While not the main use of bank secrecy, I find it interesting that people rarely mention the benefit that bank secrecy provides those living in countries that are on the brink of civil war, that are not goverend by rule of law, or where fleeing is a real possibility in the near future...i.e. the assumption is usually that the governments seeking information on their citizens are the "good guys"
The Bank Robber
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Re: The Bank Robber
#12While not the main use of bank secrecy, I find it interesting that people rarely mention the benefit that bank secrecy provides those living in countries that are on the brink of civil war, that are not goverend by rule of law, or where fleeing is a real possibility in the near future...i.e. the assumption is usually that the governments seeking information on their citizens are the "good guys"
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Re: The Bank Robber
#13What a gong show... Falciani aside, we have big banks fully implicated in high street robbery while suffering next to no damage (insignificant fines/settlements, no arrests) on one side, and on the other side we have government actors acting like cheap, incoherent buffoons, claiming one thing and doing another, participating in international diplomatic displays worthy of kindergarten. Not that any of this is new, but…
What's the origin of the term "gong show" as you use it? I'm curious because the host of the Gong Show as mentioned in the article, and apparently liked to create fanciful stories.....
Re: The Bank Robber
#14It's interesting to combine the reaction in the comments here with the usual HN comment consensus on privacy. So, usually, it goes like this: privacy is good, government has no business snooping around, and Bitcoin-like solutions for financial privacy are the future of resisting "the system". But in this case, consensus is different: privacy is bad, governments of the world need to know financial information of indiv…
The 2015 UBS Future of Finance Challenge, so to speak, leaves you with the convenient impression that the investment bank is fighting becoming obsolete due to technological innovation; until it becomes this accessibly clear that the grand objective is understanding how the Bitcoin machinery works for example to improve the techniques of banking secrecy.
Re: The Bank Robber
#15It's interesting to combine the reaction in the comments here with the usual HN comment consensus on privacy. So, usually, it goes like this: privacy is good, government has no business snooping around, and Bitcoin-like solutions for financial privacy are the future of resisting "the system". But in this case, consensus is different: privacy is bad, governments of the world need to know financial information of indiv…
In the former, a small closed source centralized authority has all the information and power. In the latter, everyone has the information, so the balance of power is evened.
I agree. It might be impossible to effectively govern ourselves when adhering to strict idealogical principles.
In other words, individual right to privacy may be generally a good principle that we may agree to, but society is too complicated to not resort to pragmatism and there will always be exceptions. Is it not the same with every other idealogical principle by which we govern ourselves?