June 2023 - cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Fwd: We have nothing to hide, only everything to protect
by fuzzyTew 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2023 19:19:39 -0400 Subject: We have nothing to hide, only everything to protect *Please consider adding <info(a)fsf.org> to your address book, which will ensure that our messages reach you and not your spam box.* *Read and share online: <https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/we-have-nothing-to-hide-only-everything…>* Dear Karl Semich, "I have nothing to hide." That's what most people say when I start a conversation about privacy. Have you ever wondered why you should use software that protects your privacy and the privacy of the people you communicate with? To understand this better, I recommend watching the first talk in our LibrePlanet 2023 [lightning talk][1] series. In her five minute talk, the speaker will convince you that you are worthy of all the privacy you want and need. For people who claim that they have nothing to hide, she has a persuasive reply: "I have nothing to hide, only everything to protect." [1]: https://media.libreplanet.org/u/libreplanet/m/lightning-talks-a26f/ If you don't use free software for the sake of your own privacy, then use it to protect your loved ones; if you don't value yourself enough to make sure that information that's yours -- and only yours -- stays with you, then at least honor the privacy of the most vulnerable people in our society. History shows that even societies that are considered to be free have areas in which they struggle to exercise equal treatment and fail to guarantee human rights for everyone who lives within them. In the above-mentioned lightning talk, the speaker cites the example of the [Underground Railroad][2], a network of secret routes and safe houses that helped enslaved African Americans in the 19th century escape from slavery. The Underground Railroad would not have been possible without privacy! [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underground_Railroad At a time when ongoing legislation all over the world is threatening end-to-end encryption and developers of large language models blatantly [violate privacy laws][3] to get training data for their systems, we will be publishing a series of articles to highlight the importance of privacy. In our upcoming articles, you will be introduced to people who use privacy-protecting free software and learn what you can do to counter the dangers resulting from the ongoing legislative processes. While waiting for these articles, you can read our [previous articles on privacy][4] and strengthen end-to-end encryption by using it. [3]: https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2022/spring/unjust-algorithms/ [4]: https://www.fsf.org/campaigns/surveillance ## Strengthen end-to-end encryption by using it The more people who use end-to-end encryption in their everyday lives, the stronger the protection is for all of us. Only as a community can we withstand oppressive mass surveillance. And only by using free software can we rest assured that our privacy is protected. And, if you wonder why it has to be free software, we recommend reading our blog article "[True privacy and security depend on free software][5]." To protect your privacy, we recommend using: * [GNU Privacy Guard (GPG)][6] for encryption. The FSF's [Email Self-Defense Guide][7] will help you learn how to encrypt your emails and files; * a secure video conferencing tool like [Jitsi Meet][8] or [GNU Jami][9]. The FSF provides a fully free [Jitsi Meet server][10] to all associate members as a member benefit; * [GNU Jami][9], [XMPP][11], [Silence][12], [Matrix][13], or [Tox][14] when messaging your friends on your mobile phone or when writing colleagues about a patient, a client, or a student; * a secure browser like [GNU IceCat][15]. Read our article "[Intelligent tracking prevention][16]" if you want to learn why GNU IceCat is a better choice than many other browsers when it comes to protecting your privacy as you browse the web; * the [Tor network][17] to browse privately. With a system like [Snowflake][18], you can use the Tor network to avoid being watched by Internet censors and help others bypass censorship by operating a Snowflake proxy. On your phone, you can use Tor Browser for Android to securely browse via the Tor network and [Orbot][19] to route the data from your email client, messaging, and other apps over the Tor network. Enable the [Guardian Project's repository][20] to download Orbot from F-Droid. By using these programs, you will protect yourself as well as your loved ones. We all deserve privacy! [5]: https://www.fsf.org/bulletin/2020/spring/privacy-encryption [6]: https://gnupg.org/ [7]: https://emailselfdefense.fsf.org/en/ [8]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Jitsi-Meet [9]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Jami [10]: https://www.fsf.org/associate/about-the-fsf-jitsi-meet-server [11]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Category/Protocol/xmpp [12]: https://silence.im/ [13]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Matrix-synapse [14]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Tox [15]: https://www.gnu.org/software/gnuzilla/ [16]: https://www.fsf.org/blogs/community/intelligent-tracking-prevention-new-saf… [17]: https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Tor [18]: https://snowflake.torproject.org/ [19]: https://support.torproject.org/glossary/orbot/ [20]: https://guardianproject.info/fdroid/ In freedom, Miriam Bastian Program Manager -- * Follow us on Mastodon at <https://hostux.social/@fsf>, GNU social at <https://status.fsf.org/fsf>, PeerTube at <https://framatube.org/accounts/fsf/video-channels>, and on Twitter at @fsf. * Read about why we use Twitter, but only with caveats: <https://www.fsf.org/twitter> * Subscribe to our RSS feeds: <https://fsf.org/blogs/RSS> * Join us as an associate member: <https://www.fsf.org/jf> * Read our Privacy Policy: <https://www.fsf.org/about/free-software-foundation-privacy-policy>

