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The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

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Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My thoughts on this are old school. Like 1700's old school. A person's right to vote exists with or without documentation. A piece of paper, an entry in a ledger, or a row in a database has no bearing on whether that right exists, or should be exercised. How do we ensure non-citizens aren’t voting? We accept many visitors - refugees, H1B, tourists, F1/I-20, etc. None are granted voting rights.

We make it a felony. "“She can own property; she can serve in the military; she can get a job; she can pay taxes. But she can’t vote, and she didn’t know that.”" https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/us/illegal-voting-gets-te...

In case it was not obvious: the vote is for adult U.S. citizens; not for permanent resident aliens, not for visitors, not for illegal aliens, not for children.

It is a tragedy that this was not made abundantly clear to this woman, assuming she truly believed that she was permitted to vote.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#92
post #27

reminds me of other reading from today. You can get a US National (healthcare) Provider Identifier (NPI) without any verification: > @Aetna @Cigna @UHC 27/ Medicare officials declined to be interviewed about Williams. But in a statement, they acknowledged that the agency doesn’t verify whether an NPI applicant is a medical provider or has a criminal history. https://twitter.com/marshall_allen/status/11522436149505761…

NPI: National (healthcare) Provider Identifier. https://www.asha.org/practice/reimbursement/hipaa/NPI/

thank you, I’ve update with the acronym meaning

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To the contrary: There were only four known cases of voter fraud in the 2016 elections[0]; more stringent voting requirements suppresses voting, especially by poor, black and/or Latinx voters.[1] It certainly seems the case that more damage has been done to society via corporations to which no human person can be associated than by voter fraud. [0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/0-... [1] h…

In [current year], arguably every US citizen should have some form of photo ID. It's pretty useful for a lot more than just voting. For example, more and more banks / financial institutions are using automated systems + a picture of your photo ID in order to confirm your identity when opening up a bank account, etc. Seems like we should focus on making sure poor/minorities have easy/free access to IDs, rather than ke…

Great, do that, then require an ID to vote. The other way around is taking away peoples' fundamental rights.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#94
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> My thoughts on this are old school. Like 1700's old school. A person's right to vote exists with or without documentation. A piece of paper, an entry in a ledger, or a row in a database has no bearing on whether that right exists, or should be exercised. How do we ensure non-citizens aren’t voting? We accept many visitors - refugees, H1B, tourists, F1/I-20, etc. None are granted voting rights.

If you’re physically in a jurisdiction, you are subject to its laws. Isn’t the supposed point of democracy to give people a voice in the government that rules over them?

Democracy is also an expression of self-determination of a people. Meaning they don't have to let anyone who visits their country sway their decisions.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#95
post #7

This varies extremely across various states and cities. If you live in new York city for example, to incoroerate an llc, you need to take out a section in a news paper to say you created an llc of name so and so, every day, for like a week, within a year (if I remember right) of your incorporation. Across three news papers too. If you go "OK fine, I will incorporate elsewhere, like Delaware", then NYC views you as a…

> If you do not do this then the enforcement mechanism is that when you get sued, then a court can take back the corporate veil perk of your llc (llc is void so it turns into a sole proprietorship I think) and go after your personal assets if you loose a lawsuit.

This is a common misconception.

In real life there is no actual penalty for not placing the ads. In the event you’re challenged on it, the deficiency could be remedied by immediately placing the ad, but that literally will never happen.

It is, in fact, a special interest giveaway to some local publications, but there’s no teeth to the law.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#96

Here's an example of what you need for a Delaware C-corp: https://www.incnow.com/delaware-corporation/ - Name of the corporation - Name and address of the Registered Agent of the corporation (usually a mail forwarding service) - Statement of the type of business that the corporation will engage in - Number of shares of authorized stock that the corporation will issue - Par value of each share - Name and signature of…

At first I thought, this makes no sense. Why would the Patriot Act care more about who's getting a library card than incorporating when the dirty money is obviously flowing through the entity? And then I realized, the government gets all of the ID information they need about the corporation the moment the entity needs to open a bank account. ID not just for the single corporator, but information about all of the offi…

For the FBI, CIA, NSA and local police to investigate terrorism and other crimes (also to conduct parallel construction and CIA/NSA/FBI feed no-warrant intelligence gathering under "national security" and "terrorism" banners).

