make friends." Again, here's a failure to lift up and turn Facebook's coin to the other side; Facebook's purpose is to monetize your relationships and interests, to index your online personality on a grid of predefined categories in order to place that avatar in a rank order of profitability. You are the product that's being traded, and Facebook also profits of your labor, as is YouTube; there's no "ad-space" to sell without your contributions.
source: Max Pixel
Staying with online platforms for a second; what is the most effective weapon used against individuals on the many online social platforms? You've guessed it: it's your true identity. If someone wants to hurt someone else online, there's nothing more popular than revealing the opponent's true identity. This practice even has it's own verb: it's called "doxing."
Doxing (from dox, abbreviation of documents) or doxxing is the Internet-based practice of researching and broadcasting private or identifying information (especially personally identifying information) about an individual or organization. The methods employed to acquire this information include searching publicly available databases and social media websites (like Facebook), hacking, and social engineering. It is closely related to Internet vigilantism and hacktivism. Doxing may be carried out for various reasons, including to aid law enforcement, business analysis, risk analytics, extortion, coercion, inflicting harm, harassment, online shaming, and vigilante justice.
source: Wikipedia
The other side of that coin is; make the internet a purely peer-to-peer arrangement, so we can share our identities for free; if I freely share my identity, no one can steal it! We can make that even more general: if we share, we don't have to steal... If I can sell my work directly to another peer, there's no need for Amazon and it's in-house spy Alexa. If money is a peer-to-peer agreement on an open source public blockchain, there's no need for the bank. And keep in mind that identity is not synonymous with privacy; sharing your identity is not giving up your privacy. The right to anonymity is actually weird; it's like claiming a right to always wear a mask, always use a voice-modulator and so on. It's because the internet is NOT a peer-to-peer arrangement, that we feel the need to shield our identities from profit seeking parties, be they of the corporate or the phishing kind...
I'll close this random list of "other sides" on a positive note, and that's because of you my dear crypto brothers and sisters; cryptocurrency IS the other side of so much coins we never turn around. Amazon and Google and Facebook and let's not forget the banks, they've shown us their side of the coin in blinding fashion, not in the least because of the many real ways they've made our lifes better. But all of us, at least here in the cryptosphere, also are aware of the danger these giants represent; that's one "other side" we are well aware of. The internet combined with blockchain technology presents us with one of those rare moments in human history where the 99% have a real chance to upset a status quo that's been maintained for centuries; let's not waste that opportunity!
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