Programmers on the Internet face a moral choice that extends beyond any single nation. The original design of the web as a borderless knowledge commons now collides with massive data‑collection systems built for advertising and, increasingly, for state‑backed targeting. Companies such as Palantir sell tools that fuse corporate efficiency with government surveillance, creating a new form of technofascism that threatens global privacy and weaponizes data.

Critics argue that privatized surveillance, once the domain of agencies like the NSA, now weaponizes ordinary citizens under the pretext of national security. The manifesto warns that the “enemy within” label expands to immigrants, dissenters and eventually anyone who challenges the status quo, blurring the line between policing and military action and eroding democratic oversight, fueling a cycle that undermines civil liberties worldwide.

Proponents of resistance call for building decentralized tools that make mass surveillance technically infeasible. By encrypting communications, distributing identity, and open‑sourcing surveillance‑blocking libraries, developers can reclaim privacy without relying on legislation that often stalls. The essay concludes that only code, not law, can safeguard freedom in a world where state and corporate surveillance converge.