Topic: [2020-08-15] US Prosecutors Seize Bitcoin Allegedly Tied to AlQaeda, ISIS, Hamas (Read 588 times)
September 13, 2020, 08:15:12 PM
@bryant.coleman. It is almost similar to saying that bitcoin's usecase as a speculative investment has surpassed its usecase as a tool for political liberation and autonomy on 2013 hehe.
September 13, 2020, 08:47:53 AM
I reckon bitcointalk might be under heavy surveilance before because there were many radical libertarians. At present, not anymore. Too many account farmers and spammers hehehehe.
Yeah.. when I first joined Bitcointalk in 2012, a lot of the users were Libertarian (including me) and some of them were quite radical. But back then, most of the users were ideologically driven. Very few of us thought in 2012 that Bitcoin exchange rates would go up by 4,000x. Then we had the bull runs of 2013, and this attracted the money-minded users. A very few of the Libertarian users of 2012 are still here, but I am noticing their posts less often nowadays. Many of these accounts have gone dormant. A few might have got hacked and taken over by spammers.
September 09, 2020, 10:02:48 PM
@Betwrong. Everything you see on tv about the government and those politicians there is a charade. It is entertainment.
Also, agreed. Low level politicians like mayors might not risk their careers, however, on the highest level they give the order to drop bombs, put the public under surveilance and maybe send some innocent people to Guantanamo Bay in the name of democracy hehehe.
Also, agreed. Low level politicians like mayors might not risk their careers, however, on the highest level they give the order to drop bombs, put the public under surveilance and maybe send some innocent people to Guantanamo Bay in the name of democracy hehehe.
September 09, 2020, 04:05:56 AM
@Betwrong. You trust the government that it will not lie to its country's citizens? Some skepticism would be nice hehehe.
In any case, that statement I just made might add me to their surveilance list hehehe.
In any case, that statement I just made might add me to their surveilance list hehehe.
I don't trust the government. What I trust is that they won't risk their careers, doing something that is illegal. Well, there are exceptions, of course, and that's why we should always keep an eye on them, but, in general, they just want to earn good money, associated with their position, and they don't want to lose that position(and maybe even their freedom) because of some illegal activity.
In a one-party state the situation is completely different. People from the government violate the Constitution all the time, and if someone points that out, that person goes to prison. But when in a Western democratic country someone from the government breaks the law, an opposition party is more than happy to point that out. And the result is not persecution of the opposition, but changes in the corrupted government, or even complete change of the whole government.
What I'm trying to say is that there is a difference between the possibility and harmfulness of unlawful surveillance in a one-party state and that in a country like USA or UK. Anti-Western propagandists say that the situation is worse in the West. But it's a lie.
September 08, 2020, 07:40:11 PM
@Betwrong. You trust the government that it will not lie to its country's citizens? Some skepticism would be nice hehehe.
In any case, that statement I just made might add me to their surveilance list hehehe.
In any case, that statement I just made might add me to their surveilance list hehehe.
September 08, 2020, 03:40:05 AM
NSA can't collect metadata without help from phone companies. And phone companies can now say NSA to go f*ck themselves if asked to assist in bulk collection of Americans' metadata.
You may not know it, but they don't call that agency "no such agency" for no reason. With all that o_e_l_e_o has written, you need to know that privacy, human rights, and everything that goes with the semblance of democracy mean nothing when it comes to national security, which is a priority after the 9/11 attacks.
And I can't think that all major phone companies are part of the conspiracy. It's too much for my brain to grasp. 
Everyone and everything is under control, and whoever refuses to cooperate is very quickly out of the game - what Snowden discovered is not only what many think only about the United States, but about a global total surveillance operation that even went as far as tapping the German chancellor's cell phone.
The German government summoned the US ambassador on 24 October - a very unusual step - after German media reported that the NSA had eavesdropped on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.
The allegations dominated an EU summit, with Mrs Merkel demanding a full explanation and warning that trust between allies could be undermined. She discussed the matter by phone with US President Barack Obama. He assured her that her calls were not being monitored now and that it would not happen in future. But the White House did not deny bugging her phone in the past.
The allegations dominated an EU summit, with Mrs Merkel demanding a full explanation and warning that trust between allies could be undermined. She discussed the matter by phone with US President Barack Obama. He assured her that her calls were not being monitored now and that it would not happen in future. But the White House did not deny bugging her phone in the past.
Yes, but all of that happened before the Congress passed the USA Freedom Act in 2015, right? Since then it has become much harder to spy on regular citizens, and that's what's important. I'm not idealizing NSA and the likes. They consist of humans, not at all perfect creatures, with all the attendant issues. I'm just saying that in the Western World peoples' freedoms expand over time, and not the vice versa, like dictatorship governments want their citizens to believe.
