At 9:43 AM -0700 6/13/00, Patrick Henry wrote:
>
>meatspace to nymspace money during the bootstrap phase). Let's say ZKS also
>strikes a deal with Amazon.com to accept nym money. Hell, if Bezos
>has his way,
>you'll then be able to buy anything imaginable with your nym money. The only
>problem you'll have is how to explain to the Feds how you're paying for all
>these goodies arriving at your doorstep.
I assume you're being rhetorical about this "explain to the Feds"
bit, but the IRS almost never looks at "lifestyle issues." Even when
mob capos have Palm Beach penthouses on their supposed salaries in
the meatpacking business, rarely are they asked to "explain" their
lifestyle. (Al Capone may have gone to prison on tax evasion charges,
but this is rare, and it involved other evidence besides his
inability to explain his lifestyle.)
If the "Feds" demanded that I "explain" the boxes of books I get from
Amazon, I'd just tell them to get lost. Needless to say, this
scenario would never unfold.
As to the more important issue of ZKS enabling nyms to order books
through Amazon, why? This would compromise the nym, and even ZKS
advises cancelling a nym if there has ever been any personal data
revealed. A UPS shipping address would seem to fit the bill for
having compromised the nym.
>
>I think there is a sizable percentage of the world's population that would
>willingly remove the greedy hand of government from financial transactions if
>they could be convinced that there would be no way of getting
>caught. Once you
>got to a certain critical mass, then the government would be forced to change
>its ways (by collecting revenues through service fees rather than taxes, for
>example).
Better reread the ZKS terms and conditions page. They have many
grounds for cancelling accounts, with no refund provided on prepaid
nyms, for illegal or questionable activities.
I'm a big fan of underground or cryptoanarchic transactions,
obviously. But Freedom has too many strings attached, has a single
point of failure, has nonsense about "applicable laws," and has not
been vetted by outside cryptography experts.
This may change.
But for now, it is not what some had hoped for. And it doesn't matter
if they have "200 and rapidly growing" employees if the fundamental
approach is flawed.
>
>These concepts have been discussed in cypherpunk circles for over a decade of
>course, but the exciting part about what's going on today is that it's not too
>much of a leap of faith to imagine it actually happening, with
>existing internet
>companies, and soon.
>
>--PH
Well, Patrick Henry, let us know how it works out using your nym to
order books from Amazon. Perhaps if you ask Amazon not to make any
records of where they shipped the books your nyms will be safe.
Sounds secure to me.
--Tim May
--
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
