Tag Archives: System D

The drug revolution that no one can stop

Posted on by

“Technology and drugs have always existed in an easy symbiosis: the first thing ever bought and sold across the Internet was a bag of marijuana. In 1971 or 1972, students at Stanford University’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory used ARPANET—the earliest iteration of the Internet—to arrange a marijuana deal with their counterparts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  That groundbreaking deal connected two teams of people who were separated by a 45-hour drive east-west across the entire continent. Today, buying drugs online is far easier and faster—and in many cases, you don’t even have to break the law.”

https://medium.com/matter/19f753fb15e0

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

The Complete Breakdown of How Charlie Shrem Did Nothing Wrong

Posted on by

“Many people in the Bitcoin community were shocked when they heard Charlie Shrem was arrested for allegedly laundering money for drug dealers from the Silk Road, but the moral, and perhaps even the legal, case against him is rather weak. While the US Government will definitely try to make an example out of Charlie, it’s unclear as to whether or not the average person on the street would agree that he should be thrown in jail for decades. After reading through the entire criminal complaint against Charlie Shrem, it seems that he is guilty of nothing more than ordering some pot brownies off the Internet.”

http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/2014/01/28/charlie-shrem-did-nothing-wrong/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

BitInstant CEO arrested by U.S. for alleged money laundering

Posted on by

“Bitcoin exchangers Robert Faiella, known as BTCKing in the Bitcoin community, and Charlie Shrem, CEO of Bitcoin exchange company BitInstant, were charged on Monday as part of a multi-agency crackdown led by the US Attorney’s office, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service.  According to the agencies, the men engaged in a scheme to sell over $1 million in bitcoins for use on the recently shuttered underground drug e-commerce service Silk Road.  Shrem is also changed with failing to report suspicious activity in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act. Shrem was arrested on Sunday at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.”

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57617862-93/bitinstant-ceo-arrested-for-alleged-money-laundering/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Indian government seeks gold purchase information from jewellers

Posted on by

“The government has asked jewellers to provide information on purchases of gold bars or jewellery worth more than 500,000 rupees by the end of this month, a move seen keeping a check on big transactions amid rising smuggling.  India has been trying to curtail shipments of gold, the second-biggest import bill after crude oil, as it seeks to curb a gaping trade deficit. The country last year raised import duty to 10 percent and tied gold imports to jewellery exports. As a result, jewellers have been forced to depend on recycled or smuggled gold to meet demand.”

http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/01/15/india-gold-idINDEEA0E0CB20140115

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

A Crackdown On Browsers

Posted on by

“It would have taken O’Donovan five minutes of reading Wikipedia to, if not have a clear picture of what was going on, at least know better than to write what he did. The computer-machines seem to be a strange focal point of governmental cluelessness; while TDs writing on other subjects are hardly perfect, you’re not going to get James Reilly writing a piece advocating the use of radium to cure The Humours, or something, nor will you find Alan Shatter extolling the virtues of the Freeman on the Land philosophy. This isn’t the first time, though, that a TD has spouted complete nonsense about computers. It makes it all the worse that O’Donovan is on the Communications Committee.”

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2014/01/15/a-crackdown-on-browsers/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Irish TD wants tougher controls of online currencies such as Bitcoin

Posted on by

“A Fine Gael TD has called for more controls on anonymous internet payments made possible by digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Dogecoin.  Patrick O’Donovan has written to the Oireachtas Communications Committee asking them to investigate the matter which he says has led to an ‘online supermarket’ for illegal activity.  The Limerick TD has also said that he will also raise the issue in the Dáil with both the Ministers for Justice and Communication ‘with a view to seek assurances that an EU-wide response is developed to respond to the operation of open-source internet browsers which protect anonymity in order to facilitate illegal online activity’.”

http://www.thejournal.ie/bitcoin-ireland-1264791-Jan2014/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Mt. Gox Seizures Linked to Silk Road in Fed Testimonies

Posted on by

“Last summer, news that federal agents had seized a combined $5M from accounts owned by Mt. Gox roiled bitcoin markets. The warrants enabling the action cited improper filings when the company opened its bank accounts, including unlicensed operation of a money service business. Yet, written testimonies from federal regulators for the recent Senate hearings on digital currencies indicate the seizures were actually part of the much larger crackdown on online narcotics marketplace Silk Road – insight that presumably had to remain hidden at the time of the seizures due to the ongoing investigation.”

http://thegenesisblock.com/mt-gox-seizures-linked-silk-road-fed-testimonies/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Banks Say No to Marijuana Money, Legal or Not

Posted on by

“Banks, including state-chartered ones, are reluctant to provide traditional services to marijuana businesses. They fear that federal regulators and law enforcement authorities might punish them.  The limitations have created unique burdens for legal marijuana business owners. They pay employees with envelopes of cash. They haul Chipotle and Nordstrom bags containing thousands of dollars in $10 and $20 bills to supermarkets to buy money orders. When they are able to open bank accounts — often under false pretenses — many have taken to storing money in Tupperware containers filled with air fresheners to mask the smell of marijuana.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/12/us/banks-say-no-to-marijuana-money-legal-or-not.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

How more than $100 billion in secret cash was smuggled into China

Posted on by

“Something funny is happening at the Hong Kong border.  Every month, billions of dollars worth of exports simply disappear on their way out of China, but they’re not vanishing into a wormhole. They never existed in the first place. In the first half of 2013 alone, nearly $100 billion sneaked into China in the form of faked export invoices, according to research by non-profit Global Financial Integrity.  Every time China reports a bounce-back in exports, some read it as a sign of a ‘soft landing,’ or that the economy is recovering from its increasingly wobbly state. GFI’s report is another reminder that Chinese trade data can’t be trusted as a sign of what’s really going on in its economy.”

http://qz.com/164743/how-more-than-100-billion-in-secret-cash-was-smuggled-into-china-last-year/

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet

Insatiable appetite for gold fuels India’s smuggling industry

Posted on by

“Indian gold smugglers are adopting the methods of drug couriers to sidestep a government crackdown on imports of the precious metal, stashing gold in imported vehicles and even using mules who swallow nuggets to try to get them past airport security. Stung by rules imposed this year to cut a high trade deficit and a record duty on imports, dealers and individual customers are fanning out across Asia to buy gold and sneak it back into the country. Sri Lanka, Thailand and Singapore are the latest hotspots as authorities crack down on travellers from Dubai, the traditional source of smuggled gold.”

http://www.thestar.com/business/economy/2013/12/27/insatiable_appetite_for_gold_fuels_indias_smuggling_industry.html

Scan to Donate Bitcoin to Freedomwat.ch Staff
Did you like this?
Tip Freedomwat.ch Staff with Bitcoin
Donate via Installed Wallet