- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Blockchain assassination markets Digital economy news The Shift Media.
by jim bell 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

Blockchain assassination markets | digital economy news | The Shift Media | | | | | | | | | | | Blockchain assassination markets | digital economy news | The Shift Media A decentralised blockchain platform for betting on real world outcomes – including the assassination of politica... | | | Augur: Blockchain assassination markets? A decentralised blockchain platform for betting on real world outcomes – including the assassination of political leaders – is being traded on a Nasdaq crypto-related index and is open to everyday investors. Exante, a global brokerage brand opened the decentralised finance index – Defix, which includes the controversial prediction market platform, Augur, as well as Amoveo and 0x. “Consumers will have the ability to invest in the index through a Defix fund, granting exposure to decentralised finance blockchain projects through a secure, financially accredited agency,” says Defix. Augur is described as a set of open source smart contracts that can be deployed to the Ethereum blockchain, enabling users to create their own prediction markets. Wisdom of the crowd? The platform used the wisdom of the crowd principle, which posits that a large group of aggregated answers are often superior to those given by individuals. And while the platform has the potential for social benefit – such as fact-checking and holding politicians accountable – it’s the more nefarious applications that have made headlines. While most markets on the platform are more benign, it’s also hosted bets on the deaths of people ranging from Donald Trump to Betty White. “While some of the pools merely ask users to predict whether or not an older prominent public figure (e.g., Warren Buffet) will die of natural causes, others explicitly focus on targeted killings,” writes Jacob Zionts for ConsenSys Media. Commentators point-out, this could potentially lead to people orchestrating events to ensure their prediction eventuates – whether the result of a cricket match or the death of a politician. No control The decentralised and trustless nature of blockchain means neither government, the law nor even the developers can shut down nefarious prediction markets on the platform. Developer, the Forecast Foundation says it does not control how markets resolve or are created, does not approve or reject trades or other transactions on the network and does not have the ability to modify, cancel, undo, or interact with orders on the network. “The Forecast Foundation has no power to censor, restrict, or curate markets, orders, trades, positions or resolutions on the Augur protocol contracts,” it says. “The Forecast Foundation has no more control over the Augur protocol than anyone else using Ethereum.” It has some tech commentators suggesting the technology has opened up a Pandora’s Box – heralding in the dystopian world of Assassination Politics, imagined by crypto-anarchist Jim Bell in the mid-90s. Both speculators and spectators can view Augur on the Defix index, archived by NASDAQ under the ticker DEFX.

