Digital Privacy and Anonymity: Why it's important and how to achieve it! How to maintain your privacy online.

[Winnie the Pooh]

I knew of a vendor on Silk Road who went to prison because, by his own admission, he wasn't disciplined enough to use PGP for every message to his customers. The vendor described what it was like, having their private messages (PMs) read aloud in court as evidence against them.

They said, point-blank, that if they had used PGP for everything, there would have been no evidence to use against them in court.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

There is an old Chinese curse that goes, "May you live in interesting times."

There is a superb post over on Dread/TMG, outlining some changes that are due to come into effect, as the result of the passage of the infrastructure bill. A cryptocurrency crackdown is one of them. I don't think this is going to affect buyers so much, as it will vendors.

Here it comes... LONG post -- please note that I am NOT the author, and I expressly disclaim any knowledge of U.S. law, crypto regulations, or taxes.

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acidfire000
Europol: 150 Vendors Arrested in operation “Dark HunTOR”
« on: October 27, 2021, 02:26:33 am »

[CLEARNET LINK WARNING] darknetlive.com/post/europol-150-vendors-arrested-in-operation-dark-huntor/

Quote from: darknetlive

As part of an international operation called Dark HunTOR, law enforcement arrested the administrators of Deep Sea Market, Berlusconi Market, and 150 vendors.

This will surely produce countless news articles in the future. Interesting how quickly they caught the administrators of DeepSea. The Italian Guardia di Finanza launched an investigation into the DeepSea suspects in July 2020, according to their own announcement.

A picture of

Announcement from Europol:

Police forces across the world have arrested 150 alleged suspects involved in buying or selling illicit goods on the dark web as part of a coordinated international operation involving nine countries.

More than €26.7 million (USD 31 million) in cash and virtual currencies have been seized in this operation, as well as 234 kg of drugs and 45 firearms. The seized drugs include 152 kg of amphetamine, 27 kg of opioids and over 25 000 ecstasy pills.

This operation, known as Dark HunTOR, was composed of a series of separate but complementary actions in Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, with coordination efforts led by Europol and Eurojust.

Operation Dark HunTOR stems from the takedown earlier this year of DarkMarket, the world’s then-largest illegal marketplace on the dark web. At the time, German authorities arrested the marketplace’s alleged operator and seized the criminal infrastructure, providing investigators across the world with a trove of evidence. Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) has since been compiling intelligence packages to identify the key targets.

A picture of

As a result, 150 vendors and buyers who engaged in tens of thousands of sales of illicit goods were arrested across Europe and the United States. A number of these suspects were considered as High-Value Targets by Europol.

These arrests took place in the United States (65), Germany (47), the United Kingdom (24), Italy (4), the Netherlands (4), France (3), Switzerland (2) and Bulgaria (1). A number of investigations are still ongoing to identify additional individuals behind dark web accounts.

In the framework of this operation the Italian authorities also shut down the DeepSea and Berlusconi dark web marketplaces, which together boasted over 100 000 announcements of illegal products. Four administrators were arrested, and €3.6 million in cryptocurrencies seized.

Might have buried the lede a bit by highlighting the vendor arrests instead of the DeepSea bust.

Guardia di Finanza:

The investigation, launched in July 2020, made it possible to identify in the province of Modena a subject active in the recycling of cryptocurrencies as well as the creator and creator of a Black Market of the Dark Web, called DeepSea, and to bring him under arrest together to another subject.

During the operation, Bitcoin (BTC) and Monero (XMR) were also seized, for a value of approximately 3.6 million euros, n. 3 luxury cars for about 370,000 Euros, n. 9 branded watches for around 90,000 euros, as well as various computer devices used to commit the crimes.

The personal computers, notebooks and smartphones seized during the operation were examined according to the best forensic analysis techniques to reconstruct both the illegal activities carried out through the Black Market and the movements of virtual currency connected to illegal exchanges made with the platform. Bitcoins and Monero are in fact the virtual currencies very widespread in the world of illegality connected to illicit trafficking in the Dark Web and to the activities of laundering “dirty money”, activities capable of making earnings of thousands of euros per month.

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Re: Europol: 150 Vendors Arrested in operation “Dark HunTOR”
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2021, 09:53:03 pm »

I responded to a similar post about this on Dread last week when the authorities in the USA made the announcement about Operation HunTOR. It seems like that press conference was the victory lap on 10-12 months of investigations and arrests. They used Darknet Market as a honey pot of info by linking large buyers and sellers via unencrypted info and meta data. The fed have the time and the resources to sit in the shadows and wait to pounce. Right now that resource cannon is pointing at the sellers of counterfeit pills (addies/oxys/xannies), opiates, meth, crack/cocaine and other drugs that's perceived to be "eroding the fabric of society". But make no mistake they have no problem arresting a sloppy vendor of soft-core drugs like psychedelics if the opportunity presents itself. If your like me, a vendors that ships packs in the post there is always going to be trace evidence. I don't care how clean you are, how safe you are. People seem to forget that our government has satelites in space with the ability to read license plate numbers on earth. Will they take ot that far, probably not, but you never know what methods or tech they have in that background nor do you know how far they will go to find their targets. They are starting to hone in their skills and one can assume they will continue till they master it.

If your a drug shipping vendor and they want you bad enough the odds will fall in their favor. Your weakest areas as a vendor are always going to be the drop/mailing and the cashout. If your sourcing from the DNM's then incomming supply can be a weak point too. If the government wants you bad enough and decides to focus that massive resource cannon at you or your drug sector then the only thing you can do if you plan to continue is mitigate as much risk as possible, stay on top of your OPSEC protocol, and pray your ticket doesn't get punched.

