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Robin Hood Hacker Donates $11,000 of Stolen Bitcoin to Help Fight ISIS (newsweek.com)
An anonymous reader writes: A Kurdish region of Syria that borders territory held by the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has received an $11,000 donation in allegedly stolen bitcoin from a vigilante hacker. (paywalled, alternate source) The pseudonymous Phineas Fisher donated 25 bitcoins to a crowdfunding campaign set up by members of the Rojava region's economic committee, described by Fisher as "one of the most inspiring revolutionary projects in the world." Fisher claims that the bitcoin donation, recorded publicly on the blockchain ledger and listed on the crowdfunding campaign page, came from hacking into a bank. "The money did come from robbing a bank," Fisher said. "Bank robbing is more viable than ever, it's just done differently these days."Phisher adds: "Unfortunately, our world is backwards. You get rich by doing bad things and go to jail for doing good."
-1, Stupid
Pack your illegal wars up, it's over. 11 grand surely means the imminent defeat of Israel/Saudi/Gulf destabilization campaigns.
Stolen property is stolen property. You can't un-steal it by giving it to a cause, no matter how worthy.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
One act of charity does not undo a lifetime of greed.
Giving a portion of what he stole to a good cause does not in any way lessen the fact that he stole it in the first place.
IFF he was stealing resources from ISIS and donating it to oppose them, you could make an argument that his actions were all done to defend and protect the bystanders getting caught up in ISIS's violence. This was most clearly not that case, as he admits to stealing the BitCoins from a bank.
"Phisher adds: "Unfortunately, our world is backwards. You get rich by doing bad things and go to jail for doing good."
I had never heard of theft being called 'doing good' before.
and force you to donate to something good, I'm doing a good job right?
They could wait until those 25 bitcoins are worth 1 billion dollar each, though.
I don't have any idea what you were trying to comment on.
Post makes no sense.
From a bank that supported ISIS.
Don't bother to fact check. I made that part up :P
I thought Robin hood recovered tax revenues and returned those to the taxpayers?
I once took an excursion to Reddit, and later HN. Unlimited up/down voting sucks when dealing with a hive-mind.
He's stealing from any customers of that bank, and hopefully they haven't fucked with the deposit insurance or it's pretty despicable to be honest. It went to a good cause, I suppose, but that "good deed" might have meant a child went hungry. Well played "vigilante"
So he can go to jail for his theft? It's what he wants, right?
Hang on, were the bitcoins stolen from the bank? Or was $11,000 stolen from a bank in some other fashion, then donated via bitcoin?
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
Nor had I. Then I discovered Fractional-reserve banking, which is used universally in banking today.
FRB explained (the short version): When you take a loan from a bank, the bank doesn't give you its own money. Instead, it conjures the existence of the agreed sum out of thin air, "loans" this figment of their imagination to you, and then requires you to pay them your hard-earned money back, plus interest of course. In other words, they are taking your repayments to reimburse a sum of money which they never owned in the first place. They could not have handed you that sum even if they'd wanted to, because that money simply does not exist until you pay it into their coffers.
In any industry except banking, that would be a form of theft by fraudulent accounting.
So it seems that theft is just fine and dandy, at least when banks do it.
Kadir beneath Mo Moteh. Kiteo, his eyes closed.
Does anyone even know which Kurdish group is getting this money? The Kurds in the northeast are 75% fighting against Daesh, 25% against Assad and are working with the US. The Kurds in the northwest (Afrin-area) are 100% fighting against the anti-Assad, anti-Daesh arab rebel groups (both islamic and FSA), often alongside Assad's forces, and have been supplied by the Russians. They nearly cut off the rebels' northern supply lines under Russian air cover until Turkey stopped them with cross-border fire. The net result of their actions is that Daesh has become much stronger in area east of Azaz and has overrun a number of refugee camps, to devastating effect.
Monkeywrench Ex Machina.
Phisher adds: "Unfortunately, our world is backwards. You get rich by doing bad things and go to jail for doing good."
No, you get no brownie points for having done wrong to do right. Reminds me of a passage from the Bible-- Romans 3:1-31
Why do people not read anymore. The story is Robin Hood stole from the King who was OVER taxing the people into poverty and RETURNED the money that was taken back to the people it was taken from. Not redistributing it, not from "Rich" people. It was From unjust taxation. Bunch of muppets!
This looks like a False Flag operation by Hacking Team or someone else that hates this guy for being awesome! This is the guy that fucked over some powerful people, don't trust any news that are not digitally signed by him.
What is an illegal war? I have a feeling that your definition of "illegal war" could be applied to every war fought over the past 5000 years. There are no rules in war and even if there were the winner would decide what is legal and what is not after the fact. One thing for certain is that all of the conflicts of today will continue without end because those capable of stopping ongoing conflicts are hampered by people who fail to recognize that their anti-war politics actually prolong the conflicts. The US only could have stopped every war in the ME if they were allowed to employ WW2 tactics and just level anything or anyone until there is no one left to continue fighting. In WW2 there was no such thing as non-combatants or worries over collateral damage.
This fucker is nothing more than a common thief. If someone were to track him down and break his legs, we would all understand and even approve, because that is what can happen to you when you steal a hell of a lot less than $11k.
An illegal war is one where a nation state that signed a the nato treaty goes to war for reasons either stated as invalid to go to war over or not stated as valid, depending on if the other nation state is also a signatory to the nato treaty.
Wars prior to nato and their treaties can't be said to qualify as illegal nessacerily.
Wars between two nation states in which nether have signed such treaties also can't really be called illegal.
But for nations bound by those treaties, there are clear and defined processes to follow to attempt to resolve disputes peacefully first, and war is only a legal option if those attempts are made and fail.
One can also ask nato specifically how to proceed, and going against such a recommendation is generally considered by other nato signatories to be wrong and not deserving of support. Not illegal per see but only one mark below.
Not even attempting to follow established guidelines however is considered illegal and in fact has specified consequences and sanctions by other nato members against the aggressor.
Back in my day, 11000 bitcoins could buy you two pizzas delivered. Now get off my safe space!