1 0

Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998)
by jim bell 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998) Craig JarvisReceived 26 Dec 2020, Accepted 21 May 2021, Published online: 26 Jun 2021 - Download citation - https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2021.1935547 Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998) | | | | | | | | | | | Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998) Craig Jarvis (2021). Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998). Internet Histories. Ahead of Print. | | | Abstract The cypherpunks were 1990s digital activists who challenged White House policies aiming to prevent the emergence of unregulated digital cryptography, an online privacy technology capable of frustrating government surveillance. Whilst the cypherpunk’s ideology, which is predominantly the output of Timothy C. May, is well understood, less is known about the composition of the cypherpunk’s community. This article builds on past studies by Rid and Beltramini by using the cypherpunk’s mail list archive to profile the most active and influential cypherpunks. This study confirms the May-derived ideology is broadly, though not entirely, representative of the cypherpunk community. This article assesses the cypherpunks were a highly educated, mostly libertarian community permeated by aspects of anarchism which arose from a societal disaffiliation inherited from the counterculture. This article further argues that the cypherpunks were also influenced by the hacker ethic and dystopian science fiction. Keywords: Cypherpunkscryptographycyberspacepolicydigital privacydigital surveillancecrypto warsPrevious articleView latest articlesNext article Introduction The cypherpunks were a group of privacy activists who in the 1990s helped establish the use of unregulated digital cryptography within the United States. Digital privacy, better phrased as privacy in the digital age given the inexorable digital-physical convergence, is achieved principally via digital security. When considering the base elements of digital security, Professor Keith Martin comments that, “cryptography is pretty much the only game in town” (Martin, 2020, p. 2). Cryptography allows not only for a host of vital applications within our everyday lives, such as secure financial transactions, but also for capabilities the cypherpunks hoped would undermine the State (May, 1988). Such encryption-dependent technologies include: block-chains, which can place financial transactions beyond the government’s ability to monitor and tax; whistleblowing platforms, capable of facilitating leaks whilst protecting the whistleblower; and anonymity networks, which can obfuscate a citizen’s physical location. The cypherpunks helped shape our Internet. Beltramini comments they were, “perhaps the single most effective grassroots organization in history dedicated to protecting freedom in cyberspace” (Beltramini, 2020, p. 1). However, Dahlberg argues that cyber-libertarian visions of the future, such as those held by the cypherpunks, had mostly dissipated by 2000, he comments that by then the Internet was, “seen as part and parcel of “everyday life” – simply an extension of existing social systems, rather than being a revolutionary medium transcending offline political and economic constraints” (2010, p. 333). However, Dahlberg’s assessment fails to account for the significant 1990s cryptographic advances made by the citizenry, which included weakening export controls, defeating the Clinton administration’s attempts to further regulate cryptography, and establishing the foundation for current technologies such as crypto-currencies. Today, law enforcement does not consider unregulated encryption as a tolerable status quo as its use hinders their access to suspect’s data.1 In 2020 alone, two bills were introduced in Congress which could outlaw encryption not containing a government access method (commonly referred to as a “back door”) (United States Congress, 2020; United States Senate, 2020). When the Clinton administration sought to include a back door within encryption technologies in the 1990s, the cypherpunks led the successful battle to defeat government policy, thus helping to establish unregulated cryptography. The cypherpunk ideology now influences a new generation of digital privacy activists.2 These new activists are responsible for challenging today’s government policies to mandate encryption back doors. It is important we understand the community which last successfully challenged the State’s attempt to regulate cryptography so that ongoing debates are informed by an accurate characterization of those who established today’s status quo. This article builds on the cypherpunk studies of Rid (2016) and Beltramini (2020 | | | | | | | | | | | Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998) Craig Jarvis (2021). Cypherpunk ideology: objectives, profiles, and influences (1992–1998). Internet Histories. Ahead of Print. | | | ) by using the cypherpunk mail list archive to profile the broader cypherpunk community. This profiling indicates that the cypherpunks were a highly educated, primarily libertarian community permeated by aspects of anarchism which arose from a societal disaffiliation inherited from the counterculture. The profiling further indicates that the cypherpunks objectives were directed to minimize, or even remove the State from public life, and that they were influenced by the hacker ethic and dystopian science fiction.

1 0

Donald Dumbfuck was against vaccines before he was for them
by professor rat 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

>>> then came Trump’s cash grab of a “victory tour” with fellow washout Bill O’Reilly, and that’s when Trump decided to publicly stake himself to a strong pro-vaccine and pro-booster stance. This has created such a mess, pro-Trump surrogates like Candace Owens are now throwing up their hands in frustration. After all, they’ve spent all year helping him sell anti-vaccine stances, and now they’re stuck trying to explain why Trump has switched sides. <<< If Gramps had any shame he'd drink bleach and die.

4 4

Jim Bell falsely asserts we have conceded rights
by professor rat 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

Jim Bell is dead . . . wrong. He's wrong to come here quoting Qanon type morons as fact witnesses. He's wrong about assassination markets hallowed by time and consecrated by useage. He's wrong about chemistry. He's wrong about law. And his insulting suggestion we have given away any of our inalienable human and civil rights may be treated with the contempt it so richly deserves. The last self-described cryptoanarchist that went this haywire in public got himself shot dead. And that's Jim Bells present trajectory - as I said - if he had any friends they would have staged an intervention for him by now. Its sad - but certain - he will be remembered for his last few years as a complete shambles since a fool and his precious reputation-capital are soon parted. Good riddance to bad FOX news rubbish.

2 1

Re: Donald Dumbfuck was against vaccines before he was for them
by professor rat 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

So the " Jim Bell " shilling for Horse Dewormer here was an identity thief? But the real Jim Bell likes THIEVES! Julian Assmange Jeff Berwick That Antistate dotcom slumlord I'm confused. Bring back the pre-2018 Jim Bell.

