- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

DOJ To Scope Bank Mergers With Wider Antitrust Lens
by Gunnar Larson 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

By Jon Hill The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official said Tuesday that his division will take a more expansive view of potential competitive effects when reviewing proposed bank mergers, signaling a shift that could mean tougher scrutiny for transactions involving larger banks. https://www.law360.com/competition/articles/1690583?nl_pk=2063be2d-1a29-43b…

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Feds Seek 7 Years, Crypto Thief Seeks 'Time Served'
by Gunnar Larson 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

By Dorothy Atkins A U.K. citizen who pled guilty to a wide range of online crimes, including "swatting" executives and a California teenager, hacking celebrity Twitter accounts and stealing $800,000 in cryptocurrency, asked a New York federal judge Monday for a lenient sentence of time served, while prosecutors pushed for seven years behind bars. https://www.law360.co.uk/financial-services-uk/articles/1690476?nl_pk=4fb41…

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Cryptocurrency: US GovBank EDX ETFs vs BRICS... The Race For Sound Money
by grarpamp 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

With countries fleeing worthless USD and US Treasuries, the USA has option to try to +1 the BRICS's rising gold+commod+etc money play by racing to adopt the only remaining higher form of money first before its competitors do... crypto finance at the speed of light, BTC freed upon international markets and into the hands of US users.

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Fwd: We have nothing to hide, only everything to protect
by pro2rat＠yahoo.com.au 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

Here is one real easy way to protect your loved ones - get off the internet.

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Cryptocurrency: Elizabeth Warren's Monetary Bizarro World, No Authority: GovBankCorpPols Gonna Hate, CBDC
by grarpamp 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

Monetary Bizarro World Why Elizabeth Warren cannot understand Bitcoin's value >From the mainstream’s viewpoint, when it comes to money… I live in Bizarro World. You may not recall, but Bizarro World was the original comic book version of multiverse themes. In the 1960s, Superman had to deal with another Earth — eerily like ours — but where many details were the opposite of what we call normal. We’ll let Jerry Seinfeld explain it: Why do I live in Bizarro World when it comes to money? In contrast to the conventional viewpoint, I don’t believe that money should be backed by governments. In fact, I think the only way a money can be long-term viable is if it is backed by no authority at all. Elizabeth Warren disagrees with this notion I realize how truly bizarre my stance sounds to almost everyone. Indeed, the reason I’m writing this post is because Elizabeth Warren recently expressed her adamant view that unbacked money is thoroughly absurd: There’s a lot to unpack here. First of all, let’s give Liz the benefit of the doubt - I believe she is genuine in her views and earnest in her attempt to explain why Bitcoin doesn’t make sense. That said, no matter how much or how little you know about Bitcoin, you can sense that she is confused. She does not have mastery of the topic she is trying to discuss - though her performative confidence aims to obscure that fact. In the first half of the clip, she strives to convey her version of reality: that money must be backed by something in order for it to have value. With every fiber of her being, she knows this to be true. And by contrast, Bitcoin is backed by nothing and therefore cannot have value - surely, if she just explains this to people, they will come to their senses! Halfway through the clip, she aims to bring the conversation back from the Bizarro World of unbacked money and into the real world, where money is backed by something. She attempts to articulate how government-issued digital currencies (CBDCs) can leverage the technological advantages of digital money while imbuing them with the all-important backing of government authority. This is how the world works today, after all. And in her mind, a digital currency with the backing of the US Government is obviously superior to one without it. Considering the inverse perspective I have tried to remain fair in my presentation of the conventional view of money. And now, it’s time to consider the other side of the argument. It’s not that Bitcoin is the true opposite of the conventional view of money, just that in a few ways it feels truly bizarre — an inversion of what we’ve been taught as common sense. First, the ethos underpinning Bitcoin patently rejects the idea that government authority strengthens money. The reason is that the interests of government conflict with the interests of currency users — everyday people living their lives and storing their savings in that money. If a government has authority over a currency, they have the right to print more of a currency (diluting the purchasing power of existing holders). And indeed, that is the irresistible allure of controlling one’s own currency. History is replete with examples of governments addressing their problems through the convenient but myopic salve of creating more money out of thin air. In ancient Rome, this meant melting the silver from 10 coins & spreading it across 11 new coins. Today, it’s even easier — the Fed just prints more dollars by changing some numbers in their computer. Second, there are other disadvantages to allowing anyone to have authority over a money. These all come back to predictability & reliability. If a government (or anyone else) has authority over a money, they can change the parameters of that money. They can create more or less of it than before; they can tell you when or where you’re allowed to use the money; they can change the Terms of Service to use that money. What I’ve just described is what Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) offer the world — more power and greater control for governments, reduced rights for users. A central authority turns money from a matter-of-fact bearer instrument (whoever possesses it, controls it) into a permissioned system of financial access — money with strings attached. Money without government So, printing more of a money harms the existing holders. And having an authority in control of a money impinges on the rights of existing holders. From the perspective of everyday users of a money, it would be best then if nobody could increase the supply of their money & nobody had authority over their money. To take this to its logical conclusion, the ideal money would have a finite supply, be completely permissionless to use, and grant no authority the ability to change the rules. Sound familiar? This shouldn’t be as radical of an idea as it sounds. The fact of the matter is that gold offered most of these properties, and that’s why it emerged as the preferred money for the world, through 6,000 years of the free market selecting for the money that people most wanted to hold. But gold had an Achilles’ Heel — its materiality necessitated storage in vaults, which ultimately allowed centralized authorities (governments) the ability to control it & slowly shift the meaning of money over time. Until 1971, the US Dollar was backed by gold. But now, it’s not. And yet, to this day, 30% of Americans still believe the dollar is backed by gold. Which brings us back to Elizabeth Warren — she characterizes Bitcoin as unbacked, but what exactly is the dollar backed by? Might makes right The US Dollar is backed by “the full faith & confidence of the US Government.” Which is to say, it is backed by the government saying it’s worth something, punk. If this sounds reminiscent of a schoolyard bully imposing his will through threat of force, well… But even if governments didn’t use their authority to debase the purchasing power of existing holders (they do), this system of government money backed by threat of force does not create the best assurances for end users (meaning, everyday people). As formidable as it is, the U.S. Military is not all-powerful, permanent, or omnipresent. But there are a few things that are: Math & self-interest. Ideal money for everyday savers >From the point-of-view of everyday savers, the best money would: 1. Have a hardcapped supply 2. Have no authority in control 3. Have no ability to change the rules 4. Be protected by the universal laws of math 5. Incentivize savers to hold onto their money (via supply dynamics that cause the money to appreciate in purchasing power over time) Now, doesn’t that sound like a pretty sensible system? One that puts the interests of holders first & protects them indefinitely via the unblinking steadfastness of math. If such a system could leverage human self-interest via a reliable incentive to adopt and hold for the long haul, that would be a pretty great money from the point-of-view of people using it as a savings vehicle. And it would be a bad money from the point-of-view of governments seeking greater power & control over money. What’s unfamiliar appears bizarre The funny thing about Bizarro World is that the side that appears bizarre is just a matter of perspective. If you grew up living on a cube-shaped planet, you would think a spherical world was very weird. You grew up living in a world where money is backed by threat of force (because this arrangement benefits governments). As a result, you think a money sensibly designed to serve the interests of savers is weird. Perhaps, all this time, it’s you who has been living in monetary Bizarro World.

