Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

twitter.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

211–220 of 491 posts

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#211

Post by freeflight »

zozbot234 wrote: post #43
tw04 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a pretty noble, if naive reason. "Rule of law" stops where economic interests begin and always has. Rule of law didn't stop the invasion of Iraq. Rule of law hasn't stopped the countless CIA backed coups in South America. Rule of law didn't stop funding/promoting the Arab spring. Larger countries constantly bully smaller ones and will continue to do so anytime it's economically convenient. The reason Grand Cay…

> Rule of law didn't stop the invasion of Iraq. Rule of law hasn't stopped the countless CIA backed coups in South America. Rule of law didn't stop funding/promoting the Arab spring. These places were all considered "rogue states" at some point, i.e. places that openly neglected the very same rule of law which protects others. Being a 'rogue' state may leave you open to being bullied, but that's hardly inconsistent w…

> These places were all considered "rogue states" at some point, i.e. places that openly neglected the very same rule of law which protects others.

That still doesn't change the reality that the US broke international laws [0] under the pretext of supposedly enforcing them.

And it did so in a very calculated and premeditated way [1] that justified everything on a domestic legal basis, while completely disregarding international law and institutions like they do not matter at all.

Imagine if China would pass a law declaring how their soldiers and government officials can't be held accountable by any international body, how would that be framed by US media?

Yet in the US, this has been established legal reality for close to two decades and plenty of US Americans defend it like it's the most normal thing in the world due to their internalized "exceptionalism".

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/sep/16/iraq.iraq

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Pr...

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#212

Post by RugnirViking »

bouncycastle wrote: post #203
jobigoud wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a trust but verify thing I believe. If the cash is anonymized, how can they know if the owner of this cash did in fact pay their taxes on it? Either they blindly trust everyone to properly declare all of their income, or they need to have some form of traceability.

So everyone is assumed to be a criminal until proven otherwise?

How else do you propose taxation is assured? Blind trust?

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#213

Post by freeflight »

edoceo wrote: post #94
mcphage wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This loophole was unintentional That seems a pretty hard pill to swallow.

Laws can have bugs too

And just like with software, often they are considered "features" not bugs.

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#214

Post by a3n »

jokoon wrote: post #21

After watching The laundromat, I think it's big news. Although I will always be curious why countries are letting those small, insignificant islands and countries manage all this wealth, and why they're trusted to do it. This can't be secure or safe. I'm curious about the diplomacy and the political implications of this. What if their office get robbed? What if the island gets attacked? What if one of those shady ban…

Because the people who run "countries" use these services.

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#215

Post by unreal37 »

buboard wrote: post #169
bouncycastle wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> place to store anonymously your illicit cash What if I just want a place to anonymously store my legally gained cash? Unfortunately, it seems the normal people lost their privacy nowadays at the expense of the criminals and the "If you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" argument has taken a stronghold in the financial sector.

ideally, governments only need to know how much each person spent/earned. Not where and how. But , it seems there is no way to make even tiny amounts of purchases without a bunch of people sharing your full details with each other. On the other hand, there's crypto

Which is not anonymous.

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#216

Post by unreal37 »

poxrud wrote: post #122
lemmox wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many tax havens are actually quite stable and have very reliable banking systems. Canada encourages "snow washing" with Limited Partnerships. Canada's banks are quite good and the corporate legislation allows a degree of anonymity. This structure has no obligation to file taxes in Canada. The partners in the structure have to pay taxes however if the partner is not a Canadian entity that obligation is in some other j…

But Canada shares banking data with the IRS. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/fatca-tax-us-canada-1.53539...

Only for Americans.

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#217

Post by SamReidHughes »

Aeolun wrote: post #202
mlazos wrote: post #155

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t think it was a deliberate agreement per se, I feel like it was just the natural outcome after the US helped rebuild a lot of Europe. The previous world order had been ripped apart by the war, and the US was the world’s largest economy by the end.

It was also pretty much the only economy left standing. I don’t think that can be overstated enough.

The entire New World was left standing.

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#218

Post by wolco »

bouncycastle wrote: post #203
jobigoud wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a trust but verify thing I believe. If the cash is anonymized, how can they know if the owner of this cash did in fact pay their taxes on it? Either they blindly trust everyone to properly declare all of their income, or they need to have some form of traceability.

So everyone is assumed to be a criminal until proven otherwise?

If you've gone to a movie they don't let everyone in and assume they had a ticket. Doesn't mean they think of you as a criminal.

Re: Hacker Publishes 2TB of Data from Cayman National Bank

#219

Post by bouncycastle »

Ericson2314 wrote: post #206
bouncycastle wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By "legally gained cash" I mean that taxes have already been paid for it.

Say there's a wealth tax? At no point can you be be sure it will never have tax implementations ever again.

I'm not talking about dodging taxes. Also, if there happens to be a new tax, I'll pay it, and I'm not a criminal,

I just want some privacy.

Post reply on HN