The governments of first world nations aren't fucking around. Soon it may be illegal to mix coins here in the USA and cryptos like monero and many of the DeFi protocols which remain near impossible to track will fall in a grey area. It will be a felony if your caught lying about crypto holdings during tax time. Real world US Bank accounts that have more then $600 (EDIT: It's now accounts with more then $10,000 in non-work related wages that will auto-report to the IRS - This will start DEC 2022).... THE INFRASTRUCTURE BILL PASSED AND WILL BE SIGNED INTO LAW ANY DAY NOW... TAKE THE NEXT FEW MONTHS TO GET YOUR HOUSE IN ORDER BEFORE ALL THE NEW RULES TAKE EFFECT ON DEC 2022. Basically if you have ANY account that goes over $10,000 in non-wage payments the IRS will be able to see FUNDS IN and FUNDS OUT on an on-going warrantless basis. Before this info required a warrant. Crypto exchanges will also be under similar rules. Much of this legal language is tucked away in that Infrastructure Bill that just passed yesterday. It's now up to the president to sign this bill and then the SEC, IRS, and Bank regulators over the coming months will come out with the exact framework. The "new" crypto czar is the SEC with the IRS acting as the tax-evasion enforcement arm. In addition to the bank rules if a clearnet merchant accepts more then $10,000 they will be required to file a currency transaction report which gets forwarded over to IRS/FINcen (US financial crimes).

The golden age of regulation-free crypto is coming to an end. Depending on how you look at it this can be good or bad. It will be good because institutional money will flood into crypto now that they feel safe and semi-regulated. This will theoretically cause crypto to skyrocket as trillions in wealth enter the market but it will be bad for you if your OPSEC isn't tuned in to the new rules and how to safely cash out crypto. Exchanges will also be forced to report total funds in and out and crypto purchase price for capital gains taxes. Everyones erroneously thinks this is happening now, and to a certain extent at some exchanges, in certain situations it is (usually if your over 200 transactions AND $20,000 the exchange will file a 1099-K on your behalf). That will also change and have more stringent tax requirements.

Basically, If your accounts show you moving hundreds of thousands in funds (or millions) and if your underclaiming or not claiming your darknet proceeds it will be light-years easier for them to spot irregularities then it is today. It sounds like they want to develop a "flagging system" to determine high risk accounts. Between the new tax and crypto laws and the 5000-7500 new IRS agents that will be hired to implement them so everyone whose in this space needs to reassess their OPSEC, tax, and cash out methods after fiscal year 2021 and make appropriate upgrades. A new era is upon us so make sure you take the time to educate yourself on tax law if your in the USA. Its a high risk high reward business and the government is turning up the heat with a multi-prong approach.

Just make sure you buy your darknet mansion and Ferrari before December 2022 8) Be safe out there friends!
« Last Edit: November 06, 2021, 02:22:48 pm by TrippyTMG »

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Re: Europol: 150 Vendors Arrested in operation “Dark HunTOR”

« Reply #4 on: Today at 11:22:55 am »

I imagine that arrest number will go significantly up with these new tax rules that are about to be implemented. The reason there was only 150-175 arrests over the course of 10-12 months is simple, these investigations are labor-intensive & very time consuming. I seen or heard somewhere that there's usually 20 or more people from multiple agencies and skill backgrounds just to make a single arrest for your average run of the mill vendor with "fair" OPSEC. These drug investigations are way more complex then busting a local dealer. In the old days they're weapon of choice was the Confidential Informants (CI), traffic stop/vehicle searches, and Stop N Frisk methods. Most of the time it was only a few officers from the same agency/same region working together for these local street dealer busts. They can't just come kicking down doors of everyone person they suspect of dealing online so they had to design a multi-prong approach and many darknet dealers are going to get caught up in one way or another with these new changes. That doesnt mean there gonna get popped for selling drugs necessarily but the new rules might tie them up from a tax point of view. The government is going back to it's roots pullin the ole Al Capone tax evasion tricks lol.

The IRS basically admitted that, eventhough crypto exchanges are "licensed" there is really no standardized reporting requirement. So they literally admitted in this one court document I recently read that they don't have a clue most of the time the identities of most of the customers using these clearnet licensed crypto exchanges. Its a tedious process to force exchanges into giving over that info and many exchanges have been known to challenges the government in court. So unless your under active investigation and the exchange gets forced to show them your identity then the IRS (and LE) cant see what your trading, how much your trading, or when your trading unless you or the exchange was voluntarily reporting that info. Very few, if any, provide that much info unless forced too, but most will report when certain thresholds are met. I'll explain some of the loopholes that will be closing in the next year or so. You can still use some loopholes but keep an eye on all these new rules will take effect so you dont fuck yourself because they will be closing.

Basically whats been happening over the last few years is the IRS shot themselves in the foot when they announced their crypto tax guidelines that came out 3-4 years ago. They were of the opinion that cryptocurrencies arent currencies at all but rather "property". Back then they said you had to pay capital gains on your profits. Well since it was "property" and not "currencies" many of the US based crypto exchanges took the position that they were the equivalent of the "ebays/amazons/etsy's" of the world when it comes to "selling" digital properties. So either you personally were responsible to self-report OR some of the exchanges would enact the same 1099-K thresholds (200 transactions & Over $20k revenue).

So the crypto exchanges that were reporting used the same exact taxing protocols that sites like Amazon and ebay used. So most of them would only report your transactions to the IRS if they were subpoenaed OR if you hit certain trading/sales thresholds. Not all of them followed the pack. Binance held out for a long time and I'm pretty sure Kraken to this day still doesnt report normal trades unless your trading margins, their stance has always been that you need to report your own earnings..... and herein lies the issue. There wasnt a framework so it was easy to avoid reporting requirements by dancing around to difference exchanges. For the exchanges that did report, like the coinbases, gemini, and Circle of the world you needed to have two things happen before they reported you - exchange OVER $20,000 & OVER 200 individual transactions... BOTH had to occur or the IRS wouldnt get a 1099-k on your behalf. This means they wouldnt know how much crypto you've been moving.

The feds are targeting everyone though, not just drug dealers. Lets say over the course of the year you earned a few million $$ in crypto profit and now you want to cash it out. As long as you dont go over that 200 transaction limit on the exchange the IRS never gets notified eventhough your well over that $20,000 limit NO 1099-K was filed to the IRS. Most of these exchanges will let you cash out hundreds of thousands in crypto in a single day with a personal non-business account on their exchange.... Surely the fed would have some system to flag something like that right? WRONG! With the current rules there's is a myth that if you deposit or send more then $10,000 that the IRS is going to find out and audit or pay you a visit, THIS IS CURRENTLY FALSE!.

