Nowhere in this blog post: any discussion of money laundering, sending funds to terrorist groups, rogue states. Without mention of any of the legitimate reasons the US government is sanctioning Tornado Cash, this is merely propaganda from a financially interested party.
Defending Privacy in Crypto
11–20 of 87 posts
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#12I strongly support the right to privacy in messaging, ie encrypted communication.
However, I am much more hesitant with privacy in money transfers. It is not obvious to me at all that we should have unlimited unregulated money transfers. In fact, I fear that unreflected support for the latter might erode the (already tenuous) support for the former:
Currently, we might still be in a position to regulate and disrupt cryptocurrencies (for example, Bitcoin needs on- and off-ramps tied to tradFi, and Bitcoin traffic is unencrypted and can be detected (and censored), AFAIK). If that whole ecosystem were to succeed in ensuring encryption and anonymity in money transfers, we might get to a point where there is overwhelming political pressure to prohibit any encrypted communication, even more so than already.
TL;DR: Cryptocurrencies might jeopardise Signal et al. Yet another reason to oppose Crypto: to protect encryption.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#13It is interesting that I have strictly no empathy for the people defending "privacy" in crypto. I have it fully for the ability to pay in cash for our every day stuff. Privacy in crypto is basically reallowing tax havens in the " digital " world where we spent years to try to curtain them in the " real " world. A good friend of us happens to be working at a high level at the EU commission. Discussing about Bitcoin/Cr…
If a ban in EU would make people in bars stop trying to convince me to buy in their favourite cryptocurrency, I'm all for it!
A meteor strike directly on top of the bar wouldn’t stop this from happening.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#14I strongly support the right to privacy in messaging, ie encrypted communication. However, I am much more hesitant with privacy in money transfers. It is not obvious to me at all that we should have unlimited unregulated money transfers. In fact, I fear that unreflected support for the latter might erode the (already tenuous) support for the former: Currently, we might still be in a position to regulate and disrupt c…
Pure privacy, without limitation, in money transfers would be catastrophic. Despite the consternation of hyperextreme libertarians sitting in their armchairs, the ability for the government to collect tax revenue is a pretty good thing and has broad societal benefits. Also allowing free flow of funds to terrorist groups is bad.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#15It is interesting that I have strictly no empathy for the people defending "privacy" in crypto. I have it fully for the ability to pay in cash for our every day stuff. Privacy in crypto is basically reallowing tax havens in the " digital " world where we spent years to try to curtain them in the " real " world. A good friend of us happens to be working at a high level at the EU commission. Discussing about Bitcoin/Cr…
Having to use digital currency for everything with no privacy and complete government control is going to be amazing, you're right!
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#16It's great that they're supporting the lawsuit (and the plaintiffs seem very well selected). There's also a coincenter lawsuit on purely constitutional grounds ( https://www.coincenter.org/analysis-what-is-and-what-is-not-... ).
I think it’s wasted money.
Infinite public money will be spent to bat down these lawsuits until it’s set in stone.
Widespread privacy in crypto == end of civilisation. This sounds ridiculous but logically one has to follow the other in a few very short steps.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#17It is interesting that I have strictly no empathy for the people defending "privacy" in crypto. I have it fully for the ability to pay in cash for our every day stuff. Privacy in crypto is basically reallowing tax havens in the " digital " world where we spent years to try to curtain them in the " real " world. A good friend of us happens to be working at a high level at the EU commission. Discussing about Bitcoin/Cr…
I think the point of this case is far less about privacy and crypto, but the fact that the US government sanctioned an entire piece of software. People use the software for privacy, and the government sanctioned it because it was being used for illegal things, but the fact that they can unilaterally sanction a piece of software is scary. Imagine if they sanctioned Tor Browser or Signal, both of which are used for privacy and can be used for illegal activity.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#18It is interesting that I have strictly no empathy for the people defending "privacy" in crypto. I have it fully for the ability to pay in cash for our every day stuff. Privacy in crypto is basically reallowing tax havens in the " digital " world where we spent years to try to curtain them in the " real " world. A good friend of us happens to be working at a high level at the EU commission. Discussing about Bitcoin/Cr…
Having to use digital currency for everything with no privacy and complete government control is going to be amazing, you're right!
If you read my comment, I explicitly said that we should keep cash.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#19This is going to be very interesting to watch. I hope to be able to read the lawsuit when it is filed.
Re: Defending Privacy in Crypto
#20Nowhere in this blog post: any discussion of money laundering, sending funds to terrorist groups, rogue states. Without mention of any of the legitimate reasons the US government is sanctioning Tornado Cash, this is merely propaganda from a financially interested party.
We should not have our rights removed because other people who break the law might also benefit from. We cannot have a free society if every decision is "Wont somebody think of the children" or "but the terrorists".
Liberty or death: it is not death of the individual but death of society. The resilience of our social structure is dependent on our freedoms.
I cant say how saddening it is to have lived through the crypto wars in the 90s that were so well defended by tech workers, to now see HACKER news commentators fine with massive government overreach in the name of "safety". lol.