September 07, 2020, 08:45:48 PM
No NSA fan myself, so I'm not going to defend them. Snooping on Americans' phone records was definitely a violation of the right to privacy, among others. The good news is that it's over now
Perhaps now we have one more reason to avoid voice calls through phone and do that through Whatsapp or other VoIP services. Since they are encrypted, I don't think that anyone can snoop them (unless someone physically manages to install spyware on the phone). In this case they have done that to the terrorists, but I am sure that there may be other incidents, when this was done to law abiding citizens.
The NSA, CIA, MI6, the Russians, Israel and all competent spy agencies have webcrawlers that collect all public forum posts, blogs, social media posts, some leaked emails and more. If your posts and expressions are consistent in having I hate the government, down on democracy, praise Allah, jihad jihad jihad, dirty bombs and many more, you will be closely under surveilance.
I reckon bitcointalk might be under heavy surveilance before because there were many radical libertarians. At present, not anymore. Too many account farmers and spammers hehehehe.
September 07, 2020, 06:03:42 AM
NSA can't collect metadata without help from phone companies. And phone companies can now say NSA to go f*ck themselves if asked to assist in bulk collection of Americans' metadata.
You may not know it, but they don't call that agency "no such agency" for no reason. With all that o_e_l_e_o has written, you need to know that privacy, human rights, and everything that goes with the semblance of democracy mean nothing when it comes to national security, which is a priority after the 9/11 attacks.
And I can't think that all major phone companies are part of the conspiracy. It's too much for my brain to grasp.
Everyone and everything is under control, and whoever refuses to cooperate is very quickly out of the game - what Snowden discovered is not only what many think only about the United States, but about a global total surveillance operation that even went as far as tapping the German chancellor's cell phone.
The German government summoned the US ambassador on 24 October - a very unusual step - after German media reported that the NSA had eavesdropped on Chancellor Angela Merkel's mobile phone.
The allegations dominated an EU summit, with Mrs Merkel demanding a full explanation and warning that trust between allies could be undermined. She discussed the matter by phone with US President Barack Obama. He assured her that her calls were not being monitored now and that it would not happen in future. But the White House did not deny bugging her phone in the past.
The allegations dominated an EU summit, with Mrs Merkel demanding a full explanation and warning that trust between allies could be undermined. She discussed the matter by phone with US President Barack Obama. He assured her that her calls were not being monitored now and that it would not happen in future. But the White House did not deny bugging her phone in the past.
September 07, 2020, 04:32:51 AM
Doing something which is not prohibited, therefore assuming it's permitted, is one thing. But doing something which is against the law is entirely another.
The NSA have a long and consistent record of ignoring the law and just doing whatever they like. And again, these are only the things that have been publicly revealed. What is going on behind closed doors is almost certainly much worse.https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2018/09/nsa-continues-blame-technology-breaking-law
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/nsa-broke-privacy-rules-thousands-of-times-per-year-audit-finds/2013/08/15/3310e554-05ca-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb7eg9/the-nsas-12-year-struggle-to-follow-the-law
https://www.aclu.org/other/top-ten-myths-about-illegal-nsa-spying-program
Perhaps now we have one more reason to avoid voice calls through phone and do that through Whatsapp or other VoIP services.
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook, one of the worst companies for respecting privacy in existence (probably second only to Google). Further, there has been plenty of talk about Facebook building a "backdoor" in to WhatsApp to allow the government to decrypt communications when they like. Better to use an open source alternative like Signal or Element (which used to be called Riot).In this case they have done that to the terrorists, but I am sure that there may be other incidents, when this was done to law abiding citizens.
They do it to everyone, all the time. Anything you text, email, say, write or post online, or search for, is being monitored and recorded. If you want to maintain your privacy, then you must take active steps to do so. September 05, 2020, 11:46:58 PM
@Betwrong. There are individuals on the high level inside the government who are working with individuals on the high level in many different companies that give and take favors from each other. They do not play under the same rules as everyone hehehe. We have to wake up and accept this.
September 05, 2020, 04:24:21 AM
The good news is that it's over now
I would bet every satoshi I have that it isn't.Well, I wouldn't.
Doing something which is not prohibited, therefore assuming it's permitted, is one thing. But doing something which is against the law is entirely another.NSA can't collect metadata without help from phone companies. And phone companies can now say NSA to go f*ck themselves if asked to assist in bulk collection of Americans' metadata.
And I can't think that all major phone companies are part of the conspiracy. It's too much for my brain to grasp.
September 04, 2020, 07:49:57 PM
@Betwrong. Hehehe, do not trust the official reports. Many of those reports are not 100% true.
In any case, you might say that I am a conspiracy theorist, however, you already know that the government is lying frequently. Why would you not be a conspiracy theorist hehehe?
In any case, you might say that I am a conspiracy theorist, however, you already know that the government is lying frequently. Why would you not be a conspiracy theorist hehehe?
September 04, 2020, 06:50:04 AM
The good news is that it's over now
I would bet every satoshi I have that it isn't. September 04, 2020, 06:38:46 AM
So, I believe, many lives were saved thanks to the surveillance.