That $10k rule that everyone mis-quotes, for the most part, only applies to physical cash entering your bank account (example: briefcase handed full of $100 bills deposited in person are your bank) - it also applies to certain "large" transactions where physical currency is used like buying a car or house with cash/greenbacks. Bank-wires go through the fed's wiring program but that program is designed to get the funds from point A to point B. The the IRS/FinCEN doesnt look at wires unless your on some sort of watch list or currently under active investigation. Most large vendors have their accounts under investigation but the actual person or group behind the accounts are still unknown. The only reporting requirement when it comes to domestic bank wires are that detailed records of wires OVER $3000 be kept locally by the bank for a period of 3 years BUT they don't get auto-sent to the IRS/FinCEN. This is one of the reasons so many exchanges choose wires over ACH withdraws.

When they wrote that rule crypto didnt exist and they figured that large wires were only going to come from licensed banks and trust companies. And the bank that was sending the funds would have already performed all the proper "due diligence" up till this point. So the only detailed record of a wire is stored locally at the bank that performs the transfer and it gets deleted after 3 years.

Domestic wires are not auto-reported to the enforcement arm of IRS unless the person moving the money is actively under investigation and the IRS contacts that bank for that specific wire report. Once your crypto is ready to be "cashed out" and you request a cashout from the exchange the exchange usually hits up one of their 3rd party partner banks to wire you the money. When you get that wire most of the time it only shows the exchange or their parent company as the sender (not you). in theory you could cash out hundreds of thousands, in not millions worth of illegal drug proceeds at a licensed exchange with no repercussions as long as you did 3 things:
1.) Used bank wires to avoid the old $10,000+ cash deposit/transfer rules that triggered a Currency Transaction Report
2.) Use privacy coins OR mix your traceable coins and send your funds to a few "shill accounts" to avoid being flagged by the exchanges "chain analysis programs" for using dirty or recently mixed coins.
3.) Make sure you never go over 200 transactions at the exchange (or bank at a non-reporting exchange)

Do I recommend using an exchange as a darknet dealer, fuck no! But many people are and the IRS is none the wiser, for now, but not for long. The rules are changing and the tax man will come-a-knockin. Now everything is changing and those exchange/bank wire loopholes I mentioned above are closing soon. When this new framework gets enacted several of the enforcement divisions and regulators within the US Government will have free access to monthly reports for ANY/ALL bank accounts that receive more then $10,000 "non-wage/non-paycheck" money. So even the vendors that stick with the old-school peer2peer cashout methods will need to re-evaluate. Because the feds will be able to see how much moves IN and OUT of your bank account and how much your under-reporting or not reporting come tax time. It will be wayyyyyy easier for them to catch moneylaunders too. Money Laundering is an essential activity for any enterprising darknet druglord.

I'm all but certain you'll start to see arrests sky-rocket in fiscal year 2023 because there's far too many vendors who wont take the time to learn the new rules. Ever if your not using a licensed exchange to cashout, which I dont recommend, you can still get yourself in serious trouble if your not "cleaning the cash" the right way. Unfortunately many of my vending colleagues barely understand USPS postage let alone intricate tax laws, red-flag triggers, and reporting requirements. Habits are hard to break. Once you get comfortable doing something one way it can be hard to learn and retrain yourself to the new safety standards.

I know this post was long but its important people in this space to know whats on the horizon so they have ample time to make decisions.
« Last Edit: Today at 11:27:28 am by TrippyTMG »

 

[MFAAS]

I lean pretty far left on a lot of things, but the new tax laws and MONEY IN MONEY OUT rules for bank accounts fucking make me sick. Fuck them!

Anyway a few things stand out:

"1.) Use bank wires to avoid the old $10,000+ cash deposit/transfer rules that triggered a Currency Transaction Report
2.) Use privacy coins OR mix your traceable coins and send your funds to a few "shill accounts" to avoid being flagged by the exchanges "chain analysis programs" for using dirty or recently mixed coins.
3.) Make sure you never go over 200 transactions at the exchange (or bank at a non-reporting exchange)"


"They used Darknet Market as a honey pot of info by linking large buyers and sellers via unencrypted info and meta data."


"I seen or heard somewhere that there's usually 20 or more people from multiple agencies and skill backgrounds just to make a single arrest for your average run of the mill vendor with "fair" OPSEC. These drug investigations are way more complex then busting a local dealer. In the old days they're weapon of choice was the Confidential Informants (CI), traffic stop/vehicle searches, and Stop N Frisk methods. Most of the time it was only a few officers from the same agency/same region working together for these local street dealer busts. They can't just come kicking down doors of everyone person they suspect of dealing online so they had to design a multi-prong approach and many darknet dealers are going to get caught up in one way or another with these new changes. That doesnt mean there gonna get popped for selling drugs necessarily but the new rules might tie them up from a tax point of view. The government is going back to it's roots pullin the ole Al Capone tax evasion tricks lol."

- IDK how exactly accurate that number is (20 people), but whatever. It wouldn't surprise me at all, and very much highlights how much OPSEC helps.

They may be targeting opioid dealers and the like now, but who knows what they'll try to do next.

I just wish AAS vendors would be more fucking careful.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

This is not the end of the bad news, far from it.

Last July, 2021, the European authorities authorised the so-called ePrivacy derogation, which creates an exception to current EU privacy laws and regulations. These measures, passed last July are voluntary -- this coming December it is anticipated that measures will be passed to make these rules compulsory.

Once the Europeans have done this, there will pressure for the United States, Canada and other non-EU countries to do likewise.

What they're proposing here is nothing less than back-dooring encrypted services, to allow for mass-surveillance of the content. Today it is child pornography that will the justification --tomorrow, it will be drug-related information they will be seeking, and eventually this will even be used to catch movie and music pirates.

If you think I am being hyperbolic, or over the top, I'm not. Several years ago, Britain passed legislation that legally required ISPs to block certain types of content. In the beginning, the justification was child pornography and extreme (terrorist) content. When the legislation was initially passed, the government of the day assured the public that only the most extreme materials would be blocked.

Once the blocking regime was in place, some of the rightsholders' groups approached the courts and asked for sites to be blocked that carried pirate copies of their members' works. Naturally, the courts complied.

It is entirely possible that some of the secure services I rely upon will shutdown as a result.

