Month: August 2013

Rules are Meant to be Broken

Possibly the least productive conversation that has arisen since the great Snowden leak is what rules Congress should implement to protect the privacy of online users. Asking the state to pass rules to curtail its own misdeeds is like asking a wolf to guard your sheep from danger. As an advocate of self-defense I, along with my peers, often point out how ineffective government rules are at protecting people. Restraining orders, for example, are nothing more than pieces of paper that are unable to actually protect you from an aggressor who doesn’t care about disobeying a judge’s command. Laws against murder, assault, and rape have not stopped murders, assaults, or rapes. To make my point even more clear, rules have already been established to protect the privacy of online users but the National Security Agency (NSA) broken them thousands of times per year:

The NSA audit obtained by The Post, dated May 2012, counted 2,776 incidents in the preceding 12 months of unauthorized collection, storage, access to or distribution of legally protected communications. Most were unintended. Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure. The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders.

Rules are meant to be broken as they old saying goes. No amount of Congressional oversight will protect us from Big Brother. Hell, Congress is Big Brother. Let’s put the conversation about what laws to pass to rest. It’s no more productive than an argument between two children who are trying to determine if Batman is better than Superman (granted, since that argument involves Batman it’s already more productive than any conversation about what laws to pass). What we need to discuss is how to protect ourselves from prying eyes at all times. Even if the NSA stopped spying on us we’re still being watched by numerous corporate entities, such as Google and Facebook, that have a keen interest in tracking our every move online.

We should be having conversations about cryptography, anonymity, and decentralization. Those things, unlike the passage of laws, actually hold the potential to protect us from Big Brother.

The State Cannibalizes Its Servants

Bruce Schneier has a good blog post urging companies to fight the National Security Agency’s (NSA) rampant spying:

It turns out that the NSA’s domestic and world-wide surveillance apparatus is even more extensive than we thought. Bluntly: The government has commandeered the Internet. Most of the largest Internet companies provide information to the NSA, betraying their users. Some, as we’ve learned, fight and lose. Others cooperate, either out of patriotism or because they believe it’s easier that way.

I have one message to the executives of those companies: fight.

Do you remember those old spy movies, when the higher ups in government decide that the mission is more important than the spy’s life? It’s going to be the same way with you. You might think that your friendly relationship with the government means that they’re going to protect you, but they won’t. The NSA doesn’t care about you or your customers, and will burn you the moment it’s convenient to do so.

This is a point I’ve brought up to many people many times: the government doesn’t love you. Many people cooperate with the state because they view themselves as patriots, believe cooperating will make their lives easier, or value monetary gain more than principles. In the short term this seems like an effective strategy but in the long term the state has a nasty habit of turning against those who serve it.

In the state’s eyes everybody is a pawn. Nowhere is this more noticeable than politics. If you’ve worked on campaigns then you know how disposable people are. One of my favorite examples, since I’m living in Minnesota, is a particularly sketchy politicians by the name of Kurt Bills. Mr. Bills ran for office under the guise of understanding economics and he did his damnedest to court Ron Paul supporters. After receiving an endorsement from Ron Paul his job of courting became very easy indeed. What happened after Ron Paul supporters sunk tons of time and money into Kurt Bill’s campaign? They were tossed to the side of the road as he pursued social issues, endorsed Mitt Romney, and lambasted Ron Paul supporters for not voting for neo-conservatives. Political campaigns aren’t the only example of this. Law enforcement agents and members of the military are quickly disposed of when they are no longer politically convenient. If you get into bed with the state you will find yourself infected with 15 different sexually transmitted diseases after the breakup.

As Bruce Schneier points out, the companies currently cooperating with the state will soon find themselves out in the cold:

It will be the same with you. There are lots more high-tech companies who have cooperated with the government. Most of those company names are somewhere in the thousands of documents that Edward Snowden took with him, and sooner or later they’ll be released to the public. The NSA probably told you that your cooperation would forever remain secret, but they’re sloppy. They’ll put your company name on presentations delivered to thousands of people: government employees, contractors, probably even foreign nationals. If Snowden doesn’t have a copy, the next whistleblower will.

As Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft are finding out, once your cooperation with the NSA becomes public the NSA will do nothing to help you dig yourself out of the hole.

Interview with the Dread Pirate Roberts

After what must have been a great deal of effort, Andy Greenberg managed to get an interview with the Dread Pirate Roberts, the mystery person behind Silk Road. The Dread Pirate Roberts is one of those individuals I look up to. By operating the Silk Road, a truly free market for many things that are prohibited by the state, he or she has done far more to advance liberty than the throngs of people who sink their time into politics. He or she has actually created a mechanism that allows individuals to live freer today. Although the entire interview is of interest I think the most telling part is the following paragraph:

All my communications with Roberts are routed exclusively through the messaging system and forums of the website he owns and manages, the Silk Road. Accessing the site requires running the anonymity software Tor, which encrypts Web traffic and triple-bounces it among thousands of computers around the world. Like a long, blindfolded ride in the back of some guerrilla leader’s van, Tor is designed to prevent me–and anyone else–from tracking the location of Silk Road’s servers or the Dread Pirate Roberts himself. “The highest levels of government are hunting me,” says Roberts. “I can’t take any chances.”

I doubt this is an understatement since anybody who unveils the Dread Pirate Robert’s identify and manages to arrest him will become legendary in the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and other law enforcement agencies. For the crime of operating an online market place that allows individuals to sell what they want he or she is being hunted like a dog.

Still, with all of its power and might, the state has been unable to locate the Dread Pirate Roberts or Silk Road. The state’s inability to find and strike against either is a testament to the power of location hidden services.

Bad Things are Happening in Egypt

In case you haven’t heard, bad shit is going down in Egypt:

Egypt says 525 people were killed on Wednesday when security forces stormed Islamist protest camps in Cairo after a stand-off lasting weeks.

Most of the victims died in the capital but there was violence around the country on the bloodiest day since the pro-democracy uprising two years ago.

The final toll is believed far higher as scores of bodies are not registered.

Let’s take a minute to analyze the recent turmoil in Egypt. Two years ago a massive group of individuals marched on the state’s capital and decided to oust then leader Hosni Mubarak. People had finally tired of his de facto dictatorial status and wanted to change. Unfortunately for the Egyptian people that change came in the form of a new state. The first mistake made by the revolutionaries in Egypt was to hold elections. When you hold a elections you elect leaders and when you have granted people power of others only bad things will follow. After the election Mohamed Morsi was declared the victor and began his reign. Things played out as they usually do when statism is allowed to flourish. Morsi began to turn Egypt into his vision of an Islamic paradise. Being a psychopath who finally obtained unbridled power, his vision of paradise was unsurprisingly vicious. He worked to impose his interpretation of Islam on Egypt through the force of the state’s gun. People quickly tired of his antics and marched on the capital again, demanded Morse step down, and watched as the military removed Morsi from power.

Transitions inside of states tend to be messy because the loyalists and the revolutionaries disagree on how best to forcefully impose their will on everybody. Being worshipers of force those groups tend to use force against each other and civil war is often the result.

I think the lesson to be learned from Egypt is that replacing one state with another state isn’t a successful strategy for achieving liberty. It doesn’t matter if state officials take positions by force or are elected by an arbitrarily selected majority of voters. Once they have a position of power over others they can begin imposing their will. If Egypt, or any other nation, wants to be free they need to remove their state and replace it with spontaneous order. Liberty is only attainable when a society no longer recognizes coercive hierarchy as a legitimate thing.

More Lies from the DoJ and FBI

Are you ready for another shocker? As it turns out the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) lied about their efforts to crackdown on mortgage fraud:

The Justice Department and FBI have quietly acknowledged they grossly overstated the scope of a mortgage fraud crackdown, which the administration heralded with much fanfare a few weeks before last year’s presidential election.

