A message from George Orwell: your digital rights (Patreon)

Dear Juice Patrons,

It's been a couple of months since we uploaded our final RN video. First of all, I want to thank you all for sticking around. Very few (maybe 2 or 3?) Patrons cancelled their pledges after we announced the Rap News wrap-up. Which, as you can imagine, has been a great source of encouragement!

So here we are, with the first new video on the Juice Media channel. Given that you stuck around as Patrons of this channel, I truly hope/pray you enjoy it! I'm slightly nervous, but I do hope you'll appreciate what you have helped to fund here.

The backstory is that I was contacted by the Tor Project just a couple of weeks ago, to see if I would make a video which they could play at their State of the Onion talk at 32c3 (the massive annual conference of the Chaos Computer Club), taking place on Dec 29 in Berlin. It was a honour for me to be asked to do so. But most importantly, it gave me the challenge, and deadline, which I required to get my ass into gear. 

This is why I decided to reprise my role as George Torwell (an obvious choice); and to take on the topic of why Digital Rights matter. If any of you folks are involved in open Internet and digital rights movements, you will probably be aware of how problematic it is that the vast majority of Internet users go about their lives with the mis(conception) that their digital lives - and rights - are somehow different or separate from their normal, everyday lives and human rights. 

So, as well as plugging the Tor Project - which is an awesome and important part of the Internet freedom infrastructure - I also wanted to make sure this video highlighted this deeper (Juicier) point. 

I want to thank you for helping to fund this video, which I sincerely think makes an important contribution to our nascent Internet culture. If it goes well (and so far the feedback has been great!) I hope to make more Torwell videos, to highlight Orwellian issues in our society, and also to offer some practical solutions (such as the Signal app featured in this video)

I'd also like to take this opportunity to wish you all a healthy and fulfilling new year in 2016. I hope you all have some awesome plans on the boil. As for me: I'll be heading to Berlin in March to attend the Logan Symposium, where we'll do a brief live Rap News performance (probably the first and last European show!). 

And then I'm planning to roll out a bunch of new ideas on the Juice Media channel; so you will hopefully be seeing a variety of formats - including, eventually, a new series to follow on from Juice Rap News. Things will proceed slowly in the first part of the year as I go about sorting myself out; but I plan to be in full swing by this time next year. 

Well friends. Thank you for coming along on this new adventure, and indeed for making it possible. I'll see you in the new year!

Giordano