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#Chatcontrol: EU Parliament approves mass surveillance of private communications
July 6, 2021

#Chatcontrol: EU Parliament approves mass surveillance of private communications | European Pirate Party

Brussels, 06/07/2021 – Today, the European Parliament approved the ePrivacy Derogation, allowing providers of e-mail and messaging services to automatically search all personal messages of each citizen for presumed suspect content and report suspected cases to the police. The European Pirates...

european-pirateparty.eu

Brussels, 06/07/2021 – Today, the European Parliament approved the ePrivacy Derogation, allowing providers of e-mail and messaging services to automatically search all personal messages of each citizen for presumed suspect content and report suspected cases to the police. The European Pirates Delegation in the Greens/EFA group strongly condemns this automated mass surveillance, which effectively means the end of privacy in digital correspondence. Pirate Party MEPs plan to take legal action.

In today’s vote, 537 Members of the European Parliament approved Chatcontrol, with 133 voting against and 20 abstentions.[1] According to police data, in the vast majority of cases, innocent citizens come under suspicion of having committed an offence due to unreliable processes. In a recent representative poll, 72% of EU citizens opposed general monitoring of their messages.[2] While providers will initially have a choice to search or not to search communications, follow-up legislation, expected in autumn, is to oblige all communications service providers to indiscriminate screening.

Breyer: “This harms children rather than protecting them”

German Pirate Party Member of the European Parliament Patrick Breyer, shadow rapporteur on the legislative proposal, comments:

*“The adoption of the first ever EU regulation on mass surveillance is a sad day for all those who rely on free and confidential communications and advice, including abuse victims and press sources. The regulation deals a death blow to the confidentiality of digital correspondence. It is a general breach of the dam to permit indiscriminate surveillance of private spaces by corporations – by this totalitarian logic, our post, our smartphones or our bedrooms could also be generally monitored. Unleashing such denunciation machines on us is ineffective, illegal and irresponsible.

Indiscriminate searches will not protect children and even endanger them by exposing their private photos to unknown persons, and by criminalising children themselves. Already overburdened investigators are kept busy with having to sort out thousands of criminally irrelevant messages. The victims of such a terrible crime as child sexual abuse deserve measures that prevent abuse in the first place. The right approach would be, for example, to intensify undercover investigations into child porn rings and reduce of the years-long processing backlogs in searches and evaluations of seized data.”*

Marcel Kolaja, Czech Pirate Party MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, comments:

“Post officers also do not open your private letters to see if you’re sending anything objectionable. The same rule should apply online. However, what this exception will do is an irrevocable damage to our fundamental right to privacy, Moreover, monitoring across large platforms will only lead to criminals moving to platforms where chat control will be technically impossible. As a result, innocent people will be snooped on a daily basis while tracking down criminals will fail.“

Pirates plan legal action against the regulation

The EU’s plans for chat control have been confirmed to violate fundamental rights by a former judge of the European Court of Justice.[3] Patrick Breyer plans to take legal action against the regulation and is looking for victims of abuse who would file such a complainant. „Abuse victims are particularly harmed by this mass surveillance“, explains Breyer. „To be able to speak freely about the abuse they have suffered and seek help in a safe space is critical to victims of sexualised violence. They depend on the possibility to communicate safely and confidentially. These safe spaces are now being taken away from them, which will prevent victims from seeking help and support.“

The European Commission has already announced a follow-up regulation to make chat control mandatory for all email and messaging providers. Previously secure end-to-end encrypted messenger services such as Whatsapp or Signal would be forced to install a backdoor. There is a considerable backlash against these plans: A public consultation carried out by the EU Commission revealed that 51% of all respondents oppose chat control for e-mail and messaging providers. 80% of respondents do not want chat control to be applied to encrypted messages. [4] Due to the resistance, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johannson has postponed the proposal until September 2021.

More Information on Chatcontrol: www.chatcontrol.eu

[1] [2] Poll: 72% of citizens oppose EU plans to search all private messages for allegedly illegal material and report to the police [3] https://www.patrick-breyer.de/wp-co...creening-for-child-pornography-2021-03-04.pdf [4] Initiative

For further details and media inquiries please contact:

Nikolaus Riss for German and English
nikolaus.riss@europarl.europa.eu +436769694000

Tomáš Polák for Czech and English
tomas.polak@europarl.europa.eu +420728035059

TagsChatcontrol • ePrivacy • Marcel Kolaja • Patrick Breyer

 

[Monkipalo]

Had an amazing read, very informative posts.

 

[MFAAS]

Good dammit it just gets worse every day. We are all just constantly getting closer and closer to becoming China or North Korea.

It sickens me how lawmakers constantly use children as a way to pass laws that just continue to degrade privacy more and more. Now, anybody who would want that sort of child material is fucked in the head and disgusting and definitely should be in prison, but to allow spying on everyone because some tiny fraction of 1% of people are fucked in the head is just ridiculous.

And as the article says: it actually hurts more people than it helps!! Now abuse victims and informants, etc., have no way to anonymously get support or tell their stories. Which often means they will just suffer in silence instead. The lawmakers are hurting the very same people they claim to be trying to help... but of course they don't care at all because it's not REALLY about helping those people, it is simply about mass control of the population and achieving unchecked power. Leave it to the legislators of basically any country to be the very embodiment of corruption and evil while claiming to be doing good.

This is why I'm such a misanthrope lol - and part of why I'm never having kids. The future does NOT look bright!

Back in topic: this is why we all need to stay on top of our OPSEC game!! They are constantly looking for ways around each and everything anyone does to keep anything private... that's why just using ONE thing like only a VPN or only relying on "secure mail" like tutanota (which isn't even secure unless you actually agree to a password with the other person) is not nearly enough.

It is about LAYERS of security!! Every little thing you do stacks to form your OPSEC.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

The reason that politicians (of every political stripe) use child pornography as a tool is that when someone says, "child pornography" all critical thought immediately ceases, for the most part. People find the subject matter so abhorrent that mentally, they are immobilized -- very few people are able to look beyond their immediate emotional reaction, to see the big picture.

Anyone who objects can immediately be painted as soft on crime, or soft on child abuse. We had one government minister say, "You can either side with us, or with the child pornographers."

