Community call #2611 - Sudo’s Solo: Kazakhstan & Crack It Winners
Hey Nymsters!
This week’s call was a solo episode - Sudo shared his recent trip to Kazakhstan, the Crack It competition, and the winning ideas from students on how to make privacy a cultural trend in Central Asia.
Big thanks to everyone who joined and played the quiz!
:flag_kz: Why Kazakhstan?
Sudo traveled to Almaty for three reasons:
- To finally meet @UncleLem IRL after 4 years online
- To understand Central Asia - “off the radar for most Westerners, but a pretty important region”
- To participate in Crack It — a business case-solving competition with 300 students, where Nym was a partner
“It was a real experience to finally meet this person I’ve been hanging out with online for 4 years.”
The Business Case: Make Privacy Cool
Teams had to design a campaign answering: “How can digital privacy become a cultural trend in Central Asia?”
The core problem? Privacy is seen as optional, niche, and suspicious - “what do you have to hide?”
Runner-up: PULSE - reframed privacy through Central Asian nomadic heritage. The carpet as a metaphor: in Kazakhstan, carpets are places to hang out, learn, play. NymVPN = your private space of comfort.
3rd place: SDU - used the Tumar (protective amulet against the evil eye) as mascot. Hook: “Would you leave your home front door open?” Visualized privacy as a “digital aura” — broken when unprotected, healed when safe.
2nd place: Normale - hook: “Would you post it?” If you wouldn’t post it online, why are you okay with apps collecting it? Proposed privacy checkups on public Wi-Fi splash pages.
1st place: Megamind — centered everything around family (key in Kazakh culture). Interactive billboards showing “how much your data is worth” - making behavioral surplus tangible. Also proposed family-based pricing.
“We really liked the family angle. And the data worth calculator ties monetary value to your data — that’s exactly what surveillance capitalism does.”
Prizes: 50,000 NYM + 1-year NymVPN subscriptions for all winning team members.
Quiz Time!
Sudo ran a privacy quiz. Questions covered:
- Blocking third-party cookies (reduces cross-site tracking)
- DNS leaks revealing domains you visit
- Browser APIs (Canvas, WebGL) as fingerprinting vectors
Congrats to @azanebraza for winning on 2 questions!
Q&A Highlights
Q: When Latin America? (Rocio)
Sudo: “We have a strong community there. If you find an opportunity like Crack It, let me know - I’d love to go!”
Q: What was it like being a judge?
Sudo: “Surprisingly difficult - 3 hours of presentations, making sure scores were fair. But very fun.”
Q: What did you learn about privacy from students?
Sudo: “They arrived at the same conclusions we did at Nym - privacy connects to sovereignty, and it’s hard to make this invisible problem tangible. That means we’re onto something.”
Q: How did Kazakhstan feel?
Sudo: “Kazakhstan smells like spring - not literally, but in an abstract sense. The country has gone through huge changes and is developing fast. You can sense it everywhere.”
Timestamps
- 00:02:54 — Why Kazakhstan? Meeting Uncle Lem
- 00:05:44 — Crack It explained
- 00:08:23 — Runner-up: PULSE
- 00:12:06 — 3rd place: SDU
- 00:15:17 — 2nd place: Normale
- 00:17:06 — 1st place: Megamind
- 00:22:36 — Quiz
- 00:30:39 — Q&A
Watch the full recording:
YouTube Link
Thanks to @unclelem for making the trip possible - and congratulations to all the Crack It winners!
See you next week! 