According to a memo circulated by the FBI and a correction posted online by the Justice Department, the number of defendants, the number of victims and the size of the losses are, in reality, a fraction of what officials claimed last October.

Lying during an election? How could that have happened?! This rather obvious admittance by the DoJ and FBI really kicks those who believe the state is necessary to administer justice in the face. The state, just like any other human organization, is motivated by self-interest. During an election year the number of lies told by the state often increases because those in power wish to remain in power. Election years are when every ill society is facing suddenly shows notable improvements. Unemployment often takes a dip, discussions of reducing the debt become “serious”, and enforcement against crimes that actually have victims is increased. After the election is over we learn that none of those supposed improvements were real.

How can we trust organizations that commit fraud, which is what the DoJ and FBI did, to crackdown on organizations that commit fraud? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes (who will guard the guards themselves or, if you prefer, who watches the watchmen)? Granting the state a monopoly on law enforcement also grants it a carte blanch to commit all the crimes it wants. If you are the only one tasked with law enforcement then you can break the law with impunity.

In the end, the statists’ claim that the state is necessary to uphold law and order is shot down every time the state commits crimes itself. Between its propensity to commit acts of theft, kidnapping, murder, and fraud the state is the largest criminal organization on the planet.

Congress Attempting to Crush Bitcoin

You have to give Congress credit, it has remained consistent at trying to prevent any notable societal advancements. Now that Bitcoin is becoming kind of a big thing Congress has decided it’s time to being the process of putting its boot on Bitcoin’s neck:

Bitcoin, the once-obscure virtual currency, is getting attention from the most mainstream of all institutions: Congress. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Thomas Carper (D-Del.) and his Republican counterpart Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) have announced plans to begin probing the virtual currency and the regulatory regime that governs it.

The new inquiry was announced in a Monday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “Virtual currencies appear to be an important emerging area,” the senators wrote, arguing that the subject “demands a holistic and whole-government approach to understand and provide a sensible regulatory framework.” Similar letters were also sent to the Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve, Department of Treasury, the Securities and Exchanges Commission, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.

“A holistic and whole-government approach” has to be one of the most meaningless statements ever made in the history of mankind. But I digress. Congress is attempting to do the only thing it knows how to do with a new technology, regulate it. Historically its ability to regulate has stemmed from its ability to identify individuals in charge of developing, maintaining, or administering new technologies and coercing them into submission. Bitcoin, being a completely decentralized network, has no such person. In fact the person credited with creating Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, is a pseudonym used by the developer(s).

I predict that Congress will implement numerous laws and regulations in an attempt to curtail Bitcoin’s expansion but those attempts at imposing order will accomplish nothing. Decentralized systems have traditionally been impossible for centralized forces to defeat. While Congress may pass laws making it illegal to use Bitcoin those laws will remain impotent because Bitcoin can be used in a mostly anonymous manner. In the end, Congress will find itself unable to deal with Bitcoin just as it has found itself unable to deal with any determined decentralized force.

Markets, Chaos, and Jobs

You may want to drink a beer, take a puff from a joint, or consume a magic mushroom before reading this post. I say this because I am going to delve into the world of Disordianism, which is best traveled under the influence of mind altering substance.

Before we delve too deeply let me explain my interpretation of Discordianism so we’re all playing on the same field. Discordianism, as I interpret it, is the philosophical understanding that the natural state of the universe is pure chaos. The universe doesn’t like order and, as the Law of Eristic Escalation states, the imposition of order equates to the escalation of chaos. The more you try to impost order on the universe the more chaotic of a result will be.

Nowhere are Discordian principles more apparent than in markets. Markets, the ever changing result of constant human interaction, never remain constant. Peoples’ desires are in a constant state of flux. In fact each individual’s desires at one point in time were affected by their previous actions. My experience with one fulfilled desire can determine my future desires. For example, if I purchased the latest iPhone and had a negative experience I may swear off future Apple products or, potentially, mobile phones entirely. From there I my desires may swing towards a better vehicle so I can make more face-to-face interactions with my friends or something else entirely.