Just look a few months back, when Tim Cook announced Apple's initiative to carry out "on device" mass-scanning for child abuse imagery. According to reports, Cook was flabbergasted that anyone would object to this, because, you know... children.

 

[MFAAS]

The reason that politicians (of every political stripe) use child pornography as a tool is that when someone says, "child pornography" all critical thought immediately ceases, for the most part. People find the subject matter so abhorrent that mentally, they are immobilized -- very few people are able to look beyond their immediate emotional reaction, to see the big picture.

Anyone who objects can immediately be painted as soft on crime, or soft on child abuse. We had one government minister say, "You can either side with us, or with the child pornographers."

Just look a few months back, when Tim Cook announced Apple's initiative to carry out "on device" mass-scanning for child abuse imagery. According to reports, Cook was flabbergasted that anyone would object to this, because, you know... children.

Exactly. Suddenly the conversation would be, "So you are FOR child abuse?! What v kind of sick monster are you??!!" It is a ridiculous counterpoint, but effective, given the lack of critical thinking skills in the majority of the population...

 

[x666x]

The problem with chld porn is that those with this sickness started off with the already available extremely hardcore porn that quite frankly is no help to society at all.

It seems silly to worry about chld porn, when today a girl that just turned 18 a few days ago will be recruited by some sleaze to be gangbanged on video by 20 nasty std infected older men that will basically destroy her life and mental health.

The United States has created thousands of laws that make no sense under the guise of protecting children, when in fact what they do is anything but protecting children from what I consider a worst problem and that's young children watching gangbang videos online at ten years old. That is gonna cause a shit ton more problems than the occasional pedo that snaps some pictures of kids at the swimming pool.

It's just more legislators that have too much free time and way too much power going around looking for anyway they can to invade privacy, while at the same time ignoring the big issues that cause a lot more problems for society. They never want to approach the big issues, just the sensational shit like kid fkr's, while you have society falling apart at the seams from all sorts of problems that are far more pressing and cause a lot more harm to millions of people.

Politicians when they are basically piles of shit and no one really likes them typically use: Abortion, Drug War, Protecting the Children(their education and indoctrination). Those are the hail mary plays of your typical scumbag politician that otherwise is a shitbag that no one in their right mind would vote for.

 

[x666x]

Exactly. Suddenly the conversation would be, "So you are FOR child abuse?! What v kind of sick monster are you??!!" It is a ridiculous counterpoint, but effective, given the lack of critical thinking skills in the majority of the population...

You simply can't and won't have a deep engaging philosophical debate with the people that run this country.....or any country for that matter these days.

Western society was built on critical reasoning and we have our ancestors to thank for this, but when someone goes into politics thinking critically, having engaging unconventional conversation isn't allowed. Politicians are praised when they lack the ability to think and instead go around smashing everyone with a sledge hammer for daring to want freedom.

I would love it if you were required to have at least a masters degree in western philosophy in order to be in politics of any capacity and you need at least a PhD in philosophy to be a congressman or president.

No one should be allowed to legislate that lacks the ability to consider all the complexities and nuances that might come up. We gotta get away from all these douchebag lawyers trained in memorized rote law as if it were a a bunch of Muslim kids brought up in a madrasa memorizing the Quran. That's not a path to enlightenment when you have idiots that can't see what they are studying is total bullshit.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

One of the biggest problems the United States has, in particular, is over-criminalization. I remember reading an article some years back that outlined how the Congressional Research Service (CRS) a non-partisan arm of the Library of Congress, was once asked to compile statistics as to the number of laws in effect in the United States. IIRC, they reported back that they could not report an exact number -- their best estimate was that there were something on the order of 10,000 laws, and something on the order of 300,000 regulations made pursuant to those laws.

It has been a bedrock legal principle since at least the 16th Century in England, that "ignorace of the law is no excuse". This fundamental principle has also been incorporated into the legal systems of the other English-speaking countries, including the United States. In the 16th Century this may have been true, but I would argue that it is true no longer. There is simply no possible way that the average person can know what is prohibited behavior in the entire legal corpus.

One prominent American attorney, Harvey Silverglate, even wrote a book: "Three Felonies A Day: How The Feds Target The Innocent".

In his book, Silverglate argues that the average person, just going about his everyday business, commits on average, three felonies per day. The average person has no idea they are doing this, but for some reason, should this person be targeted by the authories, he can be prosecuted.

Three Felonies a Day is the story of how citizens from all walks of life—doctors, accountants, businessmen, political activists, and others—have found themselves the targets of federal prosecutions, despite sensibly believing that they did nothing wrong, broke no laws, and harmed not a single person. In these wheels of injustice, vague laws are the lynchpin, functioning in very much the opposite way than originally intended: they obscure, rather than clarify, the law’s demands.

Since the hardcover version of this book was published, there has been considerable tumult in the arena of vague federal legislation used as a tyrannical trap for the unwary innocent. While some raised consciousness has become visible on civil society’s horizon, grave damage continues to be inflicted by out-of-control federal prosecutors.

Siobhan Reynolds knows firsthand how this phenomenon affects the medical profession. Her late husband, Sean Greenwood, suffered from a connective tissue disorder that caused chronic, debilitating pain. In 2002, after a decade-long search for a doctor willing to provide adequate relief, he finally found Dr. William Hurwitz, a nationally recognized pain specialist. Within months, however, Hurwitz was indicted under the Controlled Substances Act.1 Unable to find another specialist, Greenwood died in 2006—a result hastened, Reynolds believes, by the federal government’s crackdown.

Drawing on this personal experience, Reynolds founded the Pain Relief Network (PRN), a non-profit aimed at raising awareness of and pushing back against the ill-defined laws that restrict physicians from administering adequate pain medicine. The fact that her advocacy was met with resistance from federal drug warriors is perhaps no surprise. But what’s shocking is the lengths to which one prosecutor went to silence this activist.

The case of Dr. Stephen Schneider and his wife, Linda, was much like others that attracted the PRN’s support. The Kansas-based doctor and nurse were accused of over-prescribing pain medication—or, in the prosecutorial parlance, running a “pill mill.” Reynolds assisted the Schneiders by helping them find legal counsel and expert witnesses for their defense, as well as publicly advocating for their innocence. Even though she had no formal role in the case, the government sought in April 2008 to gag Reynolds from making “extrajudicial statements” about the Schneider prosecution, a plainly unconstitutional request, which the district court wisely denied.