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Crypto as walls. Strong AI as roads. Quantum netwoking as rails.
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

2018 piece on natural marriage of crypto economics with AI agents. Leaves out polyamorous aspect with quantum computing. Maxi Waxworks Museum https://medium.com/@benfar/how-crypto-enabled-ai-will-transform-our-economy… Reposts of years old compost highlights rearview mirror driving dangers

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Fwd: Journalists convicted for reporting at night
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

In any advanced military entertainment complex the media are precisely half the problem. And despite journalists rating poorly as a group they claim a press privilege above the general public. So who really needs these stinking press badge scribblers anyway? Its been half a century since Woodward and Bernstein. What has the press done for us lately? Its physically impossible for cypherpunks to explain cryptoanarchism to anyone whose whole identity depends on them not understanding it! Corpse media zombies go fuck yourselves.

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Binance and Coinbase vs. the SEC - Litigation Finance Journal
by Gunnar Larson 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

Check out my new article: https://litigationfinancejournal.com/binance-and-coinbase-vs-the-sec/ On June 5, 2023, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, for allegedly misleading investors and regulators while operating an unregistered exchange. One day later, the SEC sued the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase, for similar allegations. Now, litigation financiers around the globe look on as top law firms organize to defend Binance and Coinbase against the SEC. Bloomberg Law reports that Binance and Coinbase have tapped some of the United States’ top law firms to defend their future to exchange nearly $120B in cryptocurrency token assets. The SEC claims that most of these tokens sum up to unregistered securities. Binance and Coinbase deny any wrongdoing. Agencies such as Lipton, Rosen & Katz, Milbank, Latham & Watkins, Wilmer Hale and Sullivan & Cromwell are among those said to bank upwards of $50M – $100M in legal fees for Binance’s and Coinbase’s defense against the SEC’s recent actions. Sullivan & Cromwell is reported to have billed over $80M in fees associated with the FTX Chapter 11 bankruptcy litigation, according to court documents. The SEC says that unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency violate US investor protection laws. Yet, former SEC leaders have joined Binance’s defense team. Richard Grime (of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher) has been hired by Binance. Mr. Grime formerly served as assistant director of the SEC’s enforcement division. William McLucas (of Wilmer Culter Pickering Hale and Dorr) formerly served as the SEC’s enforcement director. Mr. McLucus has been hired by BAM Trading Services, the operator of Binance.US. What does all of this mean for the litigation finance industry? Experts suggest that private actions could be explored by litigation investors and their clients in the wake of the SEC’s approach to cryptocurrency tokens being exchanged as unregistered securities. However, collectability remains a pertinent issue for litigation investors, as they consider whether to pursue crypto litigation funding.

