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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

#81

Post by bequanna »

dnh44 wrote: post #4
chovybizzass wrote: post #2

> 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. wow. that's all huh? just a talk

Yeah it seems ridiculous doesn't it. Getting thrown in jail for giving a talk doesn't seem like something that should happen anywhere that considers itself as free. It's outrageous really.

The line has to be drawn somewhere and I don’t believe anyone is so naive as to believe this was “just a talk”.

Would you allow a “talk” instructing North Koreans on how to better leverage ransomware to extort money from municipalities?

Save the fake outrage for a real injustice, because there are plenty of those.

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

#82

Post by dnautics »

legutierr wrote: post #66
chrisco255 wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

We live in a country that has the rule of law, you can't just arbitrarily use a vague characterization of a country being "hostile" to abridge the rights of someone. I would be alright with this if the us had a formal declaration of war with north Korea, but it doesn't.

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

#83

Post by dnautics »

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…

"hostile" is too vague. The us is not supposed to be just "any government on earth" In order to arbitrarily declare someone to have transgressed post facto, there had better be a declared state of war. Otherwise, the government should enumerate exactly what can and can't be said in the laws, and some fed tapping you on the shoulder and saying "don't do that" should not carry water unless that fed points to the specific provision of the law preventing it. Especially when the action is just presenting freely available information. Otherwise anyone who has made a freely available YouTube video on the Blockchain should ALSO have charges levied against them, starting with Grant Sanderson (who I love, btw).

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

#84

Post by dnautics »

darkhorse13 wrote: post #79
arcturus17 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Do you realize I was replying to your comment where you called it a "degenerate regime that has killed millions"?

I'm not sure the us death count in the middle east has quite hit millions yet.... High hundreds of thousands, maybe.

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

#85

Post by coolspot »

donclark wrote: post #76

Anyone know if there is a link to the presentation/documentation he shared with North Korea?

It’s just three slides:

1) mine Ethereum

2) buy nuclear materials/secrets with ETH abroad circumventing sanctions

3) nuke US

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

#86

Post by leereeves »

dnautics wrote: post #82
legutierr wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

We live in a country that has the rule of law, you can't just arbitrarily use a vague characterization of a country being "hostile" to abridge the rights of someone. I would be alright with this if the us had a formal declaration of war with north Korea, but it doesn't.

The US hasn't formally declared war on anyone since World War 2. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, nor any of the many smaller conflicts we've fought.

However, the United Nations did declare war on North Korea, with US support, and the US is the major participant in that war; and no peace treaty was ever signed, merely a cease fire.

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

#87

Post by BobbyJo »

dnautics wrote: post #82
legutierr wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

We live in a country that has the rule of law, you can't just arbitrarily use a vague characterization of a country being "hostile" to abridge the rights of someone. I would be alright with this if the us had a formal declaration of war with north Korea, but it doesn't.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, the US is technically still at war with North Korea. If there were to be one and only one country on the face of the planet that you should not be giving any kind of information or money to as a US citizen, it is North Korea.

This isn't vague or arbitrary. The sanctions against NK are very specific, and lengthy.

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

#89

Post by dnautics »

BobbyJo wrote: post #87
dnautics wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We live in a country that has the rule of law, you can't just arbitrarily use a vague characterization of a country being "hostile" to abridge the rights of someone. I would be alright with this if the us had a formal declaration of war with north Korea, but it doesn't.

As mentioned earlier in the thread, the US is technically still at war with North Korea. If there were to be one and only one country on the face of the planet that you should not be giving any kind of information or money to as a US citizen, it is North Korea. This isn't vague or arbitrary. The sanctions against NK are very specific, and lengthy.

> US is technically still at war with North Korea

No we are not. The constitution specifically says that only congress can declare war, and congress has made no such declaration.

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

#90

Post by dnautics »

leereeves wrote: post #86
dnautics wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We live in a country that has the rule of law, you can't just arbitrarily use a vague characterization of a country being "hostile" to abridge the rights of someone. I would be alright with this if the us had a formal declaration of war with north Korea, but it doesn't.

The US hasn't formally declared war on anyone since World War 2. Not Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, nor any of the many smaller conflicts we've fought. However, the United Nations did declare war on North Korea, with US support, and the US is the major participant in that war; and no peace treaty was ever signed, merely a cease fire.

that's exactly correct. If we're going to start abridging freedoms (which I concede may be necessary in exigencies), we'd better get a congressional vote on it.
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