I read this today so thought I would share it here: https://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-phone-snooping-illegal-court-finds-2020-9Despite monitoring all the mobile phone data of millions of Americans for years, the NSA could only point to a single criminal case where this data was used, and it turns out that even then it was irrelevant to the conviction. So not only did the mass surveillance not prevent a single terrorist attack, but it wasn't even useful in convicting terrorists after the attacks had taken place. That, of course, didn't stop them from blatantly lying and saying that such programs are vital to preventing terrorist attacks.
Now, ask yourself why the government would continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on mass surveillance when they knew it wasn't preventing attacks or leading to convictions?
Population control.
No NSA fan myself, so I'm not going to defend them. Snooping on Americans' phone records was definitely a violation of the right to privacy, among others. The good news is that it's over now:
The NSA's program of collecting bulk metadata was discontinued in 2015 when Congress passed the USA Freedom Act.
Imo, they(NSA, CIA, FBI and the likes) shouldn't be allowed to do whatever they want. Yet, I wouldn't go so far to say that the world would be a better place without them. There are evil people in this world, who have to be stopped. But, of course, the "stoppers" must be under constant public supervision.
September 03, 2020, 09:18:46 AM
Now, ask yourself why the government would continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on mass surveillance when they knew it wasn't preventing attacks or leading to convictions?
I am not following these minute details but one thing is certain that we have not seen any major terrorist attack in the US for a very long time and whether these mass surveillance has anything to do with is out of my scope. One thing i am finding it hard to understand is that how come they are able to identify bitcoins linked to terrorism, they might have seized the coins claiming the users have links to terrorism but there is no proof regarding that.
September 03, 2020, 08:00:27 AM
So, I believe, many lives were saved thanks to the surveillance.
I read this today so thought I would share it here: https://www.businessinsider.com/nsa-phone-snooping-illegal-court-finds-2020-9Despite monitoring all the mobile phone data of millions of Americans for years, the NSA could only point to a single criminal case where this data was used, and it turns out that even then it was irrelevant to the conviction. So not only did the mass surveillance not prevent a single terrorist attack, but it wasn't even useful in convicting terrorists after the attacks had taken place. That, of course, didn't stop them from blatantly lying and saying that such programs are vital to preventing terrorist attacks.
Now, ask yourself why the government would continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on mass surveillance when they knew it wasn't preventing attacks or leading to convictions?
Population control.
August 28, 2020, 12:36:00 PM
Seizing crime munitions is good.
Defining crime harder
Defining crime harder
August 28, 2020, 06:55:47 AM
But today I have come to realization that we would have 9/11 happening every week, if there were no surveillance.
Again, I'm going to absolutely disagree with that. 
First of all, I have seen very little evidence that mass surveillance leads to fewer terrorist attacks, catching criminals, or is effective in any way. The NSA have been unable to provide a single example of a terrorist attack being prevented by their mass surveillance program.
Secondly, mass surveillance predominantly spies on law abiding citizens. "If you make privacy illegal, then only criminals will have privacy". Terrorists aren't stupid - they know how to use Tor, how to use encryption, how to hide their tracks.
Mass surveillance is about control of the population, nothing more.
Again, I don't want you to change your skeptical attitude. No, no! Keep an eye on them f***ers!
But I personally think that when Obama was saying:
“We know of at least 50 threats that have been averted because of this information, not just in the United States but in some cases threats here in Germany,” he said. “So lives have been saved.”
it was at least half-truth. So, I believe, many lives were saved thanks to the surveillance.
August 27, 2020, 10:46:33 PM
It might become longer and farther as blockchain analytics improve hehehe.
True, but the longer and farther back they look then the more and more bitcoin will be deemed "tainted". If they decide to look back far enough, then pretty much every bitcoin in circulation will be "tainted" and they would have to shut down because of lack of customers. Whatever cut off they use will be completely arbitrary and therefore meaningless.Also, if the government can pressure a centralized exchange or a bank and order them to deny you of their service, this is similar to censorship. This only shows one of the weaknesses of a transparent blockchain.
It's absolutely censorship, but it only shows the weakness of using centralized services. There is nothing a government can do to stop me trading on Bisq, for example.It might not be entirely meaningless because there might also be cases where the government would find any type of culpability. You know how they can be hehehe.
Cryptocoin to cryptocoin there is nothing they can do, however cryptocoin to fiat, there might be something. I have heard of bank accounts being frozen because the user made bitcoin trades with payments sent to his bank account.
August 27, 2020, 10:33:58 AM
But today I have come to realization that we would have 9/11 happening every week, if there were no surveillance.
Again, I'm going to absolutely disagree with that. First of all, I have seen very little evidence that mass surveillance leads to fewer terrorist attacks, catching criminals, or is effective in any way. The NSA have been unable to provide a single example of a terrorist attack being prevented by their mass surveillance program.
Secondly, mass surveillance predominantly spies on law abiding citizens. "If you make privacy illegal, then only criminals will have privacy". Terrorists aren't stupid - they know how to use Tor, how to use encryption, how to hide their tracks.
Mass surveillance is about control of the population, nothing more.
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