1 0

Right we have bargained away
by jim bell 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/12/right-to-jury-trial-penal… The Bill of Rights exists to protect individuals. It protects the right to free speech, the right to due process, the right to counsel, and the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment, just to name a few. If a government official tries to deprive an individual of one of those constitutional rights, then the courts are supposed to intervene. But that’s not what happens when it comes to one of the most important rights for criminal defendants—the right to a jury trial. Instead of protecting defendants’ right to have their guilt or innocence decided by their peers, judges routinely punish defendants for exercising that right. Specifically, judges regularly impose longer sentences on those defendants who insist on going to trial than on those defendants who plead guilty. A 2018 report shows that, on average, defendants who insist on a trial receive sentences three times longer than those of defendants who plead guilty. This practice is so common that it even has a name: the “trial penalty.” The executive branch of government has followed the courts’ lead; many prosecutors pressure defendants to bargain away their right to a jury. They will offer defendants concessions—such as dropping some criminal charges or recommending leniency at sentencing—in return for a guilty plea. Plea bargains dominate the system. Only 3 percent of convictions are the result of a trial—the rest come from guilty pleas. As the Supreme Court put it, “Criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials.”

1 0

Burn Notice
by professor rat 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

Telegram Founder Expresses Support for Toncoin Project Durov noted the continuous evolution of the TON technology. moxie ·Dec 24 Telegram stores all your contacts, groups, media, and every message you've ever sent or received in plaintext on their servers. The app on your phone is just a "view" onto their servers, where the data actually lives. Almost everything you see in the app, Telegram also sees 2/

1 0

El salvador bitcoins missing
by professor rat 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

A good working definition of fascism is modern technology and science put to work for radical reaction. But its not as if we weren't warned repeatedly here on this list about the proverbial " Fork in the Road " between Cryptoanarchy and the Dossier society. You don't get half-pregnant with this stuff - and trying to straddle any political barbed-wire fence will soon leave you politically impotent. I had thousands in Btc up to a few months ago - I barely have two sats to deadpool Jackass Dorsey today. So the Big God route eluded us then - that's no matter - tomorrow we'll run faster - stretch out our hands further. The revolution is dead - long live the revolution!

1 0

agricultural technofascism
by professor rat 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

This may be reckoned from wider publication of the fascist " Manifesto of the Communist Party " in 1850. https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.h… in most advanced countries, the following will be pretty generally applicable. 1. Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes. 2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax. ( SNIP as I agree) 4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels. 5. Centralisation of credit in the hands of the state, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly. 6. Centralisation of the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State. 7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan. 8. Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

1 0

Cryptocurrency: Chivo "Wallet", El Salvador Bitcoins Missing, Algorand, BCH
by grarpamp 25 Dec '21

