What did you expect?

Some days ago there was some guy posting about even though he'd transferred BTC from a gambling site to his own wallet and only then to Coinbase (or whatever centralized exchange it was), the exchange had now seized the BTC and/or started asked questions.Yesterday there was a monster thread complaining about intrusive KYC questions from Bitstamp.I don't get it.You lot are using transparent (privacyless) blockchains AND complaining that your transactions can, have, and ARE being actively tracked?!.You use centralized exchanges that under the force of law are REQUIRED to spy and report you AND you complain that they rape your privacy?.Seriously, it's time to wake up.The fourth reich is sprawled all over this planet. The wires are tapped, your internet activity is logged, your cellphone location and metadata is stored and automatically analyzed, your bank transactions/history have long been fair game, and..What did you expect ?That your crypto transactions would not be? On a transparent blockchain?!Wake up.The powers that be have been hard at work to account for every cent you own, under the guise of anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorism, for years.We had FATCA and now we have the CRS, bank privacy has been severely eroded over the last decade, civil asset forfeiture is going to become a thing in Europe (the US has long been down that rabbit hole, somehow I doubt that US law enforcement is going to give up such a sweet deal), major "first-world" governments are pushing the cashless society concept forward like it's going out of style, and..What did you expect ?That they would leave crypto, where YOU can be the bank, where you DON'T depend on third parties to process (and thus control, censor and surveil) your transactions, alone?Come on.Look at the new AMLd 5, straight from the horses mouth, they would very much like to know every crypto address that belongs to you - and everyone else - well, given the transparent nature of most of the blockchains, and you can bet future laws that make payment processors and merchants share payment data (addresses, etc) with the government, you can bet that in time the government will know everyone you send crypto to, and what you pay for with crypto.Listen up.Unless you want cryptocurrency to go the way of the Internet post-9/11 (mass-surveillance) it's time to learn about privacy preserving technology.The irony of this sub is that this will come across as shilling or whatever, but believe me, I care very little for which cryptocurrency tech/coin we end up adopting, as long as it helps us preserve privacy and anonymity.If you think P&A is only for criminals, you're severely misguided. The only thing that a society without P&A is going to lead to is a totalitarian society where the government and the big corporations know your every move and have immense control over your life. Look at what is happening in China today with the social credit system, that is what is in store for us, UNLESS.Unless you stop paying for everything with your silly debit card. Use cash, ffs. Use it or LOSE IT.Unless you stop paying for stuff online with 100% transparent, surveillance-friendly cryptocurrency. Use Monero, ffs, the transactions cost less than a cent.And you think I'm shilling? Great, then do your own research, look into Zcash, Dash, and god forbid Verge, but I'm telling you, Monero is the best choice right now.Most of you get too tribal about this stuff, who cares which one it is, as long as it works and it PROTECTS OUR RIGHTS.Bitcoin doesn't, I hope you can see that. Maybe one day it will, but I find that very doubtful (would love to be wrong though) because Bitcoin is rightly so very conservative with changes to the protocol. And opt-out privacy (like Monero) would be quite the change.I really, really suggest that you consider what a future devoid of personal privacy looks like. And then, for your sake, for my sake, and for the sake of our children, I really suggest that you think long and hard whether you want to be a part of that world or not.It is not inevitable, but the totalitarian current is very strong at this moment. If it goes unchallenged, such measures will only grow in scope.This goes way, way beyond crypto moons, great profits, and all that.I hope that you can see that, and I hope that you will also do something about it.https://ift.tt/2SYhOzP will end with this.There will be those who say that we need such rules to prevent terrorism and money laundering, and that such measures are to some degree effective in combating such problems.My answer to that is that were you to mandate everyone to wear a body camera permanently recording everything, crime would also surely go down. If you're under surveillance 24/7, then of course you adjust your behavior and will likely refrain from criminal activity.But at what societal cost? At what cost to human dignity?Are we children, ruled over by a powerful daddy government, that demands to account for every cent, because we might have been naughty ?Understand this. The notion that "this person MAY be a terrorist, or MAY be helping terrorists financially", or "this person MAY be laundering ill-acquired monies", this notion is by nature paranoid, suspicious-by-default.It makes every transaction, every person, suspicious by default.To me that does not seem like a sane default.It is a totalitarian manifestation.Can you imagine the same logic applied elsewhere? "We cannot allow them to have encrypted communications, as they MIGHT be terrorists, or MIGHT be communicating with terrorists, or they MIGHT be spreading 'hate' speech).Well, actually I guess we can imagine that, courtesy of Australia.But do you see where that leads? It leads to stripping everyone naked whether they want to or not, it leads to suspicion of those who'd rather keep some modesty going, it leads to bullying and misapplication of state power.It grows the state and shrinks the individual. And thus it is anti-liberty.Can you imagine if, at the dawn of the Internet age, we all had to ask daddy government for permission to contact ANYONE online, because they MIGHT be terrorists, MIGHT be criminals ? How much that would have stifled progress and inovation and intercultural understanding?Now imagine having to answer for every single time you decide to send $200 to your good friend in Russia or Paraguay or the Congo.You MIGHT be laundering money, he MIGHT be a criminal.Questions will be asked.Is that the future you want to be part of?No, me neither.So do something about that. Today.As usual, DYOR, but I recommend Monero.When it comes to protecting financial privacy, it is the best tool we have available today. Whether this will remain so or not, I can't know.But I know this: A world where financial privacy is banished because "criminals also want it" is a world where human freedom is severely restricted.And I like my freedom.Do you?

Submitted February 25, 2019 at 03:22PM