I think it really comes down to their technical competency and willingness to learn.
Bitkey has a great UX for newcomers, but isn’t ideal when it comes to UTxO management. They have some pretty compelling recovery features also, and don’t require a seed phrase. However, there may be privacy implications depending on Block’s infrastructure setup.
Coldcard or Passport offer a more traditional experience, but definitely require a steeper learning curve.
This boy SAVED the INTERNET… but couldn't save himself.
10 years ago, he was persecuted by his government, and ultimately paid with his life.
Aaron Swartz is a modern hero that most people DO NOT KNOW.
But they should.
Aaron was creative, focused, and brilliant.
At 14, he invented RSS; He dropped out of Stanford; At 19, he was in the first Y Combinator class; He co-founded Reddit.
Most likely, if he were alive today, he would be involved with #Bitcoin.
But that’s not EVEN 1% of what he did for us 🙏
Let’s take a look 👇
From a young age, Aaron believed in an OPEN INTERNET. In computers as a tool for LIBERATION.
"But wait, wasn’t the internet always open?"
No.
Believe it or not, there was a time when they wanted you to REGISTER your ID before you could browse or send an email.
He believed that PUBLIC LEGAL RECORDS and SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH should be accessible to everyone.
But in the U.S.,
• 98% of scientific articles are behind paywalls; and
• ~80% of legal records are too.
Imagine being sued and still having to pay to view the documents?
https://video.nostr.build/2af872c7a7d1b74ce0fb8d42369a87df45a7ee2d23df006d287b58ac60fcfe26.mp4
Aaron's war had 3 major battles.
The first was against PACER.
A legal records database.
PACER is PAID... but it was "free" in 17 public libraries.
With friends, Aaron wrote a script on a USB drive, plugged it into a USB port, downloaded 2.7 million documents... and SET THEM FREE.
https://video.nostr.build/21b565dd1742bc950748be2ac0e0ce2868f4b94c54d1da9321a198c49fe85d1e.mp4
No charges were made against the group.
But the FBI began to take notice.
That had only been the beginning. That boy would still challenge the system.
The following year, Aaron would enter the biggest fight of his life — and the greatest battle in internet history against censorship ✊
"SOPA/PIPA" 👉 if you're over 20, you probably still remember these acronyms.
A bill to "combat piracy"... which was just an excuse for the government to shut down ANY SITE, without warning.
Some companies loved the idea.
But those who loved the internet fought back.
And then, something wonderful happened.
We still knew how to fight against online censorship.
In a coordinated response, the biggest websites on the internet "went on STRIKE."
Wikipedia and Reddit went offline. Google turned black.
Protests also erupted in the STREETS.
But...
... but people have short memories.
This battle was won.
However, the NEXT one would be the LAST for young Aaron.
This MIT security camera was the final straw that ruined his life 👇📹
JSTOR was Swartz's final target: the largest database of academic papers in the world.
Aaron wrote a script to download MILLIONS of papers, over the course of months, using his MIT access, in a small room.
MIT has a rebellious culture.
But the FBI could no longer tolerate the boy's defiance.
With the video evidence, the U.S. prosecution charged Aaron with 13 crimes. Up to 50 years in prison.
In January 2011, he was arrested by undercover agents near the Harvard campus.
From then on, he was legally tortured.
Two years later, he would be found dead at home.
"Aaron would be 38 years old today.
He was accused of 'pirating' scientific papers funded with public money.
Facing up to 50 years in prison, he took his own life.
Those he inspired continue to democratize access to science.
Let us remember him."
*These are the words of Susan, his mother.
After his death, the charges were dropped by the government.
Aaron never considered entering a 'plea deal'. He would have faced millions of dollars in legal costs.
The father of the internet, Tim Berners-Lee, published a short poem at the time that says it all:
“The world was a little worse for his passing,
But a lot better for his being.”
Aaron wasn’t a unanimous figure. You may disagree with his methods.
But he was faithful to his ideal.
He was genuine. Firm in what he believed.
He was a person who used his prodigious skills not to enrich himself, but to make the internet fairer, and the world a better place.
Aaron had worked with Virgil Griffith (former Ethereum, now imprisoned for "teaching about crypto" to North Koreans).
He knew Elizabeth Stark (from Lightning).
He was friends with Zooko.
And he wrote about #Bitcoin — on the DAY he was arrested (1/6/11)! 😢
http://www.aaronsw.com/weblog/squarezooko
Curious? To learn more about the story, start with this documentary (on YouTube) 👇
[https://youtu.be/9vz06QO3UkQ](https://youtu.be/9vz06QO3UkQ)
We’ll finish with an excerpt from the "Manifesto for Free Access," by Aaron himself:
"Information is power. But, like all power, there are those who want to keep it for themselves. There is no justice in following unjust laws. It’s time to come to the light, and, in the tradition of civil disobedience, declare our opposition to the private theft of public culture.
We must take information, wherever it is, make our copies, and share them with the world."
RIP, Aaron ✊
That’s PoW 💪🏻
What’s next? Network+, Security+ or Linux+ ?
Fk yeah man!
How were the exams?
It must have been a lot of content?
This is not the path to a global Bitcoin standard.
I've released the Ministry of Nodes Bitcoin Nodebox video tutorial series for 2024.
The playlist can be found here:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCRbH-IWlcW0g0HCrtI06_ZdVVolUWr39
If you'd like to purchase a prebuilt node, they are available at shop.ministryofnodes.com
🤙🏻
Probs my favourite book. Recommend the entire Sprawl Trilogy, Snow Crash and Daemon.
Yea ok whatever Obama...it's not 2017... Politicians acting like they just realized this are simply leading the narrative of ignorance to what freedom truly looks like to people...bro is analogizing Bitcoin mobile wallets to a swiss bank account.... like GTFOH man Swiss accounts are not safe either 😅
https://video.nostr.build/eaeecb91d653fb2d2009cc3cbada1fd241915effbe5b60581c197ec9b2dea87a.mp4
I wouldn’t store my Bitcoin with a Swiss bank!
Nostr is for paranoid crypto analysts…
and legends 🤙🏻
This is awesome man!
Hopefully one day I can buy some land. Already have plans for a modern earth ship, rainwater harvesting, swales, and solar.
Permaculture must be one of the most rewarding, low time preference endeavours. 🌿🌱
So far, US regulators have:
1. Created hostile tax accounting requirements for individuals, which deter Bitcoin’s use as peer to peer electronic cash.
2. Collapsed financial institutions, such as Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, who provided banking services to exchanges.
3. Approved ETFs, providing institutional access to paper Bitcoin.
4. Approved shitcoin ETFs which distract the uninformed.
If I were orchestrating a coordinated effort to defend US dollar hegemony, and co-opt the Bitcoin network, I would likely:
5. Increase Capital Gains Tax (CGT) for spot Bitcoin holders.
6. Encourage paper Bitcoin exposure and derivatives, such as MSTR, COIN, MARA et al.
Is it just me, or is this starting to look like Operation Choke Point 3.0?
Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.
France is not a member and intentionally pursues a different doctrine to the 5 eyes and US.
If anything, this probably has more to do with Israel or former French colonies in the Sahel.
That sucks. Nostr is better than the outrage algorithms used by other platforms, but search and content discovery is still lacking.
I read your article on Digital Minimalism and thought it was great. I think some content like that would be well received on Nostr.
Also noticed you’re using Arch. You tried NixOS?
man, i played Morrowind for like 3 years straight haha
such a good game!