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EU Proposes End of Anonymity For Bitcoin and Prepaid Card Users (thestack.com)
An anonymous reader writes: In June the European Commission will propose new legislation to effectively end the possibility of anonymous payment, by forcing users of virtual currencies like Bitcoin, and of prepaid credit cards, to provide identity details. Additionally the EC intends to propose monitoring inter-bank transfers within Europe, a measure which had not been implemented with the launch of the EU-US Terrorist Financing Tracking Programme (TFTP). Though the proposed measures are intended to heap new pressure on the financing of terrorism, a report from Interpol last week concluded that terrorist funding methods have not changed substantially in recent years, stating 'Despite third party reporting suggesting the use of anonymous currencies like Bitcoin by terrorists to finance their activities, this has not been confirmed by law enforcement.'
We The People are creating these things for convenience's sake, not for government to track our every purchase as part of their growing panopticon.
One of the natural benefits of cash for time immemorial was the ultimate anonymity. We should not give this up for a power grab by government. ISIS, for example, sells millions in oil every day. Go kill them and interrupt this massive physical operation instead of stripping our long-term freedoms.
They will lie and say it is only for terrorists then instantaneously start using it for mundane crime. They have done this before.
In the late 90s under Clinton they requested additional spy power because terrorists! They then used it on drug sellers. When questioned, they did not even bother with the sophistry that drug selling is kinda sorta terrorism. The baldfaced liars stated, "Whelp, the law doesn't actuay say terrorism only."
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Usage of bitcoin as a payment method is subject to the same oversight as all payments. This legislation just fills a hole in previously approved monitoring.
Funny how these "Terrorist tracking programs" fail to track the US government, the Saudi government and a bunch of other western governments when these happily finance terrorism. But god forbid you try to rent a US movie with a foreign credit card to watch on Netflix or Amazon Prime, you terrorist you.
whether one agrees with him/her or not, who the hell marked this as a troll ?
There is a great deal of evidence that the US and SA funded terrorists.
http://www.theguardian.com/wor...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I thought Slashdot was here to encourage exchange of opinions, even if unpopular with people living in the US or Saudia Arabia...
Yeah, the US making a big deal about how ISIS gets all those Toyota trucks when it turns out that the US was the one supplying them. Ooops. Let's pretend for an instant that the funding of terrorist groups by the US is strictly limited to pickup trucks. After all, cash and weapons only goes to "moderate" beheaders not terrorist beheaders...
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.