Nostr Web Client

We all need to be very aware that what nostr:npub1sn0wdenkukak0d9dfczzeacvhkrgz92ak56egt7vdgzn8pv2wfqqhrjdv9 is describing here is not some distant dystopian future. It's our dystopian reality.

In May, Elliptic, together with researchers from MIT and IBM, developed a dataset to identify "the shape of money laundering" on the blockchain.

This dataset attempts to predict money laundering activity that has "not yet been labeled" by distinguishing between what the dataset defines as "anomalous signatures" and Bitcoin transfers between "licit services".

Falling out of these clusters deemed normal by intelligence financed corporations already leaves you penalized. Avoid KYC services? Flagged. Can't tie your transactions to a bank account? Flagged. Frequent user of coinjoins? Flagged.

You are already being debanked because a computer program has decided that you are a money launderer – not because you did something illegal, but because your transactions are deemed abnormal – and you have no legal recourse as suspicious activity reports swear financial institutions to absolute secrecy.

It's the full on criminalization of privacy in finance. The future is here, and it's Orwellian.

https://m.primal.net/JgAW.mp4

The Epic 1y ago

Ya I dunno man... This is for the gilded cage and it is real to a certain extent. But how would this be implemented in a world where people only use Bitcoin? "Here, use our software to prevent people we deem criminals from buying things at your establishment." Are bitcoiners really going to fall for that?

Regardless, I used to listen to Snowden's speeches a lot and I've read his book. After a period of time I found that he's very paranoid and I suspect that paranoia was foolishly and unknowingly engineered by his own hand due to some kind of inner personal demons. That is not to say he was wrong about leaking and what he leaked. That is also not to say he doesn't have a high threat risk situation and that's not to say his advocacy for privacy is entirely wrong.

My point being is that I think he has some tunnel vision and perhaps some issues. He used to praise Monero's privacy first design a lot in the past and due to his privacy tunnel vision he hadn't thought through Bitcoin and the Lightning network's privacy tradeoffs and implications. I haven't kept up with how he views Bitcoin and Monero today, which is certainly a fault in my point and my suspicions.

But if his mind hasn't changed much, then I doubt he would have any peace of mind if he was pardoned. He would still be living in fear. I respect what Snowden has done and he should be pardoned. He's right that the US government does indeed spy on its citizens. But above all I think he needs some help, he deserves to no longer live in fear.

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Discussion

Ben Ewing 1y ago

It gets to a point where you have to start asking yourself who it really serves to demonise surveillance, tax (military spending) in the West

The Epic 1y ago

Ya there's a neverending pushback of centralized and decentralized forces. Like, camera surveillance for a grocery store is fine and it makes sense. Though I draw lines regarding surveillance from a purely tech perspective. I know I draw some lines about what's ok for me to do in regards to decentralized tech but that's more a personal "don't" than "the tech needs to be limited."

In regards to taxes in the west, man I would love it if we were on a Bitcoin standard. Then maybe we could become educated about issues that the government could help with and we could vote with our tax money effectively. If someone doesn't agree they don't have to pay the tax. Taxes could actually function and work properly according to what the people deem reasonable. As long as the people can be reasonable. Which might also be a tall task in and of itself. At least this could be a systematic nudge towards something better.

Ben Ewing 1y ago

My point is I wouldn’t like to run the experiment of voluntary tax, find out that that number donated is basically zero, and then get invaded and slaughtered by an invading army since you don’t have an army anymore

Bud 1y ago

There is so much naivety on this platform. Lots of critique and few proposed solutions.

The Epic 1y ago

Hm, that's sounds highly probable and lots of people already don't pay taxes. You make a good point. With voluntary tax you could have a weak military. So the alternative is enforced mandatory tax. But could that be a slippery slope towards fiat currency and tax via inflation? I think you've thought about it this more than me, so I'm curious and open to listen.

Ben Ewing 1y ago

What about a hard fork in bitcoin that sets say 1% of all mined bitcoin and puts it in a pot, to be allocated in a way that is consensus approved in the hard fork (at a minimum; enforcement of transactions and remediation/ disincentives for bad actors). Not foolproof but satoshi wanted to go from 15-30% government spending to 0% which is kind of so beyond what we have evolved to cope with and also means there is no centralised force to combat other centralised forces (eg current governments) other than what people give voluntarily.

The Epic 1y ago

A hard fork is usually a very huge step. So we'll need to really think very carefully about something like this. Why do we need a hard fork in this case? How would this benefit people in differing regions with different governments? As for what Satoshi would have wanted, I haven't looked for any quotes regarding this particular issue. But does it necessarily matter what Satoshi would have wanted? He made the way, gave it away, and then went away.

Ben Ewing 1y ago

Actually maybe ETFs are sufficient

The Epic 1y ago

Perhaps. Though, to be honest I'm completely clueless to how ETF's and taxes function together.

Bud 1y ago

I have to assume that everything Snowden says serves Russia. Otherwise, Siberia for him.