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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

#61

Post by chrisco255 »

legutierr wrote: post #57
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.

North Korea is building nuclear weapons in order to threaten the United States and its allies with them. Tens of thousands of American soldiers are stationed in South Korea in order to defend it from North Korean aggression. The war between the US and North Korea—which began 70 years ago when the current dictator’s grandfather invaded the South and declared war on the United States—is technically not over, and the po…

In 2019 our own President went there to discuss peace. Dennis Rodman and many other Americans have visited NK at various times. I don't think it's moral to arrest someone for speaking about publicly available information. There's nothing Virgil could have told them that they couldn't find on GitHub or YouTube. And yes, Kim's lackeys definitely have access to the internet.

Sanctions seem to work for nothing. NK got nukes anyways. The middle east is still a mess. Iran is still a problem 50 years later. Cuba still a mess. China is arguably our biggest threat but no sanctions there. Russia has diversified itself away from the Petrodollar as much as possible for these reasons. This US Dollar empire is on its last legs. The US isn't 25% of global GDP anymore. None of this is sustainable.

At any rate, I'm sure Kim's hackers are incapable of learning cryptocurrency from any one of thousands of online resources. Crisis averted. Lock him up.

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

#62

Post by intev »

0x008 wrote: post #59
legutierr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North Korea is building nuclear weapons in order to threaten the United States and its allies with them. Tens of thousands of American soldiers are stationed in South Korea in order to defend it from North Korean aggression. The war between the US and North Korea—which began 70 years ago when the current dictator’s grandfather invaded the South and declared war on the United States—is technically not over, and the po…

I am sorry but to me the wording of your comment seems way too political and biased-sounding for hacker news.

I'm sorry, but what? Their comment to me reads like an objective statement of facts. They don't lean one way or another, or even say if they agrees with it or not. You can't even do that on HN?

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

#63

Post by [deleted] »

0x008 wrote: post #59
legutierr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North Korea is building nuclear weapons in order to threaten the United States and its allies with them. Tens of thousands of American soldiers are stationed in South Korea in order to defend it from North Korean aggression. The war between the US and North Korea—which began 70 years ago when the current dictator’s grandfather invaded the South and declared war on the United States—is technically not over, and the po…

I am sorry but to me the wording of your comment seems way too political and biased-sounding for hacker news.

[deleted]

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

#64

Post by chrisco255 »

mytherin wrote: post #60
h_anna_h wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Information is power. Sharing critical information with a hostile nation can be incredibly dangerous and can lead to many people being killed. Labeling that as "just giving a talk" is misleading. Any government on earth will arrest people that share critical information with a hostile nation. If doing so makes a government totalitarian then every government on earth is totalitarian, which simply means the totalitaria…

There is nothing critical about open source software. There's teens shilling how to use crypto on TikTok. We use it to breed virtual cats and buy expensive jpegs. You think Kim's hackers don't have access to YouTube? You think they didn't start mining Bitcoin 9 years ago? It's not that critical.

This is over the top and unjustified.

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

#65

Post by [deleted] »

hypervisorxxx wrote: post #44
Bayart wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

[deleted]

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

#66

Post by legutierr »

chrisco255 wrote: post #61
legutierr wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

North Korea is building nuclear weapons in order to threaten the United States and its allies with them. Tens of thousands of American soldiers are stationed in South Korea in order to defend it from North Korean aggression. The war between the US and North Korea—which began 70 years ago when the current dictator’s grandfather invaded the South and declared war on the United States—is technically not over, and the po…

In 2019 our own President went there to discuss peace. Dennis Rodman and many other Americans have visited NK at various times. I don't think it's moral to arrest someone for speaking about publicly available information. There's nothing Virgil could have told them that they couldn't find on GitHub or YouTube. And yes, Kim's lackeys definitely have access to the internet. Sanctions seem to work for nothing. NK got nu…

Say what you will about the effectiveness of sanctions and the current state of American foreign policy, United States citizens shouldn’t undertake expressly illegal overt acts on enemy soil to assist hostile governments in undermining that foreign policy—regardless as to whether or not the information they share is already known by that hostile government—without at least expecting to attract unwanted attention from their own government.

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

#67

Post by vkou »

intev wrote: post #62
0x008 wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am sorry but to me the wording of your comment seems way too political and biased-sounding for hacker news.

I'm sorry, but what? Their comment to me reads like an objective statement of facts. They don't lean one way or another, or even say if they agrees with it or not. You can't even do that on HN?

Give me six facts about the most honest of men, and I'll have enough to hang them.

Which facts you include and exclude is quite relevant to your bias, politics, etc.

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

#68

Post by vishnugupta »

chrisco255 wrote: post #56
hypervisorxxx wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 point about the information being publicly available on the internet is that it's public information. Not that your average Joe in NK can access it. The regime most certainly does have internet access though, so pretending like this guy gave some top secret info worth locking him up for 20 years of his life for is ridiculous. Nevermind that in 2019 we were in active peace talks with North Korea and even Trump was…

> The point about the information being publicly available on the internet is that it's public information.

Modulo local government laws.

I am not disagreeing with your larger opinion but we have to be careful about “it’s on the internet hence anyone can access it” line of argument.

For instance Pornhub is blocked in India. So if someone were to access it from within India through VPN or whatnot then they are breaking a law and have to face the consequences.

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

#69

Post by intev »

vkou wrote: post #67
intev wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry, but what? Their comment to me reads like an objective statement of facts. They don't lean one way or another, or even say if they agrees with it or not. You can't even do that on HN?

Give me six facts about the most honest of men, and I'll have enough to hang them. Which facts you include and exclude is quite relevant to your bias, politics, etc.

This is a philosophical slippery slope. The next question is "what are facts?", or "who decides what's immoral?". I'm not interested in going down this because it's pointless.

Reading the original comment, what can construed as "too political" for HN? There wasn't any strong support or opposition.

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

#70

Post by senectus1 »

staticassertion wrote: post #40
I_am_tiberius wrote: post #29

Honestly I'm too scared of the US to post criticism now. It seems to become very random whether to be arrested there or not. I don't want to take that risk.

Yeah, same, what if I accidentally end up in North Korea giving a talk on money laundering? It could happen to anyone. I'm petrified.

I added 20 hours of flying to one of my work trips to ensure i DIDN'T enter US airspace.

I'm sure that there are plenty of nice people in the US, but that country as a whole is bug F#$% crazy in my mind. I felt safer in Argentina and Ecuador than the thought of going into the US.

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