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#97
The reasons for requesting robust identification for those filingbfor incorporation, dismissed by several comments here, are given in the first parafraph of the linked report:

In early April 2016 the largest cache of private documents in history were leaked to journalists and subsequently exposed the shadowy world of offshore tax fraud, money laundering and corruption that hides behind anonymous shell corporations. The documents, which included email, incorporation papers and other private communications, were from a little-known Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca and were released by the nternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists which had received them from a whistleblower. The ensuing scandal followed two others before it – Lux Leaks and Swiss Leaks which were related to bank-enabled tax evasion – but dwarfed them in the sheer amount of data involved.

https://secureservercdn.net/45.40.149.159/34n.8bd.myftpuploa...

The Securities Act of 1933, setting among the few national registration requirements in the USstates as its basis, following an episode of history in which such need was established:

To provide full and fair disclosure of the character of securities sold in interstate and foreign commerce and through the mails, and to prevent frauds in the sale thereof, and for other purposes.

http://legislink.org/us/pl-73-22

The history of Delaware incorporation law makes clear at numerous point obligations for good-faith dealings and power to pierce the legal fictions of incorporation:

It is well settled that a court of equity may disregard formalities and break through the shell of fictions in order to prevent, or undo fraud. ...

Directors of a corporation are trustees for the stockholders, and their acts are governed by the rules applicable to such a relation, which exact of them the utmost good faith and fair dealing, especially where their individual interests are concerned."

"A History of Delaware Corporation Law" http://www.djcl.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/A-History-of-...

(Though concern for general public trust is notably absent.)

See also KYC. (know your customer) laws in banking.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Know_your_customer

Note that incorporating is not necessary to run a business -- sole proprieterships and partnerships exist. Incorporation extends specific legal protections by the state in return for net social benefit. In theory.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#98
> To obtain a library card in any state in the U.S., the applicant must be the person who will ultimately be controlling/using the card, and a significant amount of identifying information must be provided by the person to the state in order to obtain the library card.

This is nonsesne, or at least was here in Sunnyvale California. I walked in with a phone bill. No ID, nothing else. In hindsight it probably could have been anyone's bill, or even a fake.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#99
post #4

I don't see any particular reason why the identification process for a corporation should be more stringent than a library card. What is astonishing to me is that both are meaningfully more stringent than voting. In Minnesota for example, all one needs is another registered voter to vouch for them. https://www.sos.state.mn.us/elections-voting/register-to-vot...

In Minnesota for example, all one needs is another registered voter to vouch for them. My thoughts on this are old school. Like 1700's old school. A person's right to vote exists with or without documentation. A piece of paper, an entry in a ledger, or a row in a database has no bearing on whether that right exists, or should be exercised. In many of the states where I've lived (13 so far), all that was needed to vot…

Hopefully we get self driving cars you don't need a license for ASAP, so the expectation of every adult constantly carrying around an ID decreases.

Re: The Library Card Project: The Ease of Forming Anonymous Companies in the U.S.

#100
post #71
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not unusual among modern democracies for voters to provide proof of identity. We’re (and the UK?) the outliers in that, so no, I think it’s unrelated to authoritarianism. It’s got more to do with ensuring integrity of votes. India, Mexico, Argentina, Germany, Taiwan, Brazil, Iceland, Costa Rica, etc, require it. Among Americans all major demographics show majority support for voter ID reqs.

Australia doesn’t require voter ID either. Voter ID is a vehicle for voter suppression (and generally called for by the politically conservative).

In Australia you simply attest that you are eligible to vote, repeat your name and address as per the electoral roll, and you're good to go — ballot in one hand, sausage sizzle in the other. You don't even have to demount from your skippy.

I've never heard anybody suggest that an election outcome has been affected by any part of this. And we vote on paper too, no computer fuckups.

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