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Fwd: Journalists convicted for reporting at night
by fuzzyTew 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Freedom of the Press Foundation <newsletter(a)freedom.press> Date: Tue, Jun 20, 2023 at 11:55 AM Subject: Journalists convicted for reporting at night Congress should end warrantless spying on press and public View this email in your browser <https://mailchi.mp/freedom.press/journalists-convicted-for-reporting-at-nig…> Dear friend of press freedom, Here are some of the most important stories we’re following from the U.S. and around the world. If you enjoy reading this newsletter, please forward it to friends and family. If someone has forwarded you this newsletter, please subscribe here <https://freedom.press/subscribe/>. *Body camera footage showing Asheville Blade journalist Matilda Bliss's press pass. Bliss and colleague Veronica Coit were convicted of trespassing for recording police evicting unhoused people from a public park shortly after the park's closing time.* A North Carolina jury convicted <https://ncnewsline.com/2023/06/19/asheville-journalists-convicted-of-trespa…> journalists Matilda Bliss and Veronica Coit of trespassing for violating a park curfew to report on a police eviction of a homeless encampment. A judge denied their motion to dismiss the charges on First Amendment grounds. The very same day, the Department of Justice made clear <https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/06/16/us/doj-investigation-minneap…> in a report on misconduct by the Minneapolis Police Department that “blanket enforcement of dispersal orders and curfews against press violates [the First Amendment] because they foreclose the press from reporting.” Bliss and Coit already filed a notice of appeal. As Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) Director of Advocacy Seth Stern explained <https://freedom.press/news/press-freedom-and-civil-liberties-orgs-condemn-c…>: “We don’t have secret police in the United States. Officers are not entitled to operate without press and public scrutiny just because it’s dark out. The Constitution requires that journalists be given sufficient access to public land to report the news, no matter the time.” *FPF joins call to end warrantless spying on journalists and others* Several senators — both Republicans <https://twitter.com/SenMikeLee/status/1668658467702185984?s=20> and Democrats <https://twitter.com/SenatorDurbin/status/1660680119948652552?s=20> — say they’re fed up <https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/13/senate-biden-foreign-surveillance-…> with excuses over intelligence agencies’ abuse <https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2023/05/19/fbi-digital-sur…> of a controversial surveillance law that gives them access to huge amounts of Americans’ data. As we explain <https://freedom.press/news/congress-can-end-warrantless-spying-on-journalis…>, Congress should use the coming expiration of the law, known as Section 702 of FISA, to make critical reforms and rein in rampant warrantless spying on Americans, including journalists. Section 702 <https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Section-702.pdf> allows intelligence agencies to access Americans’ communications without a warrant, as long as the American is talking to someone outside the U.S. Despite being touted as a national security measure focused on foreigners, Section 702 has become a powerful tool for domestic spying, including for searches targeting journalists <https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/opportunity-stop-wa…> . FPF joined a coalition of more than 20 privacy, civil rights and civil liberties organizations calling on Congress to adopt significant reforms <https://cdt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/CDT-Statement-for-Record-For-FIS…> to Section 702 as part of its reauthorization. In addition to imposing a warrant requirement for searches of Americans’ data and narrowing Section 702’s parameters, Congress must improve the transparency of surveillance activities so that the press is not left to rely on information revealed by whistleblowers <https://freedom.press/news/snowden-anniversary-a-reminder-of-the-need-to-pr…> to inform the public. *Secret science laws limit access to research records* There’s a long track record of journalists <https://www.opb.org/article/2023/01/19/oregon-primate-research-center-viola…> and watchdog groups <https://freedom.press/news/how-corporations-suppress-disclosure-public-reco…> using public records laws <https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/06/us/food-industry-enlisted-academics-in-g…> to expose wrongdoing <https://ctmirror.org/2023/05/03/ct-foia-freedom-of-information-act-uconn/> at public academic research programs. But as we recently highlighted <https://freedom.press/news/secret-science-laws-limit-access-to-research-rec…>, several states have passed laws or otherwise restricted public access to research records from public institutions of higher learning. Most recently, Connecticut considered (but thankfully didn’t pass) a “science secrecy” bill <https://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill…> that would have excluded public colleges’ and universities’ research records from the state’s public records law. Supporters of science secrecy exemptions argue that freedom of information laws have been weaponized to harass <https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/harassment-public-records-requests-bom…> and smear researchers. Concerns about abusive requests and their impact on academic freedom are legitimate, but prohibiting public scrutiny of academic research isn’t the right response. Other methods explained on our blog <https://freedom.press/news/secret-science-laws-limit-access-to-research-rec…> would be effective while still preserving journalists’ and the public’s ability to access newsworthy records. *What we’re reading* The courtroom conundrum <https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/1686709784064b329468be456/raw>. A federal judge denied media outlets’ request to allow cameras and barred any personal electronic devices from a Miami courtroom where Donald Trump was arraigned on Tuesday. As a result, journalists had to resort to creative but slightly ridiculous methods to get the word out about what happened at the start of one of the most newsworthy trials in American history. There’s no reason <https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/06/time-has-come-cameras-co…> for these outdated bans. It’s beyond time to update courtroom policies for the 21st century and allow cameras in courts. One of the last bastions of digital privacy is under threat <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/13/opinion/encryption-messaging-privacy-sig…>. Journalists often rely on encrypted services <https://freedom.press/news/signal-beginners/> to communicate with sources or protect their unpublished work. Despite the benefits of end-to-end encryption to journalists, activists, businesses and regular people, the United States <https://cdt.org/insights/cdt-leads-broad-civil-society-coalition-urging-sen…> and other governments <https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/03/tell-uks-house-lords-protect-end-end-…> have continued their efforts to undermine or destroy it. So far these attempts have failed, but we must continue to demand that governments worldwide keep their hands off end-to-end encryption. The US is openly stockpiling dirt on all its citizens <https://www.wired.com/story/odni-commercially-available-information-report/>. According to a declassified government report, the U.S. government has amassed a “large amount” of “sensitive and intimate information” about Americans by buying data from data brokers, companies that sell information about individuals collected from their web traffic, app use and other sources. This surveillance can threaten journalists’ confidential communications with sources by, for example, revealing their location data. Congress must act to put an end to surveillance abuses. For tips on how to protect yourself, check out <https://mailchi.mp/freedom.press/digisec-digest-8128750?e=fe28d28019> this week’s digital security digest and subscribe <https://freedom.press/training/digisec-subscribe/>. *Subscribe to our digital security newsletter* FPF has a new weekly newsletter on digital security and journalism! It’s a short update on digital security news, what you can do about it, and other news from our team. Subscribe here <https://freedom.press/training/digisec-subscribe/>. [image: Twitter] <https://twitter.com/freedomofpress> [image: Facebook] <https://www.facebook.com/FreedomOfThePressFoundation/> [image: Website] <https://freedom.press/> *Copyright © 2023 Freedom of the Press Foundation, All rights reserved.* You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website. *Our mailing address is:* Freedom of the Press Foundation 49 Flatbush Ave, #1017 Brooklyn, NY 11217 Add us to your address book <https://press.us6.list-manage.com/vcard?u=19b87eae477821267dea69438&id=c8d8…>

