The Daily Hodl
Ledger Nano S - The secure hardware wallet
  • HodlX
    • Latest Stories
    • FAQ
    • Submit Your Guest Blog
  • FEATURES
    • News
    • Bitcoin
    • Altcoins
    • Trading
    • Blockchain
    • Regulators
    • Finance and Economy
    • Cryptoculture
    • Scams
    • Mining
    • Crypto 101
  • Crypto Livewire
    • Press Releases
    • Submit
  • BEGINNERS
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • What Is Blockchain?
    • What Does Hodl Mean?
    • How to Pay Your Bills with Bitcoin
    • Best Bitcoin FAQs
    • Cryptocurrency Has Multiple Meanings
    • Authenticator Alert – Securing Your Crypto
  • THE FUTURE
    • $3.1 Trillion Blockchain Future
    • 6,000 Stores in South Korea
      to Accept Cryptocurrency
    • 80,000 EU-based Merchants
      Can Accept Bitcoin
    • World’s Biggest Brands
      on the Blockchain
    • Despite the FUD,
      Bitcoin Adoption Is Surging
    • Japan Leads Corporate Crypto Bandwagon
    • Mainstream Crypto Payments in UK by 2020
    • Bitcoin Buys Two Condos in New York
    • World’s Smartest City
  • Submit
    • Guest Blog
    • Press release
    • Sponsored post
    • Crypto announcement
    • Personal crypto project
    • Guide or tutorial
    • Infographic
    • Opinion
  • Advertising
Close
The Daily Hodl
Close
  • HodlX
    • Latest Stories
    • FAQ
    • Submit Your Guest Blog
  • FEATURES
    • News
    • Bitcoin
    • Altcoins
    • Trading
    • Blockchain
    • Regulators
    • Finance and Economy
    • Cryptoculture
    • Scams
    • Mining
    • Crypto 101
  • Crypto Livewire
    • Press Releases
    • Submit
  • BEGINNERS
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • What Is Blockchain?
    • What Does Hodl Mean?
    • How to Pay Your Bills with Bitcoin
    • Best Bitcoin FAQs
    • Cryptocurrency Has Multiple Meanings
    • Authenticator Alert – Securing Your Crypto
  • THE FUTURE
    • $3.1 Trillion Blockchain Future
    • 6,000 Stores in South Korea
      to Accept Cryptocurrency
    • 80,000 EU-based Merchants
      Can Accept Bitcoin
    • World’s Biggest Brands
      on the Blockchain
    • Despite the FUD,
      Bitcoin Adoption Is Surging
    • Japan Leads Corporate Crypto Bandwagon
    • Mainstream Crypto Payments in UK by 2020
    • Bitcoin Buys Two Condos in New York
    • World’s Smartest City
  • Submit
    • Guest Blog
    • Press release
    • Sponsored post
    • Crypto announcement
    • Personal crypto project
    • Guide or tutorial
    • Infographic
    • Opinion
  • Advertising
Monero (XMR): Anonymous Transactions and Decentralized Crypto vs. the Surveillance State
Share:
Altcoins October 10, 2018 Daily Hodl Staff

Monero (XMR): Anonymous Transactions and Decentralized Crypto vs. the Surveillance State

 

An outreach group for Monero published a paper highlighting why the anonymous cryptocurrency is designed to help protect people’s rights. In a blog post entitled, “Preserving the Fundamental Right to Privacy For All”, writer Jack M illustrates the plight of Barrett Brown, “a revolutionary journalist who caught the ire of US Federal Authorities.”

Monero (XMR), the supporters argue, allows users to make anonymous donations to controversial figures, particularly activists who are being targeted or prosecuted by the government. As a decentralized, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency, Monero masks identities, and, in the case of a donation to a controversial cause, political prisoner or government agency target, could keep the supporter out of the line of fire.

Brown, formerly associated with the hacktivist collective Anonymous, is the founder of Project PM, an initiative to probe and investigate the secret world of private intelligence.

According to a report by The Daily Dot, Project PM uncovered “Romas/COIN”, among several covert surveillance campaigns.

“Romas/COIN was a sophisticated campaign of mass surveillance and data mining targeted at Arab countries, which was unveiled in an exclusive Project PM report during 2011. The report was picked up by Raw Story and one other outlet, and it resulted in an article by Brown in the Guardian and a segment on Russia Today featuring confirmatory comments from Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer. But otherwise it didn’t get much traction.

