"So where do you stand on the ransomware and the images of child abuse?" I might have filled my Bingo card if you suggested I might also be an apologist for terrorists.
Probably we won't see eye to eye on this or other topics, -Travis On Sun, May 23, 2021 at 11:55 PM Phillip Hallam-Baker <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sun, May 23, 2021 at 10:41 PM Travis Biehn <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> "There is much more that could be said on the immorality of criminal >> currencies but the verdict is clear: These are despicable instruments >> being peddled by despicable, greedy people who cloak their immorality >> with fine talk of 'freedom' and vicious personal attacks on anyone who >> dares tell the truth." >> >> Buying marijuana was just one of the 'immoral criminal and despicable' >> uses for 'criminal currency'. Soon we'll be able to use US dollars to >> buy pot from Philip-Morris. > > > I didn't mention cannabis specifically, and given that it is legal most > places and not difficult to get most other places, that is clearly not the > bulk of what I was referring to when I said 'Not unless you want to buy > drugs, images of children being raped, collect ransomware extortion or evade > exchange controls' > >> >> Some people's crimes are other people's freedom. > > > So where do you stand on the ransomware and the images of child abuse? > >> >> This should be a >> widely understood concept on LibTech where technology is used to help >> individuals and organizations mobilize against oppressors of all >> types. You might get pushback on the idea of an 'accountable internet' >> to stop internet crime, here. > > > And what if the oppressors here are the bitcoin whales, the crooked > exchanges, the drug dealers, ransomware extortionists and child rapists? > > Speech is just communication but moving money is an act. > > When we built the Web we understood very clearly that it would have political > implications. There was a civil war going on in Sarajevo at the time, I was > meeting people from the UN who were going back and forth. We had a Web server > in the city during the siege. > > The whole point of the Web was accountability from start to finish - > accountability of government, accountability of the press. The idea was to > create a feedback loop so that we didn't have to rely on the likes of > Murdoch, Maxwell and Black to filter the news for us. The Web set up an > invidious choice for your unfriendly neighborhood dictator - embrace the > Internet and let it slowly corrode your political system from within or keep > it out and see your economy stagnate. > > When I helped put together the WebPKI, accountability was the foundational > principle. Without accountability, there can be no trust and without trust, > there can be no commerce. > > Let's say you were going to use BTC at therealmarijuanashop.com. What is your > recourse if they don't deliver? How do you know you can trust them? The > answer is none and you don't. > When authoritarians use the terms 'freedom' and 'accountability' they mean > freedom for me and accountability for thee. My goal is to do it the other way > round. But enabling a crime spree doesn't serve either objective. > -- Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub | TravisBiehn.com -- Liberationtech is public & archives are searchable from any major commercial search engine. Violations of list guidelines will get you moderated: https://lists.ghserv.net/mailman/listinfo/lt. Unsubscribe, change to digest mode, or change password by emailing [email protected].