But the prosecutor was undeterred. In March 2009, Tanya J. Treadway, assistant U.S. attorney, issued a grand jury subpoena to Reynolds demanding a wide array of documents, financial records, and communications, including information about a billboard supporting the Schneiders, and a PRN-produced documentary film, aptly titled The Chilling Effect. The document demand was suggestive of a fishing expedition for evidence that Reynolds somehow attempted to obstruct the prosecution of the Schneiders.

Because much of this is clearly protected First Amendment activity, Reynolds was confident that the subpoena would be quashed. But the district court did not abide. When Reynolds refused to comply with the court order, she was fined $200 each day. Almost $40,000 later, she had no choice but to turn over to the government the thousands of documents it demanded.2

Still, Reynolds continued to fight, and with the assistance of Robert Corn-Revere, a renowned First Amendment lawyer, she appealed to the Supreme Court. Her petition seeking high court review emphasized the misuse of grand jury secrecy rules. Intended to protect the reputations of innocent persons appearing before the grand jury, the rules were here being turned on their head to effectively silence an activist and then hide those repressive actions.3 Even Reynolds’s publicly available petition for a Supreme Court hearing was ominously pocked with blacked-out passages.4

Much to Reynolds’s and Corn-Revere’s dismay, the high court refused to intervene. As a result of the lower court’s imposition of Draconian fines, and the continuing threats to prosecute her and the PRN, Reynolds decided in late December 2010 to disband the organization. “Pressure from the US Department of Justice has made it impossible for us to function,” she told PRN supporters.5

The intense pressure exerted by federal prosecutors was tragically illustrated in the case of Dr. Peter Gleason. When the first edition of this book went to press, Dr. Gleason, a psychiatrist who specialized in pain and sleep-related disorders, found his resources exhausted by an indictment for recommending the drug Xyrem to other physicians for uses not officially approved by the Food and Drug Administration, a practice which the law seemingly allowed.6 Through a bizarre application of federal conspiracy law, Gleason was nonetheless charged and mercilessly hounded. When he persisted in defending himself, the government agreed to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor, thereby conceding that Gleason had not intended to defraud or deceive anyone. Gleason pleaded guilty, and in January 2010 he was sentenced to a $25 fine and one year of probation. In the civil arena, however, the government continued to pursue him. Effectively unable to practice medicine, and deprived of the total vindication for which he yearned and which he deserved, Gleason buckled under the accumulating burden. On February 7, 2011, he hanged himself. His sister, Sally Goodson, succinctly and accurately summed up his “crime” in a remembrance of her beloved brother: “Truthful speech to fellow physicians about the off-label use of an FDA-approved drug.”

 

[x666x]

Good article Pooh, I was aware of the 3 felonies book.

The problem is we live and most people all over the world live in a police state that is supported by taxes, violent revenue collection and printing of money.

This sort of work is completely unproductive(absolutely nothing to show for except human misery), people that work in these professions are leeches that used a bloated, complicated and hyper specialized legal field to rob our citizens at gun point.

There is no hope this will change unless a future generation scraps the whole system and gets back to the basics...."Keep your hands to yourself". That's the only law we ever needed. Of course the government can't do that, they don't seem to mind thugs that murder, rape and assault and instead worry if someone has a bag of naughty stuff.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

It's not even a bag of "naughty stuff' -- it's being perceived to hold the 'wrong' ideas, attitudes, opinions, etc. Here is an example of utter lunacy that made me want to bang my head against the wall:

17 year old high-schooler in Hamilton, Ontario is hauled-in to the school board office (along with her father) as she is threatened with expulsion. What did the kid do? Did she threaten someone? Did she commit an act of vandalism or violence? Was she caught with drugs? No to all of the above.

She did something far, far worse -- she hurt somebody's feelings.

Kid is a top-rank student, and as a result she was invited to participate in a special internship program run by the local hospital. Some group photos were taken by a teacher, and posted to a public Instagram account -- that's when the trouble began. She was pictured making a hand-sign, like the OK sign. She did this with her thumb and index finger, with the other fingers pointing down, resting against her knee.

This innocuous gesture, which she (and I) interpreted as an OK sign, now, as it turns out, is stated to be a white power handsign, according to some groups like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Some anonymous person, seeing this photo, complained to the hospital, who kicked the high-schooler out of their program, for committing this high-crime.

Other people, like university professors have been pilloried for not using a student's preferred gender pronoun. (There are supposedly 39 of these -- trying to remember all of these would be enough to make my brain melt.)

By far the worst case I can recall was that of Stacy Snyder, who at the time was a 25-year old student at Millersville university in Pennsylvania. The day before graduation, she attended a Halloween party wearing a pirate hat, and drinking out of a Mr. Goodbar cup. She uploaded the photo to her MySpace page, and titled the photo Drunken Pirate. The university accused her of trying to promote underage drinking, and denied her the degree she had earned, as well as her teaching certificate.

She sued the universitty, and the university won; the judge stated that the university had the absolute discretion to award or withold degrees as it sees fit.

I'm glad I'm old, and I'm even more glad I didn't have any kids.

 

[MFAAS]

Yeah, in the end all of this just really exemplifies why it's so critical for each and every one of us to learn how to be safe online. Like truly safe, not just not being clear of viruses and shit. You just never know when your country that you've paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes to will randomly decide that you're better off in prison for something you did or maybe even did not do, or didn't KNOW you did.

So leave as little trace as possible and practice OPSEC and know the statutes of limitations.

With Pooh's last 2 examples, the people could've avoided any legal issues or punishment if they hadn't felt the need to post everything on fucking social media! As a comical sidenote, she should've argued, "How is this promoting underage drinking, kids don't fucking eat Mr Goodbars?! They eat literally almost any other candy bar. This isn't the 1920's anymore!! They eat snickers and reeses!" lol...but I digress.

