As true as that is, it is not inherent to democracy. We could change that - make revolving doors illegal, make campaign funding illegal. In some countries the state funds the campaign equally for all and it is illegal to spend more.
Linux is user friendly. My 70 year old in-laws have been using it for over 5 years with much less complaints than when they were on Windows.
The problem not that Linux is hard, it is that people who are used to Windows/MAC are lazy to change.
Thanks for sharing, even if I don't like the article. A future predicting model says that our choices are to die or be enslaved by a US controlled one world government.
Fuck this. My bet is on open source, decentralisation and freedom.
Much better than submitting to insane regulations. It's what VPNs are for :)
Another super-user-friendly privacy howto from Naomi Brockwell - on Signal usernames:
Had to replace a specific hard disk today in a PC which has 8 of them. At first a somewhat puzzling task as I didn't want to unplug all of them one by one and test boot.
Then I noticed they all have serial numbers on them and you can print them with `lsblk -o NAME,SERIAL`. Phew.
Bitcoin may be dipping, but the plebs are buying. Bisq has a good few buy offers at 1-2% above market value. If you need to sell I doubt you will find a better price anywhere else.
Check what research Fauci is currently funding in China, and you will know 😀
The solution is simple and self-evident. If we wish to obtain our liberation and sovereignty from the enslavement imposed by the private bankers, we must dismantle their fractional reserve system of banking and supporting central banks, or we ourselves shall be destroyed and consigned to oblivion.
- Stephen Mitford Goodson
https://m3.gab.com/media_attachments/e6/3a/c1/e63ac15b82fed17a7b3f536de534ad25.mp4
No need to dismantle anything. Just build a better system and start using it - the old will fall apart on its own.
?width=568As much as I want this to be true, I could not find anything published from official sources.
Watched the MIT Bitcoin Expo discussion about the Samourai Wallet and Tornado Cash prosecutions, and there seem to have been some misconceptions.
First, it is not "clear" that North Korea used Tornado Cash, as there appears to be ambiguity on how these funds are attributed. The reliability of said attributions has previously been a topic of debate in the criminal prosecution of Roman Storm.
We cover this here: https://www.therage.co/tornado-cash-trial-blockchain-surveillance-reliability/
Second, of course sanctions enforcement plays a role in the crackdown on privacy services, as a fully private financial system would make sanctions unenforceable, relieving the US of its most powerful economic warfare tool – some scholars may even go as far as arguing that sanctions enforcement is the main reason for AML frameworks to exist.
The idea that large transactions, such as for oil trade, would remain identifiable on chain despite mixer use is additionally completely incorrect, as Bitcoin mixers break down large UTXOs into various smaller UTXOs. If a large transaction remained identifiable through mixers, mixers would be useless.
I cover sanctions enforcement in my latest Bitcoin Magazine print article, which you can purchase here: https://store.bitcoinmagazine.com/collections/magazines/products/bitcoin-magazine-annual-subscription
Third, institutions like EFF have of course gotten involved in these cases, namely by filing an amicus brief on behalf of Roman Storm in the beginning of this year, addressing the impacts of Storm's prosecution on privacy software development in general.
We cover EFF's amicus brief here: https://www.therage.co/eff-tornado-cash/
Fourth, and this one is crucial, of course there have been actions brought against the individuals and groups that used the software services for illicit activity.
Money laundering is the only crime that can only exist if another crime has previously been identified. If the DOJ was not pursuing crimes related to Tornado Cash or Samourai Wallet, no charges of conspiracy to commit money laundering could exist against the developers.
The notion that criminal funds cannot be attributed when mixers are utilized is incorrect, as mixers, like any privacy tool, can only provide forward-facing privacy. The source of funds will always be identifiable.
As nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyv8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnnwpex7an0daehgtnwdsqzpp59a0hkv5ecm45nrckvmu7pnk0sukssvly33u3wwzquy4v037hcsgt75r correctly points out, what arguably brought on the prosecution of Tornado Cash developers was the alleged use of the service through North Korea.
Both cases feature additional criminal activity that the DOJ is pursuing, such as hacks on "cryptocurrency-exchange-01" and "cryptocurrency-exchange-02" in the case of Tornado Cash, as well as Silk Road and Hydra Market proceeds in the case of Samourai Wallet.
Last but not least, calling on the public to educate lawmakers on the use of privacy services is obviously a good idea, but for those who want to become active to protect developers, advocating for the House to pass the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which was introduced in 2023, may be the most fruitful endeavor.
As a sidenote, nostr:nprofile1qyv8wumn8ghj7urjv4kkjatd9ec8y6tdv9kzumn9wsqzqmxyyf0hjux9dw0559uy4pwah00fwkv7xed63jry5nv3qk2zku3zxr2wva , painting yourself as "the only journalist" who is covering the Samourai Wallet prosecution in depth is not just wrong, but also an asshole move.
Grateful that MIT Bitcoin Club is bringing these topics up – if you are new to these cases, the panel talk is a good place to start despite my eternal nitpicking.
Full reporting: https://www.therage.co/privacy-on-trial-mit-bitcoin-expo/
The US has boasted of having toolsets from all major APT (advanced persistent threat) groups. Which means it is trivial to false flag cyber stuff. That is if they needed to - most of the time the press doesn't ask for proof anyway.
Exactly because people hate rapists, false rape claims are often used for character assassinations.
It is what they threw at Assange and it took him years to clear his name. Even now there probably are people who think he raped that Swedish woman who texted the night after praising him to her friend.
🇩🇪🇺🇸 Germany considers withdrawing 1200 tons worth of gold from a US Federal Reserve vault following new tariffs.Last time they tried this they didn't get anything... or does my memory fail me?
If they do decide to ask for their gold, I'd be surprised if they get it.
Absolutely. It is how most of my colleagues in the UK live. They spend the vast majority of what they earn on the biggest mortgage they can get, and on payments for a shiny car. Then barely make ends meet and always complain they are short on money. But they live in a posh area and drive a nice car, so they look rich.
I like how methodically he addresses his own pre-conceptions. Analyzing what you know about a topic and why you believe what you do believe when encountering opposing information is a modest and wise approach.
Who 'fought so hard' to keep this secret? I guess US establishment and agencies.
Who 'refined and commercialized' it? A British company.
Your post reads like China, Iran, Serbia and the Sinaloa cartel are conspiring against US democracy. The likely truth is the US establishment and a British company have devised and are using tech to manipulate elections at home and abroad and they tried to keep that secret.
That makes this post sound like propaganda to me - whether freshly created or just re-produced. Tell me how I'm wrong.
For the record, it's a joke not life advice lol
LLMs strenghts and weaknesses - by Courtland of Indie Hackers:
https://storage.googleapis.com/indie-hackers.appspot.com/info-products/LLMs%20Good%20vs%20Bad.pdf
If you have urgent work, leave it for tomorrow. If it really is urgent, someone else will do it. If nobody does it, then it wasn't urgent in the first place 😁
If anything, tariffs may reduce inflation.
US is in the unique in the world position to be able to issue any amount of fiat and get real goods and services for it. That is a huge advantage. The downside is it needs to keep 'printing' which causes inflation; that inflation however impacts everyone else more than it does the US.
I am happy with the tariffs as long as the trade war doesn't turn into a hot war. It does make the world fairer, just not in the way Trump intends.