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Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

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Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#41

Post by mytherin »

chrisco255 wrote: post #3

"Griffith was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in November 2019 after he travelled to North Korea to give a talk on blockchain and crypto." This is pretty wild to me. The guy gave a talk in North Korea and gave them non-classified information they could easily find on YouTube or any other public website. And now he's facing 20 years.

Just because information is publicly available does not mean they know how to best utilise that information. You can find guides online on how atomic bombs work, but if a physicist traveled to North Korea and gave a talk instructing them how to build an atomic bomb that person should absolutely be arrested.

  The Ethereum Foundation dev was arrested over a year ago after US authorities claimed then-36-year-old’s conference presentation contained info that North Korea could leverage to launder money and skirt sanctions.

  Griffith was denied permission to travel to North Korea by the State Department but decided to attend the DPRK Cryptocurrency Conference anyway.

  North Korea is reportedly keen to find ways to get around sanctions imposed by what it regards as a US-led financial system.
He gave a talk that instructed NK how to use cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions imposed by the US government, after the US government explicitly forbade him from giving that talk.

Very hard to feel sympathy for the guy.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#42

Post by Traster »

I can't actually beleive people in this thread are downplaying someone travelling to North Korea to explain to them how to evade economic sancations. This is literally confirming all the worst things people say about crypto-currencies. What's happening in North Korea isn't a joke, we have sanctions for a reason.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#43

Post by mdoms »

chrisco255 wrote: post #3

"Griffith was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in November 2019 after he travelled to North Korea to give a talk on blockchain and crypto." This is pretty wild to me. The guy gave a talk in North Korea and gave them non-classified information they could easily find on YouTube or any other public website. And now he's facing 20 years.

He was expressly told by very serious people not to do it. He knew the consequences.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#44

Post by hypervisorxxx »

Bayart wrote: post #22
arcturus17 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wild to me is that someone would think that it’s a good idea to give talks about anything in North Korea, a regime that has murdered and starved millions of people. Also, the people of North Korea do not have access to the internet or Youtube as far as I know.

People who need access to the internet do have it. I think they route through China.

People who "need access" doesn't everyone brainwashed by an authoritarian dictator need access to the internet to help themselves escape?

Not everyone who needs access has access. A select few who are at the mercy of the dictator do to do his work.

Some people have been known to try to sneak across the border and meet Chinese people in the woods to exchange goods.

Some people send balloons with notes from the outside world over the border to reach people inside.

Perhaps a select few have some garnered enough information about how to use the internet without getting caught they are willing to risk being murdered to do so if they find something dire enough using the internet for but to say people who "need" the internet fire up wiregaurd and call it a day before watching their daily stream of YouTube influencers is an understatement to say the least...

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#45

Post by nix23 »

arcturus17 wrote: post #31
antocv wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about the US, UK or NK?

Badum tss! What a clever retort! The lack of empathy towards the North Korean people and the burden their regime imposes on them is absolute.

The problem is, do you think it helps the NK people when you make an embargo? The government gets his caviar and plasma tv's anyway, AND the gorverment has a good/true point that the rest of the world is evil.

Embargoes just don't work in such a closed down country.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#46

Post by OscarCunningham »

hypervisorxxx wrote: post #27
chrisco255 wrote: post #3

"Griffith was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in November 2019 after he travelled to North Korea to give a talk on blockchain and crypto." This is pretty wild to me. The guy gave a talk in North Korea and gave them non-classified information they could easily find on YouTube or any other public website. And now he's facing 20 years.

Oh no... How do I tell you this? People in North Korea don't have access to YouTube and the internet. Are you aware of what life is like for the people of North Korea? Only a few select businessmen working for leaders of North Korea are ever allowed to leave and they usually travel to china for unknown business. Giving a talk like this in North Korea is like teaching businessmen how to engage in moving criminal/ terr…

The fact that he was allowed to give the talk indicates that the North Korean government was happy for these people to know this information. So they also would have been fine with giving the same people the same information from the internet.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#47

Post by h_anna_h »

arcturus17 wrote: post #32
darkhorse13 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you realize that people in the Middle East could literally say the same thing about USA?

They can say that the US systematically silences, murders and imposes totalitarian dread on its own people?

I can certainly say that it is a "degenerate regime that has killed millions".

As for your new question, I would argue that yes, this fits the US.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#48

Post by antonzabirko »

arcturus17 wrote: post #12
chrisco255 wrote: post #3

"Griffith was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in November 2019 after he travelled to North Korea to give a talk on blockchain and crypto." This is pretty wild to me. The guy gave a talk in North Korea and gave them non-classified information they could easily find on YouTube or any other public website. And now he's facing 20 years.

What’s wild to me is that someone would think that it’s a good idea to give talks about anything in North Korea, a regime that has murdered and starved millions of people. Also, the people of North Korea do not have access to the internet or Youtube as far as I know.

Sorry how is that regime any different from the US?

No idea what he had to gain by travelling to north korea, but more power to him. If it's public info then yeah this is a sham considering that the international financial system is a cartel.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#49

Post by h_anna_h »

jamespo wrote: post #23
antocv wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about the US, UK or NK?

Yes they are all the same, very edgy

They are indeed not the same. After all NK does not regularly drone-strike civilians in the middle east.

Re: Ethereum dev Virgil Griffith back in jail after checking $1M Coinbase account

#50

Post by h_anna_h »

mytherin wrote: post #41
chrisco255 wrote: post #3

"Griffith was arrested and charged with conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) in November 2019 after he travelled to North Korea to give a talk on blockchain and crypto." This is pretty wild to me. The guy gave a talk in North Korea and gave them non-classified information they could easily find on YouTube or any other public website. And now he's facing 20 years.

Just because information is publicly available does not mean they know how to best utilise that information. You can find guides online on how atomic bombs work, but if a physicist traveled to North Korea and gave a talk instructing them how to build an atomic bomb that person should absolutely be arrested. The Ethereum Foundation dev was arrested over a year ago after US authorities claimed then-36-year-old’s confer…

The US government forbidding a citizen from giving a talk sounds quite totalitarian to me. Looks like the constitution of the US is not worth any more than the paper that it is written on.
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