NymVPN Catch-up with Sudo - Community Call #2618
A solo AMA this week. @sudonym came in with zero preparation and let the community drive the topics. Result: a meandering, casual run through scanning ultimatums, cypherpunk history, Samsung camera quirks, NYM token gravity, fake IDs, the Big Lebowski, and why football’s diving culture is a deal-breaker.
Big thanks to everyone who joined live.
The Starmer Scanning Mandate
The opening question: UK PM Keir Starmer has reportedly given Apple and Google three months to install mandatory device scanning. Sudo’s read:
“I think this is just political performance. UK politics is in such a mess - he probably needs to look tough on something.”
Mass mandatory scanning in the middle of ongoing UK political dysfunction reads as more posturing than feasible policy. But the boiling-frog risk is real: once one country sets the precedent, the global landscape shifts. Pushback (talking, posting, mocking) is the only counter.
Sudo’s Privacy Confessionals
Conveniences he hasn’t given up:
- Samsung Android instead of GrapheneOS - because last he tested, custom ROMs ruined the Samsung camera. Asking the community: has that changed?
- Windows - “the necessary evil,” getting worse every release, but Linux is a big fiddly jump for a 20-year Windows power user
- Credit cards + Revolut - traditional financial privacy nightmare territory
- Chrome for these very streams (Restream guest cameras misbehave on non-Chromium browsers)
The theme: privacy purity vs reliability is a constant tax. He’s working on it.
Apple Parental Control vs Discord’s Botched Job
A comment in chat pointed out Apple already does on-device parental control well. Sudo agreed - currently the best of the bunch. WWDC added a wave of new features under that umbrella, getting ahead of the inevitable regulatory push. Compare to Discord’s age verification rollout - asked users to upload an ID before continuing, despite Discord already knowing the user’s age from registration. “A great example of how to botch it.”
AI in Toasters and in NymVPN
“I just saw a meme - someone’s smart toaster doing a software update. The guy’s like, I’m just trying to toast some bread here, man.”
Worst product to add AI to: probably the toaster.
Honest admission about NymVPN: there is an AI bot. It’s Zendesk’s. Sudo, who leads customer support, openly hates it:
“If I could convince the company to get rid of it, I definitely would.”
Beyond that, no plans for a NymVPN-specific AI bot. LLMs already know about Nym; the Tupinim Quim community squad and Nillion are both exploring privacy-preserving AI angles.
Who Are the Neo-Cypherpunks?
Sudo’s picks: Harry (“applied cypherpunkism in 2026”), Zucco. Among the OGs, his personal hero is Phil Zimmermann, the developer of PGP, who was investigated by the US government back when encryption was classified as a weapon and exporting it was illegal. The activism that decriminalized it included people tattooing encrypted messages on themselves and asking whether they were now exporting weapons.
Later in the call (Mr. Robot came up), Sudo’s working definition of what cypherpunk actually is:
“The point of the cypherpunk movement is to put human rights in code through cryptography. Words backed by institutions can be ignored. AES-256 backed by math can’t.”
Mr. Robot is a hacker show, not a cypherpunk one - the distinction matters.
What Sparked Sudo’s Privacy Awakening
Late teens / early 20s, deep into tech enthusiasm and overclocking, the Snowden revelations hit. PRISM and the involvement of big tech specifically broke the spell. Reinforced years later by Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism - “heavy but foundational.”
NYM Token, Partnerships, Privacy Coin FUD
On price action - can’t comment, would be unfair and probably illegal. But the team cares, the 2026 roadmap (including the automated buyback tied to NymVPN user uptick) is built around it, and Harry hangs out in the Nym Telegram chat directly.
On partnerships: one big one coming this year (under wraps, can’t name), and a second possible one still in early discussion that has Sudo “keeping me up at night” excited.
Critical clarification, because it keeps causing problems with exchanges:
“Nym is a privacy project, but NYM is NOT a privacy coin. The NYX blockchain is fully transparent - just like Bitcoin or Ethereum. Exchanges sometimes don’t know this.”
Native NYM tokens are on Bitfinex (both native and ERC-20). DEX liquidity has been deliberately strengthened. Sudo’s standing recommendation: use DEXes when you can.
Recommended Viewing
Sudo’s picks dropped in chat:
- For cypherpunk vibes: Cypherpunks Write Code by Reason TV - the movement start to finish
- Favorite movie of all time: The Big Lebowski - “led to the founding of a whole religion, Dudism”
- Mr. Robot is great too but it’s hackers, not cypherpunks
The Fake ID Confession
A friend (definitely not Sudo) once needed to get past a service’s ID gate. They had ChatGPT generate a fake ID and uploaded it. Accepted without comment.
“Someone who isn’t me may have used such an image just to show one of their five fingers back to the practice of collecting ID.”
The point: ID-collection compliance theater is wide open - and that alone should make us less comfortable with the policy direction.
Why Sudo Doesn’t Watch Football
The World Cup started today. Sudo doesn’t watch. One reason and one reason only:
“Acting as if you were hurt to get a foul - I can’t watch that. Coming from kickboxing, this mentality is shallow and bad.”
His favorite team: “Team No Faked Injuries Anymore.” Hungarian football pride briefly invoked (the Magic Magyars, 6-3 against the English).
Naomi Brockwell - Quiet Connection
Last question: did Harry’s wish to connect with Naomi Brockwell pan out? Yes - Nym has been in touch for a while.
“Naomi Brockwell was actually a major reason I ended up at Nym. I was a subscriber and avid watcher before joining.”
Something specific is in the works (Sudo couldn’t recall live). Rob Bruxman: unclear - ask Harry on Telegram, he answers.
Timestamps
- 00:03:11 - Starmer’s mandatory scanning ultimatum
- 00:09:13 - Sudo’s privacy confessionals (Samsung, Windows)
- 00:21:26 - AI in everything, NymVPN bot truth
- 00:24:07 - Neo-cypherpunks and Phil Zimmermann
- 00:27:24 - What sparked Sudo’s interest in privacy
- 00:33:52 - Partnership news
- 00:38:05 - The fake ID story
- 00:47:17 - What cypherpunk actually means
- 00:55:17 - Nym is not a privacy coin
- 00:58:21 - Naomi Brockwell connection
Watch the full recording: YouTube Link
This week’s spread-the-word: if you’ve got a referral free pass burning a hole, hand it to someone. Or jump into the Skin NymVPN mission on NymHub.
PoEp password commemorating the World Cup kickoff: whoiswinning? (include the question mark, capital W, capital I, capital W).