For the second case, I remember boys of all ethnicities used to do that upside down OK sign all the time over their crotches to make you look towards their genital area then laugh about it and say you're gay. It was the stupidest fucking thing. Who the fuck would've known that was a white supremacy sign?? That's just fucking stupid. There's only so many little things you can do with your hands and between the gang signs and now the white supremacy signs, basically just don't ever fucking do anything with your hands except keep them in your damn pockets lol...

Now, it is really unfortunately, I realize these were just young people wanting attention--which basically all young people want to validate that they aren't as lame as their inner demon voice thinks they are. Well, people need to realize the danger of getting attention--especially from random people on the internet! The best thing you can do is just keep your head down and don't start shit with people. Your best bet is to just not post any pictures online...or at least very, very few and fucking keep them private.
1. You could accidently incriminate yourself due to some random object in the background.
2. You could suddenly become the center of national attention having your hand resting in the wrong position and now you are a neo-nazi.
3. No matter what, companies like Clearview AI will scrape your photos off social media (even though it's against the terms of use for the social media sites to do this). Now, their software is really fucking bad (I don't care what side of the political spectrum you are on, this is a GREAT episode and EVERYONE should watch it!! A nice statistic from the show: a miserably tiny 8 out of 42 facial recognition matches were actually verifiably correct. AND that number is waaaay lower for non-whites). Facial recognition for law enforcement has already become notorious for false convictions--but regardless of this, law enforcement in the US continues to pay Clearview SHIT LOADS of taxpayer money to use their software to try to catch criminals...even though it's more likely they'll just catch up an innocent person in a court case and ruin their life, possibly forever. Not to mention the authoritarian countries they also do business with. Just watch the episode, it is not long and extremely eye opening.
3A. Now, you can fight against this to some degree by keeping your profiles private, which as I state in my original post EVERYONE SHOULD ALWAYS DO as part of OPSEC, but very few people do this. Seriously, why do strangers need to see your pictures? Because you're trying to get insta-famous? Well good luck with that. Risk>reward.

The worst part is that some states don't even have statutes of limitations for some crimes, so literally decades later Law Enforcement could decide to knock on your door and arrest you for something you either didn't do, or don't even remember doing. At best your life is temporarily ruined, at worst you could go to prison for who-the-fuck-knows-how-long... Shit that you post on the internet really doesn't go away. People need to remember that.

OPSEC, OPSEC, OPSEC. Don't listen to ANYONE who tells you it isn't important, or that it doesn't help, or that the government can just "get around it" with no problem--because NONE of that is true. Fucking learn how to be safe and then fucking walk the walk religiously. Don't slip up. It just isn't worth the risk.

OPSEC is fucking CRITICAL for EVERYONE on this board and even just everyday people. I always tell my family to hide their shit and make it private, but there's only so much you can do. All I know is that I am not a person who commits crimes. I really don't need to hide, but you can be damn sure I do anyway. I will always do my best to stay safe from false accusations because some asshole built some shitty facial recognition software that the cops decided to waste the hundreds of thousands of dollars I've given to the government in taxes on. That's almost what's more fucked up, they're using OUR OWN MONEY to pay teams to investigate and prosecute us. On top of that, I volunteer at two different organizations to help my community! The war on drugs needs to end, right fucking now.

I gotta take a break from this thread lol, it's getting too depressing.

Be safe out there everyone. Read the full thread for info on how to stay safe and not be the next wrongly accused person to be put in jail/prison.

 

[x666x]

The elites that run our information system are scouring and sanitizing away the entirety of western culture, they are diluting it down bit by bit until one day we all walk around like automatons performing our roles without question or push back completely oblivious to anything important to our survival, lacking authenticity, easily molded in the image of the ideal slave our over-lords desire.

I suppose the only answer would be setting up our own systems that are completely independent, having two sides of any country with a fortified border. On one side you will have stark raving foaming at the mouth hypersensitive leftists living in their own heads ruled by ivory tower far left intellectuals, that will look for anything that offends and on the other side of the country you have sane rational people that want freedom and to be left completely alone to pursue their own interests with the right to absolute freedom of speech with no limitations.

Our culture is removing the concept of a civilized uncensored open debate and replacing it with a polluting suffocation, where a person is expected to function in a world turned upside down and never to point out that it has become absurd and unlivable.

While I certainly don't think it's a good idea to go around abusing, criticizing, harassing, antagonizing others, it has to work both ways and what we are seeing today is a narrative coming from one group of people that demand that we not only walk on eggshells, but that we don't even have our own thoughts anymore, they literally want to wipe our data-banks and turn us into something that goes against our own nature. And all of us have our own authentic nature, it's just that this nature is a threat to a certain group that is in terror of not being able to carry out their plan to enslave all of humanity.

 

[x666x]

That's almost what's more fucked up, they're using OUR OWN MONEY to pay teams to investigate and prosecute us.

That's the entire purpose of a police state.

Extract funds from your hard work, create a parasite class of well polished over-socialized cookie cut bureaucrats that all act and think alike, with absolutely no conscience or sense of right and wrong and with total loyalty to whoever is in control and deposits money in their bank accounts.

In other words a recruitment of psychopaths to terrorize with total disregard.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

So leave as little trace as possible and practice OPSEC and know the statutes of limitations.

The U.S. is one of the few countries with statues of limitations. There are none in Canada, nor the U.K., unless I'm mistaken. There have been cases in Canada where 10 y.o. girls have allegedly been abused, and the priests have been arrested some 50 years later, put on trial, and convicted. I'm certainly NO supporter of child sexual abuse or pedo priests, for that matter, but how in the name of God is someone supposed to put up a defense to acts alleged to have taken place 50 years prior?

With Pooh's last 2 examples, the people could've avoided any legal issues or punishment if they hadn't felt the need to post everything on fucking social media! As a comical sidenote, she should've argued, "How is this promoting underage drinking, kids don't fucking eat Mr Goodbars?! They eat literally almost any other candy bar. This isn't the 1920's anymore!! They eat snickers and reeses!" lol...but I digress.

She did make such arguments, to no avail, apparently. The ONLY thing she could have done, the only thing she should have done, was to avoid using social media altogether!

