I met Virgil at an academic workshop back in 2014. We went out in Amsterdam. He was a weird guy, to say the least (he’d probably be the first to agree). He was generally quite affable and obviously highly intelligent. He’s an idiot for this fiasco. But it’s also sad to see him in jail; I don’t see how this benefits society in any way. Five years in prison seems like a disproportionate punishment for an arguably victi…
US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
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Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#392Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#393What if he did the exact same presentation in youtube, and in NK they saw that presentation? What if someone in NK downloaded the open source implementation of that blockchain, participated on it, or even mined quite a few coins? Could be argued the same about any open source program (and their developers) dealing with encrypted information in any way? What was the problem? Going in person? Answering questions in the…
The precedent here is that if you deliberately and clearly help a sanctioned company against the laws of your own nation, you will suffer the consequences.
There's nothing here about the random other ways of passively sharing information. It isn't a crime to have posted a video on youtube that gets watched in North Korea. Its obviously a crime to physically go to North Korea and intentionally teach them how to evade sanctions.
What about that is related to the precedent you're talking about? You can't compare apples to oranges and call the apple orange.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#394Unless NK operatives are totally ineffective when it comes to searching the internet, I have a hard time figuring out how he helped them do something they would have no trouble figuring out for themselves.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#395This is wrong on so many levels. The U.S. doesn't get to decide who gets to use blockchain, or whatever technology.
The U.S. did not decide who gets to use it. The U.S. punished a U.S. citizen for violating national law. That's very different from deciding who gets to use a technology.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#396Not surprised: it seems a common theme with crypto evangelists is the application of the blockchain to avoid sanctions. I don't think its deeply ideological (as in anti-America/Pro-NK) - it's more like they view US financial hegemony as a "competitor" to blockchain technology and a hinderance to global cryptocurrency adoption. Why he would throw his life away like this seems silly. I don't see the point in taking pay…
It's the ultimate place any honest monetary cipherpunk ends up at. Either you have government controlled financial systems, or you have decentralized financial systems. Getting to any middleground is pretty tortured, both technically and morally. Sort of like "Strong encryption permits a world in which child pornography cannot be tracked" with respect to encryption. It's ugly, but true. (Said as someone who doesn't c…
Sure, but you don't have to go to a child predator conference to advice professional child abusers on how to avoid being tracked.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#397why people mess with the government, I do not know pay your damn taxes! And don't defect sanctioned research to unfriendly enemy states!
It seems like such a low bar! "Don't break federal law by expressly teaching sanctioned nations how to bypass YOUR OWN COUNTRY'S rules" seems like table stakes on passable intelligence.
I cannot believe how many people in these comments are defending this guy.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#398It's really astounding the lengths people will go to in order to rationalize their dealings with tyrannical regimes, but yea North Korea is obviously also bad.
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#399I would love to hear from Mr Griffith's perspective on this. 5 years in prison is a BFD. I wonder how the arrest went down, why he took a plea, what the details of his presentation were, so many things.
Literally from the article:
> “I’ve learned my lesson,” Griffith said. “I am still profoundly embarrassed that I am here, and of what I have done.”
Re: US sentences crypto expert to 5 years after North Korea blockchain presentation
#400He should be in jail for longer. What a traitor.
Imagine knowing literally anything about north Korea and wanting to help that government. He should be put away for life for aiding crimes against humanity.
Sanctions have achieved nothing but isolate North Korea, ruin the lives of generations of innocent people and entrench an authoritarian ruling class. Sanctions are a crime against humanity.