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Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

anonfriendly.com

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Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#161

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Canada wrote: post #153
coderintherye wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the U.S. at least, you are still legally required to report the legal identity of any contractor to the IRS and must ask them to fill out an I-9 form: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/complete-and-correct-form-... Any contractor making >= $600 have to fill the payment and they receive a 1099. There are very few exceptions to that and they are listed in the article.

How ridiculous is this? Do you really have a right to free association if you have to file a report if you pay someone $600 to do something for you?

> Do you really have a right to free association if you have to file a report if you pay someone $600 to do something for you?

Yes, you do.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#163

Post by phailhaus »

A common refrain is that "crypto is speedrunning the history of finance." I think this is destined for the same outcome: we're going to hear stories coming out of pseudonymous work that remind us why the rules are in place today.

For example: can't file lawsuits against your employer for labor violations if you're trying to stay anonymous! So they really don't have a great incentive to treat you well.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#164

Post by gnulinux »

0xPersona wrote: post #72
morley wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember reading in the last year about one of the crypto companies that hired an anonymous employee. (Maybe it was the Zcash Foundation? I can't for the life of me find the article about what they did.) Basically, they kept as low as possible the number of people who knew their real identity. That person or persons would verify employment and file the appropriate paperwork.

Yes! And I think that's an important point to consider. Personally I think of "anon friendly" as existing on a spectrum. Organizations offer various degrees of it. Some "anon friendly lite" organizations will allow you to work pseudonymously, the entire organization doesn't need to know your legal identity, but certain personnel (like execs/HR) will. On the other end of the spectrum are organizations that offer "full…

> On the other end of the spectrum are organizations that offer "full anon friendly" where they don't request any information about your legal identity.

I don't think that'd be legal in the US. Employer has to at least verify that the person is allowed to work in the US (i.e. a citizen, permanent resident, or a legal alien with some work visa) which requires revealing employee's true identity to HR. Or do you think there is a way to perform this (and other tax regulations) without HR knowing the identity of the person?

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#165

Post by vel0city »

Canada wrote: post #153
coderintherye wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the U.S. at least, you are still legally required to report the legal identity of any contractor to the IRS and must ask them to fill out an I-9 form: https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/complete-and-correct-form-... Any contractor making >= $600 have to fill the payment and they receive a 1099. There are very few exceptions to that and they are listed in the article.

How ridiculous is this? Do you really have a right to free association if you have to file a report if you pay someone $600 to do something for you?

I have a lot of people I associate with that I've never paid >$600 to do labor for me.

Being able to associate != hiring someone for a job

If you need to pay your friends >$600 to hang out with you, you should probably re-evaluate your life.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#166

Post by Canada »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #161
Canada wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How ridiculous is this? Do you really have a right to free association if you have to file a report if you pay someone $600 to do something for you?

> Do you really have a right to free association if you have to file a report if you pay someone $600 to do something for you? Yes, you do.

How much is that worth if you aren't legally allowed to give anyone any money?

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#167

Post by ghaff »

nightpool wrote: post #150
ghaff wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly, in the US, they could probably set up an entity for tax purposes. Their real identity would still be somewhere in the chain but not necessarily easily discoverable by the person you're doing work for. ADDED: As others have noted, there are probably legal issues with that entity effectively acting a full-time employee. And, of course, the entity doing the work can't get any employee benefits.

Business registration is a matter of public record, as far as I'm aware. Any entity you might set up for tax purposes would need at least to have a registered public agent, and probably a public list of directors and shareholders. However, it would mean that the business you're contracting with to no longer needs to file a 1099, at least.

Yes. Having a business entity doesn't necessarily keep someone from tracking down your identity. But, depending upon how complex you want to make things (and presumably how much money you're willing to spend), you can probably obfuscate your identity from being casually revealed to everyone. Really depends what you're trying to accomplish.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#169

Post by hn_throwaway_99 »

Lots of other comments around the dubious legality of this, at least in the US.

I'd like to comment, though, on the fact that the majority of these jobs are in the crypto/defi space. I'm also not alone in commenting on this, and this fact alone is obviously not surprising, but I'd like to point out that the central idea of crypto that you can somehow "escape the government's control of finance" by using crypto is as much of a fever dream as that you can feasibly work anonymously for a company.

At the end of the day, the vast majority of people need the services of society and government to function. Crypto advocates have long crowed "look how great it is that we have gotten monetary supply out of the control of government", but you only need to look at the current environment to see how ridiculous this is. At the end of the day people expect to be able to exchange money for goods, and not go to jail for doing so, and that is something government's aren't willing to give up, regardless of the medium of exchange.

As it related to this case, the biggest question folks have is "what benefit to I get for working for a company pseudonymously". On reflection it's largely downside for the vast majority of people unless you are an anti-government absolutist, or are working in something like the drug trade or a hit man that is shady to begin with.

Re: Show HN: I made a site that shows jobs where you can work pseudonymously

#170

Post by Canada »

vel0city wrote: post #165
Canada wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How ridiculous is this? Do you really have a right to free association if you have to file a report if you pay someone $600 to do something for you?

I have a lot of people I associate with that I've never paid >$600 to do labor for me. Being able to associate != hiring someone for a job If you need to pay your friends >$600 to hang out with you, you should probably re-evaluate your life.

I'm not suggesting it's necessary to pay any person you associate with. It just seems a really intrusive restriction to legally report on anyone you pay.

To me, it seems as absurd as having to file a report with the government on anyone you meet. I can see justification in narrow cases, but requiring it universally seems ridiculous to me.

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