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Cryptocurrency: License Freedom Not Manipulators, ETF, EDX, Blockstream To Corrupt, Expect Forks, Privacy, Mining, etc
by grarpamp 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

If you want only humans in crypto and not entities and manipulators doing things you don't want, you need to explore restrictive licensing, and coin privacy. Blockstream / Core / Lightning ... likely to return favor to their upstream GovBankCorp paymasters now. ETF's, EDX's, GovBankPols, etc... can all be forked around as needed, but pointless if no privacy or scale. ASIC mining was always a centralizing mistake. Staking was always a centralizing mistake. If you listened to cpunks and had been doing a real privacy coin (p2p distributed, blockchain-storage-less, asic-hard, cryptographic levels of privacy, no-features, fair-launch, no-governance, no founder/dev reward, anon-devs, PoW, simply money) all these years... you probably would have won already. So while price go up... do a real privacy coin and reclaim your Freedom. XMR and ZEC etc were first gen, and as such subject to same long term scale and other issues as BTC. The privacy and coin tech may now good enough to get a few next gen competing designs for a real privacy coin developed and into operation. A billion humans are waiting to use that Freedom.

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Cryptocurrency: Truth, Privacy Coins
by grarpamp 21 Jun '23

21 Jun '23

"You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. -- Buckminster Fuller" Scalable strong privacy coins are a model that Human Freedom desperately needs... and one that Humanity enjoyed since day one, up until the age of digital bank accounts, credit cards, ACH, Zelle, CBDC, Govt Fiat, debt, etc. GovBankCorpPols have all stolen that Freedom from Humanity, thus you need to obsolete them and their evil model. Restore the Freedom of Humanity by developing, deploying, and using nextgen Privacy Coins today.

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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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