The Global Rise of Authoritarian Tech

Authoritarian regimes are leveling up with a digital toolkit that includes everything from high-def surveillance cameras and spyware to algorithmic censorship and AI-driven policing. Steven Feldstein (Carnegie) walks us through how Nepal’s protest movements are fighting back with freedom tech, why China’s censorship stack is the gold standard of control, and how predictive policing and AI warfare are becoming disturbingly mainstream.

But it’s not just dictatorships getting in on the action—democracies deploy these same tools, vendors sell dual-use tech with little oversight, and financial repression plus social credit systems are squeezing the economic lifeblood out of dissent. Spoiler: crypto and grassroots resistance tactics might just be our best shot at staying one step ahead.

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