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Does not exist but probably is enforced by 1st amendment as a form of speech. Go look into the cypherpunk movement of the 80s and 90s and the kinda stuff they were doing back when cryptography was considered weapons and munitions
Discussion
That’s actually what got me thinking about this. Code is speech, but running code that downloads illegal/evil content from the internet is probably not protected by the 1st.
This is my (and my wife’s) main fear/concern around running full nodes. If some piece of shit human puts a horrible jpeg on the blockchain, it would be an easy way for a government to start arresting bitcoiners.
And “mask it with Tor” sure as hell wouldn’t make me feel safer in that situation…
It’s not “on the blockchain” in a viewable state. It’s just a bunch of encoded data which can be interpreted by the inscriptions/ordinals protocol.
If preserving and maintaining the wealth and financial transactions of the entire world on your computer is outweighed by the fact that someone might insert arbitrary data you don’t like, then don’t run a node.
But accept that you’re not enforcing the rules of Bitcoin and are trusting someone else, who will be storing the exact same data, to do it for you.
Appreciate your thorough and thoughtful answer 🙏
This reply gets deep; be warned 🫂
I’m thinking less about ordinals than about op-returns and the like. My knowledge of blockchain data is limited, but my understanding is that someone could easily put a URL to a CSAM website, or something comparably evil, in their transaction data.
To be blunt (and rational), I don’t want that shit on my computer.
And I’m confident that this stance is fully compatible with my earnest endorsement of free speech, as freedom of speech has its “equal and opposite” counterpart of “freedom of consumption”.
You also mentioned the moral importance of validating the wealth and transaction ledger of “the entire world”. If Bitcoin were indeed adopted by the entire world, it would be easy to assume that individuals, companies, and governments all run nodes, and do so with implied legality.
But we haven’t hit hyperbitcoinization, so for the moment, a node runner is validating the wealth and transactions of a small percentage of human activity, albeit an important one, with many freedom fighters and humanitarians being protected by this altruism. This is all the more reason that running a node should be protected by law and constitution.
Brave men have gone to war to protect their families freedom. Heroic women have walked the streets of Iran, with their hair flowing free, to help free their fellow humans from oppression.
I am in deep awe and admiration of these people. It’s difficult to imagine a life like that, and I can’t fathom making the choice between standing up for my child’s future and risking that my child could grow up without a father. Money has a huge effect on society, and money also isn’t the most important thing.
I don’t know where the line would exist for me, in a truly oppressive environment. I’m lucky to live where I do. Where running a node is not illegal, and where investing in self-sovereignty and human flourishing is respected rather than punished.
But at the same time, I’m watching the news. I’m seeing privacy intruded on and coinjoins rejected. A trend toward “KYC or FBI”. FOSS software devs and operators at risk, and privacy tools stigmatized. It makes me nervous.
My prayer is that enough sane people speak loudly enough, that the right to these tools becomes enshrined in law, so that Bitcoin really can “fix this” with so many of the things that are fucked up in the world…
The government doesn’t need reasons to arrest Bitcoiners. They could literally just say “Bitcoiners are now criminals.”
The fear that the government will arrest you for running a node says way more about the kind of stuff they are doing than the kind of stuff you’re doing. Again, you’re free to do what you feel comfortable with, but I personally have to draw a line somewhere.
Two great replies, so I’ll reply to each separately.
This is a very good point. While I have no interest in being a martyr, I am also a believer in the idea of civil disobedience as a method for building a humanitarian society.
I want Bitcoin to fix everything that’s wrong with the world. It might. It probably will. Above all, my decisions are made with the well-being of my loved ones and myself as the first priority. This is why I “vote with my wallet” and save in Bitcoin.
It’s also the source of my interest in geographic arbitrage, and why my faith in humanity has strengthened while my confidence in the political system has diminished…