πSay hello to Privacy Index: a guide of guides for all things digital privacy.π
I started working on Privacy Index in the beginning of the year because I was frustrated by the one-fits-all solutions I was being sold by other privacy projects.
Privacy Index is the opposite: it's a resource for resources, so you can choose what tips, tools and tricks best fit your needs.
I would love for this project to grow and encompass all content others have found helpful on their own privacy journey β be it stories that inspired you, books that you read, tools that you use, or guides you found helpful β some of my favorite additions are highlighted below.
Privacy Index is by no means complete. But it's free and open source, so anyone can contribute on github. And the more people contribute, the better it will get π
s/o to @HRF
for funding this work π€
Big shout out to the person who donated 1.7M sats to The Rage β donations like these are what make this work possible π©·
Support independent journalism via our Geyser Fund so we can keep reporting on financial surveillance for you:
Good morning! Lots of talk yesterday about the German government's new security package enabling mass biometric surveillance & suspicionless searches.
But the proposed law also drastically expands the surveillance of bank accounts.
According to the proposed law, banks are to be alleviated of the suspension of accounts under investigation for AML/CTF violations, enabling the prolonged and undetected surveillance of bank accounts via the German federal police.
In 2023, the German FIU received 337,000 suspicious transaction reports, of which roughly 63,000 had little or nothing to do with AML/CTF violations.
Under the proposed law, close to 20% of accounts under investigation for AML/CTF violations would be subject to increased and unjust spying on their financial activities through police.
Full Story:
https://www.therage.co/german-government-plans-expansion-of-bank-account-surveillance/
GM, the German Government just flat out lied denying the use of chain analysis software.
In an answer to a inquiry made by MPs, the German Government denied the use of chain analysis software for asset seizures β but procurement records show contracts with Chainalysis for German federal agencies, which directly advertises its software for the use of asset seizures.
Questions on the use of mixers to conceal criminal activity were classified as secret citing risks to national security, while the Government responded that the German FIU and customs had received merely 27,000 reports regarding crytocurrency transactions on suspicion of money laundering between 2020-2024, compared to over 280,000 suspicious transaction reports overall in the year 2020 alone.
Full story:
Four weeks ago, I sent the UK National Crime Agency a Freedom of Information Request to disclose the data used to deem crypto & E2EE a risk to national security. The request remains unanswered to this day.
Today I'm teaming up with Freddie New and Bitcoin Policy UK
to remind the NCA of the law. Governments must be held accountable for their actions.
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To be honest, maybe you should do some due diligence before running your mouth on social media.
Geyser is fully self-custodial. With governments going as far as attempting to criminalize the building of UIs (see Tornado Cash), this is not a question of self custody. Any project building software to interface with the Bitcoin network utilized to send money where governments don't want to see it is at risk.
First they came for Bitcoin projects funding aid in Palestine, and I did not speak out, because I was not Palestinian.
Geyser Fund has shut down the crowdfunding project Bitcoin for Palestine, citing regulatory uncertainty.
Let this be your reminder that you cannot code faster than the state can invoke arbitrary penalties. Permissionless money is under massive threat by the global AML regime. It's time to wake up.
Full story:
BREAKING: Judge Richard M. Berman has denied a motion by Keonne Rodriguez to remove home detention as a condition of his bail ahead of his trial.
Government prosecutors presented the court with documents retrieved from Rodriguez' home detailing plans to flee the U.S. - though defense counsel pointed out that the document did not specify that the plans were meant to be enacted in response to law enforcement.
Theres no stream for the hearing but well try to update here asap
On the way to court to cover the Samourai Wallet hearing starting at 1pm EST with David Z Morris. Watch this space for possible updates and a full report π
According to the US Government, all three of these services have violated sanctions law. One was just kindly asked to revise its AML program. The founders of the other are facing tens of years in prison. Spot the difference.
GM, the OCC has issued an enforcement action against Wells Fargo Bank for AML violations β no fines imposed.
When banks fail to implement efficient AML programs, they get a slap on the wrist β but when developers fail to implement efficient AML programs, they get charged as criminals. Let this be your reminder that there's one set of rules for them, and another set of rules for us.
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A Kraken spokesperson has issued a correction of statements made by Kraken Support attributing the halting of Lightning Network support for German clients to regulatory changes. Updated story π
Kraken Germany removed support for the Lightning Network due to "new regulations that came into effect on September 10th".
The only problem: German banking authority BaFin says it doesn't know anything about new regulations taking effect on that day.
Full story:
On Sept 11th 1973, the democratically elected president of Chile Salvador Allende was overthrown in a CIA back coup to install Augusto Pinochet's military regime that would go on to kill, torture, and imprison tens of thousands of opposition members β including the musician Victor Jara, who was rounded up in a soccer stadium and killed by 44 bullets in one of many of Pinochet's extrajudicial executions.
If the world was a just place, the US would be on every terrorist list that exists on earth. RIP Victor Jara
Let's also remember that the US has killed 124 times more US Americans since 9/11 than the 'most significant' terrorist attack on earth with an average of 44 (!) veteran suicides PER DAY. πΊπ²
Curious that just when Monero announces a PR for FCMP++ Chainalysis leaks a video claiming to be able to trace XMR. Coincidence? I think not