25 Dec '21

> https://www.newscientist.com/article/2302383-hundreds-of-salvadorans-claim-… https://duckduckgo.com/?q="chivo+wallet" https://bitcoinist.com/from-the-ground-devastating-problems-with-the-chivo-… https://coingeek.com/shocker-bitcoin-in-el-salvador-is-fake/ https://www.siliconrepublic.com/enterprise/el-salvador-bitcoin-digital-wall… https://finance.yahoo.com/news/el-salvador-develop-blockchain-infrastructur… https://cryptosrus.com/did-you-know-el-salvadors-chivo-app-runs-on-algorand/ https://chivowallet.com/ https://wallet.chivo.com/ "Chivo Wallet" appears to be GovWare, not opensource, and supposedly uses Lightning L2 Network which has its own issues, but may be using something else under the hood as well... Algorand. And is likely running on malware infested shitphones, likely by many clueless people unfortunately. Not your platform, not your wallet, not your keys, not your bitcoin. Quality opensource true bitcoin wallets exist, Salvadoreans should be using those instead, leaving Chivo only to be used for the "dollar". If they want something "Bitcoin" that scales to their size at least for today, they should be using Bitcoin_Cash-BCH. However at least one of the most popular BCH wallets is not opensource, which is a big PR problem, same as many BTC wallets are not opensource either. Editorial 17 December 2021 Kurt Wuckert Jr Meet Juan. Juan is a Salvadoran everyman: the representative on Chivowallet.com showing just how disruptive he can be by using bitcoin* while living on about $4,000 per year working hard factory or agricultural labor. Bitcoin on mobile phone Like many Salvadorans, Juan is concerned about the purchasing power of the local currency. Actually, no, he probably isn’t because El Salvador uses U.S. dollars, and despite some of the very real problems with U.S. fiat, the dollar is a welcome cornerstone of stability in a country where the President is cited for bringing the military into the chambers of their legislature to make sure they know who’s boss! Freedom is a laser-eyed, fascist military manFreedom is a laser-eyed, fascist military man, right guys? While internet service is uncommon everywhere except the capital, murder, assault, rape, armed robbery and other violent crimes are quite common. Gang activity, such as extortion, violent street crime, as well as narcotics and arms trafficking, is widespread. Due to the lack of resources, local police often fail to respond effectively to serious criminal incidents. So what is Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele focusing on? BITCOIN*! Bitcoin on mobile phone Tired of missing out on big gainz, Juan uses bitcoin* with the Chivo wallet! Well, kind of. He’s actually using Lightning Network* when he spends an average of $8.00 on a typical meal in the capital of El Salvador. Actually, probably not that either given that most of the country is rural and lacks basic infrastructure and smartphones are still quite uncommon outside the capital. You see, BTC doesn’t work for poor people since MasterCard re-engineered it through their Silicon Valley incubators. Bitcoin on twitterJust ask Blockstream executives! In reality, Chivo Wallet only pretends to use bitcoin* or Lightning Network* while actually setting up a custodial payments account on their centralized Lightning Network* node and settling using an internal proprietary process that actually negates the use of the blockchain at all. It’s ok though because he is still holding bitcoin* to protect himself from inflation in his poverty-stricken nation, right? Well, with wages and cost of living the way they are, Juan probably isn’t able to save anyways. He just needs a low-friction way to pay his bills and buy essential items. So, Lightning Network* it is… Actually, it’s not that either Chivo Wallet isn’t using BTC or Lightning Network* at all. El Salvador, while pretending to be BTC maximalists, actually signed a deal with the Algorand blockchain to handle their national blockchain infrastructure because BTC and Lightning Network* are both incapable of handling the traffic of a country the size of El Salvador, and the hype around “Bitcoin* Beach” and the rest of their marketing nonsense is little more than a ploy for Bukele to attempt to join the technocratic elite of what he’s guessing will be the future! But how do we know this? CryptosRUS reported: “Little do people know that when El-Salvadorians buy a cup of coffee with Bitcoin* via the Chivo app, that is being done via Algorand payment rails. There are different parties involved, but Algorand underpins the app.” And who are those “different parties?” DCG portfolio companies of course! BitGo, Bitso and others handle a bunch of the processes while the blockchain that is actually used for finality is Algorand deployed at the national level. El Salvador is working with @koibanx to leverage #Algorand for government blockchain infrastructure. Felicidades to the Koibanx team on their continued progress in #LatAm! 👉 https://t.co/4G1162TF1D pic.twitter.com/yPrHhcmJBd — Algorand (@Algorand) August 31, 2021 So what does this mean? Well, it means (gasp!) the small blockers have lied to us all again while hyping up a complete non-story while compromising their morals and the underpinnings of bitcoin in an attempt to pump their bags to the detriment of people (like Juan) who could actually use some very real help in the world! So, let’s get back to Juan. He can’t really save any money because his economy is terrible, and due to economic controls and generations of war, there isn’t a whole lot of hope either. And rather than actually fighting to bring real economic opportunity, he’s being paraded out for the benefit of technocratic elites at the hand of the elites that rule his homeland with an iron first. I’m sorry, Juan. We really have been trying to help this whole time by protecting the Bitcoin protocol so that it wouldn’t have to run on Algorand, Mastercard or any other rails at all. We wanted you to be able to do peer-to-peer commerce with every sat beholden to proof of work with instant and reliable transactions and a system that builds trust by securing your property rights in places where fascist dictators can’t take them away from you. We have taken bumps and bruises too, but Bitcoin SV is ready to help you actually fix your nation’s maliciously broken economy. We just have to keep working to secure all of our freedom! Curious about those asterisks? *They are using Algorand. Cope.

1 0