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Crypto Entrepreneur Do Kwon Gets Four-Month Sentence in Montenegro
by Gunnar Larson 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon, the crypto entrepreneur who’s sought by the US and South Korea on fraud charges, was sentenced to four months in prison by a Montenegrin court for attempting to travel with a forged passport. Crypto Entrepreneur Do Kwon Gets Four-Month Sentence in Montenegro https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-19/crypto-entrepreneur-kwon…

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Cryptocurrency: Activism and Fraud Exposure Works In Other Spheres Too (Narrative Collapse)
by grarpamp 20 Jun '23

20 Jun '23

Cameron Winklevoss @cameron 3h This is what happens when you stop engaging in science and start worshipping Science. Tyler Winklevoss @tyler 3h .@PeterHotez is a cautionary tale. Turns out if you become an establishment marionette and parrot its narrative on mainstream media for years completely unchallenged, you will undergo such mental rot that despite being an MD PhD and having 40+ years experience in the fields of… nitter.tokhmi.xyz/i/web/status/167… 31 44 334 Cameron Winklevoss @cameron 15h The astonishing revelation about @PeterHotez's refusal to debate @RobertKennedyJr on @joerogan is not that he doesn't feel comfortable staking out his position in an open, long-form debate (he doesn't), but that he feels completely comfortable doing so on mainstream media any day… nitter.tokhmi.xyz/i/web/status/167… 599 2,477 118 16,445

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Cryptocurrency: Is Free Speech! Privacy Cryptocurrencies must be adopted!
by grarpamp 19 Jun '23

19 Jun '23

It has been said here many times before. Cryptocurrency privacy is Free Speech. Learn to speak it. Human Freedom, thus your Freedom, now depends on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bByeakbLDWk

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Post Office scandal: echoes of Watergate?
by Gunnar Larson 19 Jun '23

