Catalonia protestors use distributed network to securely organize protests

While I totally agree with the idea that we, as engineers, are responsible for the things we build, I think your exposition here ("we have seen violent protests + a group making apps to organize protests => we should be careful") can be a bit misleading or suggest links between this group and the violent actions, which wouldn't be well grounded based on what we know so far.

Without assuming that was your intent, but to add some context: this group (tsunami democratic) is explicitly advocating for nonviolence. At least ~2.4M people voted (2017) for parties that oppose the sentence that lead up to the current protests. We are seeing ~1000 violent protesters, which should be fairly compared to the ~0.5M people who are steadily mobilised on pacific protests.

Given the context, I believe that the terrorism charges that some politicians and judges are attempting to attribute to groups like this (this is the reason the websites have been shut down in Spain) are far more dangerous and can backslash in more violence than any of the apps or websites some activists can possibly create.

And the consequences of what we don't build. Are you willing to withhold people's ability to protest, because sometimes protests turn violent? You can always increase safety by taking away freedom, until everyone is forced to wear surveillance shock collars.

Through the use of technology, corporations and governments grow more powerful every day - it is extremely dangerous to not balance that power. Look at China - their people will have a very difficult time digging themselves out of that hole. That's where your logic leads.

from another article

> You can see them in the front line, looking for melee with the police. They are covered, some wear helmets and elbow pads, communicate by radio and do not get rid of almost anything. They are the 500 anti-systems, which the police divide between revolutionary independence activists and anarchists, mostly young people, who are at the forefront of the riots that have had their epicenter in Barcelona since Monday. This nucleus has a reinforcement of another 1,500 that add to the altercations.

> Pacific protests are allowed every day

Unfortunately, in Spain they are not, thanks to the infamous "Gag Law". You first need permission to protest anywhere and you're not allowed to protest near Spanish institutions at all. Fines range between €30,000 and €600,000 if guilty, which is way above what anyone who actually protests could pay.

Arguments like this completely ignore that the police and government have their own secure channels they use in these situations, and are prone to frequently inciting violence. Why should an engineer feel bad for leveling the playing field between people who feel oppressed and their oppressors?