Most striking was the revelation that companies like Apple and Google were team partners in this effort. While its exact nature and scope is unknown, mobile phone applications were believed to constitute a major component of the program. The contract for Romas/COIN was set to be replaced by a successor, codenamed Odyssey, which is quite possibly being used today to monitor, deceive, and manipulate whole populations.”

After facing up to 45 years in federal prison, Brown was sentenced to 63 months. His indictment stemmed from a shared link as part of Project PM. The link led to hacked data from Stratfor, an Austin-based private intelligence company that reportedly spied on activists on behalf of corporations.

Writes Jack M,

“When the courts sentenced him, most knew it was excessive. An organic movement, ‘Free Barrett Brown,’ started to raise funds to pay his attorney’s fees. The extensive court process and appeals, over a long stretch of time, would have left most people penniless. The organization only wanted to ease Brown’s financial pain caused by a court who clearly had it out for him. Slapped with a hefty prison sentence and an $800,000 fine for Stratfor, the plaintiff, Brown states:, ‘I will spend the rest of my life in a strange state of post-cyberpunk indentured servitude to an amoral private intelligence firm that’s perhaps best known for having spied on Bhopal activists on behalf of Dow Chemical. That the prosecution did not quite manage to articulate how I did any damage to this particular company did not seem to dissuade U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay in this matter.'”

Writes Kevin Gallagher, digital rights activist and founder of FreeBarrett,

“Hundreds of persons donated to Barrett’s defense, not just through WePay, but also PayPal or through checks in the mail or during a benefit event. Journalists wrote about what was happening to him. Designers and artists created images, artwork, info-graphics, leaflets, even performed songs about his case. Many prominent people spoke out, as did several non-profits, digital rights and press freedom groups. The judge Sam Lindsay received one hundred letters requesting leniency. Could all these be considered targets? Cloudflare did the right thing in providing notice to Sebastiaan Provost, whose account there was subpoenaed over the Project PM domain name, giving him an opportunity to intervene and quash. I never had such an opportunity.

I am pursuing this because I believe that financial donations to any cause, political or otherwise, are protected speech and free association. I think that supporters and donors to those who are jailed or under indictment are outside the scope of any legitimate criminal investigation; their identities essentially sacrosanct.” 

Join us on Telegram            Follow us on Twitter

Check Out the Latest Headlines


Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.

Crypto Livewire

  • HYBSE, GMEX and MINDEX Collaborate to List the World’s First Multi-Asset Stable Token in Mauritius
    February 21, 2019
  • Blockchain to Save People’s Lives by Tracing Food Supply
    February 21, 2019
  • Malta AI & Blockchain Summit Handing Out 100 Free Booths to Startups
    February 14, 2019
  • Wirex Integrates Nano, Providing Seamless Spending Anywhere Visa Is Accepted
    February 12, 2019
  • MiningSky: The Cheapest, Profitable Cloud Mining
    February 7, 2019
Submit a Press Release
 
 

Around the web

Ads by Cointraffic Ads by Cointraffic

Spotlight

  • Billionaire Bitcoin Investor Tim Draper Says Cash Is for Criminals, Crypto Will Make Fiat Obsolete
    February 18, 2019
  • Investors Are Accumulating Bitcoin and Ethereum and Not Letting Go, Says Creator of Crypto App With $50 Million in Deposits
    February 6, 2019
  • Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse Says XRP Will Beat Any Bank-Backed Crypto
    February 14, 2019
  • Bitcoin, XRP and Ethereum Turn Red As Billion-Dollar Crypto Fund Leader Says Fundamentals Are Stronger Than Ever
    February 6, 2019
Cryptocurrency news and analysis, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum, altcoins and the blockchain
  • Altcoins
  • Bitcoin
  • Blockchain
  • Crypto Livewire
  • Crypto101
  • Cryptoculture
  • Finance and Economy
  • HodlX
  • Mining
  • Regulators
  • Scams
  • Trading
DailyHodl

ABOUT US | EDITORIAL POLICY | PRIVACY POLICY
TERMS AND CONDITIONS | CONTACT

 JOIN US ON TELEGRAM

COPYRIGHT © 2017-2019 THE DAILY HODL

We use cookies to give you the best online experience possible. By agreeing you accept the use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy. I Accept