... Well, people need to realize the danger of getting attention--especially from random people on the internet! The best thing you can do is just keep your head down and don't start shit with people. Your best bet is to just not post any pictures online...or at least very, very few and fucking keep them private. 1. You could accidently incriminate yourself due to some random object in the background.
2. You could suddenly become the center of national attention having your hand resting in the wrong position and now you are a neo-nazi.
3. No matter what, companies like Clearview AI will scrape your photos off social media (even though it's against the terms of use for the social media sites to do this)... [snip]
3A. Now, you can fight against this to some degree by keeping your profiles private, which as I state in my original post EVERYONE SHOULD ALWAYS DO as part of OPSEC, but very few people do this. Seriously, why do strangers need to see your pictures? Because you're trying to get insta-famous? Well good luck with that. Risk>reward.

What many people have failed to realize is just how much social media, and Facebook (or whatever they're calling themselves this week) in particular have revolutionized police investigations.

Half a century ago, if the plod wanted to build up a dossier on a certain person and compile a list of his associates, family, friends, etc. this would take a lot of officer time/manpower. Given that officer time/manpower is a finite resource, doing this was reserved for only the most serious of cases. Computers, and Facebook/Meta have changed all of that -- a list of friends, family, co-workers, associates are all dredged-up by Facebook's algorithms with frightening efficiency! Results that used to take weeks or months to compile are now easily completed, in a few scant seconds, without having the leave the comfort of their offices.

The worst part is that some states don't even have statutes of limitations for some crimes, so literally decades later Law Enforcement could decide to knock on your door and arrest you for something you either didn't do, or don't even remember doing. At best your life is temporarily ruined, at worst you could go to prison for who-the-fuck-knows-how-long... Shit that you post on the internet really doesn't go away. People need to remember that.

This applies to most jurisdictions, outside the U.S., if I'm not mistaken.

OPSEC, OPSEC, OPSEC. Don't listen to ANYONE who tells you it isn't important, or that it doesn't help, or that the government can just "get around it" with no problem--because NONE of that is true. Fucking learn how to be safe and then fucking walk the walk religiously. Don't slip up. It just isn't worth the risk.

OPSEC is fucking CRITICAL for EVERYONE on this board and even just everyday people. I always tell my family to hide their shit and make it private, but there's only so much you can do. All I know is that I am not a person who commits crimes. I really don't need to hide, but you can be damn sure I do anyway. I will always do my best to stay safe from false accusations because some asshole built some shitty facial recognition software that the cops decided to waste the hundreds of thousands of dollars I've given to the government in taxes on. That's almost what's more fucked up, they're using OUR OWN MONEY to pay teams to investigate and prosecute us. On top of that, I volunteer at two different organizations to help my community! The war on drugs needs to end, right fucking now.

I gotta take a break from this thread lol, it's getting too depressing.

Yep. Especially in the U.S., if you do wind up being accused of a crime, you can be asset-stripped before even being convicted. So, not only are your tax-dollars funding your prosecution, your assets are seized, leaving you nothing to fight with, or even for your family to live on.

There was a series of articles written in one of the PIttsburgh newspapers in the early 80s, about civil forfeiture, and its' multitude of abuses. One example: someone sells an undercover officer a joint from the porch of his grandmother's house. Guy gets busted, but it's not enough fo rthe cops... because he sold the joint on his grandmother's porch, the house is now guilty of participating in a drug crime, and as such, is seized and forfeited to the authorities. The proceeds of the sale of duch assets are regularly distributed to the various local law-enforcement agencies.

The grandmother contested the seizure, and won in court, but I'm sure there were many, many similar incidents where the owner of the seized property was not so fortunate.

Be safe out there everyone. Read the full thread for info on how to stay safe and not be the next wrongly accused person to be put in jail/prison.

Indeed. Think on this: America has 4.5% of the world's population, but 25% of the world's prisoners.

I remember reading a post by a guy who stumbled across some staggering statistics from the U.S. government. There are some 92-odd federal judicial districts in the United States, each handling thousands (or in the case of the larger districts, perhaps tens of thousands) of cases each year.

In the last year for which statistics were available, there were NO acquittals whatsoever in approximately half of these judicial districts. Of those districts which did have acquittals, there were perhaps 1-2 per district -- basically, the acquittals in these districts could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

To use a gambling vernacular: the dice are loaded, the game is rigged.

OPSEC could make the difference -- use it.

 

[x666x]

Violent Crime is what most Americans worry about.

Legislators come on the scene with the promise to be tough on crime(which voters are fooled into thinking will eliminate violence, our biggest worry) and so they create laws that come after the average man minding his own business not harming anyone. While at the same time thugs run our streets killing, raping, beating and robbing.

So every time a thug murders or assaults, instead of getting tougher on these animals, they instead go after billy bob sitting in his house minding his own business smoking weed.

And that is how you get a bloated system of law because they have made an art form of making sure Murder, Rape, Assault, Robbery continue to terrorize in order to keep the population constantly open and receptive to creating endless laws that never solve the core problem.

 

[Winnie the Pooh]

Violent Crime is what most Americans worry about.

America is a violent society, after all -- born in armed revolution, wall-to-wall guns, etc. Here in this country, a kid brings a knife to school, it makes national news.

Legislators come on the scene with the promise to be tough on crime(which voters are fooled into thinking will eliminate violence, our biggest worry) and so they create laws that come after the average man minding his own business not harming anyone.

Laws are not going to eliminate violence -- I think it was Malcolm X who said, "Violence is as American as apple pie." It's literally baked-into your society.
(This is not a criticism, so much as it is a statement of fact.)

While at the same time thugs run our streets killing, raping, beating and robbing.

So every time a thug murders or assaults, instead of getting tougher on these animals, they instead go after billy bob sitting in his house minding his own business smoking weed.

That wouldn't happen here, because weed is legal, for the most part.

In your country, Billy Bob, sitting in his house baked out of his gourd, is not going to pose any significant resistance (much less danger) to the authorities, so it's easier (not to mention safer) to go after someone like that than it would be to go after armed, dangerous, criminals.

And that is how you get a bloated system of law because they have made an art form of making sure Murder, Rape, Assault, Robbery continue to terrorize in order to keep the population constantly open and receptive to creating endless laws that never solve the core problem.

Keeping the peasants afraid is certainly a time-honoured tactic, going back to the Middle Ages, at least.

 

[VenomYo]

@MFAAS Sweet thread, privacy is underrated