Kid gets 15y for ISIS Bitcoin, Adults get Facialed at Download

grarpamp grarpamp at gmail.com
Mon Jun 15 13:55:53 PDT 2015


On Mon, Jun 15, 2015 at 2:30 PM, Tim Beelen <tim at diffalt.com> wrote:
> Well, first off it is commonly known that aiding and abetting a
> known terrorist group is a crime anywhere.

Really? Do these criminals have internet access? Yes. Then Google
Search is aiding and abetting. So is GNUPG, and TAILS and FORD Motor
Company, any other dual use technology you can imagine. The crime
is not in spreading and seeking knowledge, even if it is applied
to thought crime. The only real crime is when a perpetrator chooses
to act in the real world, such as blowing shit up or murdering
people.

Your argument would be like GE, Boeing and Raytheon being found
guilty of teaching the US Government how to murder by drone built
from parts, when in fact it is the US President that is guilty of
the real crime of pulling the trigger.

> Secondly, I'd like to present the following hypothesis: the
> actuator or the currency used to procure whatever an ISIS-fighter
> might want or need will take the form of US$ in exchange for some
> commodity.

True... for cases where Bitcoin itself isn't readily usable or
exchangeable, such as areas where digital tools and internet
or other transport are minimal.

Exchange, trade, BTC, Hawala are all intertwined and circular...
to receive value in you need to offer balancing value out, whether
it's BTC, USD, (IQD/SYP/AFN/LYD/NGN/PKR/YER), opium, hash, oil,
food, products, murder...

> But I won't digress on that point.

As you said, the region is awash in USD and various "helping hands"
from different places. That's always prone to runaway reactions.
And sometimes they're by design.

> What is important is if governments are so easy to point out that
> things beyond their control are so nefarious because they themselves
> are unable to control it

Claiming nefariousness is often a nefarious control mechanism itself.
Lack of control enables balancing effects against such control
and as such is not necessarily a bad thing in itself.
Be careful when demanding control mechanisms, lest they be
turned against you in the future.



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