19 Jun '23

But her emails. --- It is difficult to bring home the enormity of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal for the legal profession in England and Wales. One way would be to compare the impact with the famous break-in into the Democrats’ campaign office in the Watergate building and ensuing cover-up. That brought down President Nixon (pictured below) and led to disciplinary proceedings being brought against 29 lawyers. Francis Dingwall Francis Dingwall How can the two be compared? As the Gazette reported, the Post Office scandal is arguably the most widespread miscarriage of justice in British history, and the inquiry into it is about to turn its spotlight on the role of lawyers. The focus is likely to be whether the lawyers put a thirst for victory above their wider duties. No one would suggest that they were involved in anything like the burglaries, perjury and bribery that ensnared the Watergate lawyers. But as the author of Watergate and the Law Schools put it in 1975: ‘There is a difference in application, but not in underlying principle, between those who would state that it is the lawyer’s duty to use any means… to achieve a victory and those who would break into [an] office or engage in illegal wiretapping.’ ADVERT It has come to light that after one sub-postmaster was sent to prison in November 2010 (unjustly, it transpired), a senior Post Office lawyer celebrated the victory in an email, observing that: ‘… [the sub-postmaster had made] an unprecedented attack [on the Horizon computer]… It is to be hoped the case will set a marker to dissuade other defendants from jumping on the Horizon bashing bandwagon.’ President Nixon In fact, the one thing Horizon needed was to be bashed a lot harder, a lot sooner, by the Post Office’s own solicitors. Another lawyer is alleged to have warned a sub-postmaster: ‘We will ruin you.’ (This accusation has been strongly rejected). Those may prove to be the tip of the iceberg. Solicitors were involved at every stage of the saga; the number may match the 29 involved in Watergate. Watergate led to much soul-searching within the profession in the US. It resulted in a requirement that law schools provide legal ethics education. The view was that ‘although we cannot ensure that any attorney will in fact behave ethically, we can at least be certain that he is fully aware of what his ethical duties are’. PARTNERSHIP Ever since, law schools have employed lecturers in legal ethics who run the mandatory courses; some of them also have practices advising law firms. It is a recognised discipline. Despite the lawyer jokes in the US, all lawyers have received training on legal ethics, there is an extensive library of textbooks and commentaries, there are thoughtful debates on wide-ranging issues, and there is an Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, dedicated to bringing about positive change in legal ethics and the law of lawyering. In England and Wales, when it comes to studying legal ethics, prospective solicitors generally study the SRA Standards and Regulations, whether for the Legal Practice Course or the Solicitors Qualifying Examination. There is a widespread view that ‘legal ethics = the SRA Principles + the SRA Codes of Conduct’. Wrong: legal ethics do not begin or end there. Take for example the solicitor’s obligation towards third parties – sub-postmasters if you will. There are rules and SRA Principles that help. But the deeper question concerns the societal role. Does the solicitor have a role as a moral agent of justice? What does it mean to be an ‘officer of the court’? Should solicitors serve the public interest, and if so, how? If the solicitors acting for the Post Office, in-house and external, had been used to engaging with legal ethics, perhaps the wrongful convictions, the ruin of lives, would have been avoided. We would at least be certain that they were fully aware of what their ethical duties were. ADVERT In England and Wales, there is only a handful of academics who specialise in legal ethics, and a handful of solicitors like the writer who provide training in legal ethics to law firms. Likewise there is only a handful of student textbooks on the subject. It is not the same in the medical profession: medical students spend much of their time on the subject. Ironically, you can do an LLM in medical law and ethics, even a PhD, but not in lawyers’ law and ethics. And it is not only lawyer involvement in the Post Office scandal that lends urgency to the issue. A headline in the FT (10 May) tells its own story: ‘Big law firms fall out of fashion with idealistic Generation Z’. It may become increasingly difficult to persuade bright young lawyers to represent corporate clients which have a bad environmental, social and governance profile. That may result from a lack of understanding of the ethics of the lawyer’s role. If budding idealistic lawyers were taught about the so-called ‘standard conception’, they would learn that a solicitor should adopt a neutral stance concerning the morality of their client. The importance of this is self-evident when it comes to criminal law, because it is plainly a good thing to see that a suspicious suspect receives legal representation of the right sort. So too with Big Oil, perhaps? Discuss, as the examiners would say. https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/commentary-and-opinion/post-office-scandal-ech…

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Post Office scandal: echoes of Watergate?
by Gunnar Larson 19 Jun '23

19 Jun '23

https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/commentary-and-opinion/post-office-scandal-ech…

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