The state, being an agent of order, has a desire to curtail change. If statists had their way the human race will forever exist in a purgatory of sameness. No technological advances, fashion changes, or musical trends would occur. Why do you think states always move to regulate markets? Because markets are the most apparent source of change in our society. Markets bring chaos to order by allowing individuals to have their dreams fulfilled. The grand plans of statists cannot be realized when there is no stability. How can a statist’s plan for universal healthcare be successfully put into action if the grand central planner is unable to predict the healthcare needs of an entire society? A simple story about the undesirable side effects of a pill can lead to a great shift in a society away from pharmaceuticals and towards natural remedies. After such a shift an entire supply of medicines will suddenly be worthless, the resources invested in stockpiling them will have been wasted.

We’re told that the current crisis in our society revolves around the lack of jobs. Political candidates are being elected on their promises to deliver jobs. Everybody is screaming at the top of their lungs, “Who will build the jobs?!” The failure of the job market lies in the statist tendency towards imposed order. When we were attending the state’s indoctrination centers were we told that a college degree is critical to future success. It didn’t matter what degree we obtained, said our indoctrinators, it only mattered that we received a degree (fortunately my father didn’t tell me such lies and made sure I understood that some education pays money while other education costs money). College degrees may have been money makers at one point in time but that was back in the day when college degrees chiefly existed for marketable skills. Now that one can get a degree in everything from English to Women’s Studies the value of getting a degree has diminished. The market has spoken and it has said that it needs no more degree holding Starbucks baristas, fast food workers, or art critics. English, Art, and Contemporary Dance degree holders are unemployed because the statists attempted to impose order by forcing everybody to get a degree, telling them that all degrees were of equal value, and convincing students that they should peruse whatever they loved. As it turns out many students love things that nobody wants. I do believe Mike Rowe said it best:

Rowe added, “It’s not about this is bad or this is good. This is a skills gap. […] It’s another inconvenient piece of the narrative that nobody ever talks about. There are three million jobs available right now. Companies like Caterpillar are struggling to find, for instance, heavy equipment mechanics.”

The bottom line, Rowe said is that, “We are lending money we don’t have to kids who can’t pay it back to train them for jobs that no longer exist. That’s nuts.”

In other words our society is living in the past. The demands of yesterday aren’t the demands of today. Despite the best efforts of order worshipers the markets broke free from the plans that were being imposed on them. It’s not degrees in educational pursuits that are wanted, it’s training in skilled manual labor.

When you understand that markets, as part of the universe, are chaotic you will learn that the most marketable skill is adaptability. Your training at any single point in time may be worthless at a future point in time. If you can adapt to the new conditions you will be fine. Anybody who can go from research and development to heavy equipment mechanics will have little trouble finding work. A person who is unable to make such a transition will find themselves in a bad state unless the market returns to a state where their training is again in demand.

Markets are chaos and jobs exist in markets. Being adaptable, being able to channel the chaos to your advantage, will make you a happier person. Don’t fall for the statists’s lies. Instead, listen to the Discordians. Discordians will tell you the truth: chaos results form imposed order. If you try to follow the plans of those who attempt to impose order you will find yourself lost when the imminent chaos arises. On the other hand, if you adapt to the chaos, you will never be truly.

The Plot of Michael Hasting’s Death Thickens

Almost two months ago Michael Hastings, the reporter who effectively ended Stanley McChrystal’s career, died in a mysterious car crash. Previous evidence lead many, including myself, to ask whether or not Mr. Hastings was killed by the United States government. Hastings believed he was being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and claimed to be on the verge of another breaking story. That story, as it turns out, may have involved the current director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), John Brennan:

This week Elise Jordan, wife of famed journalist Michael Hastings, who recently died under suspicious circumstances, corroborated this reporter’s sources that CIA Director, John Brennan was Hastings next exposé project (CNN clip).

The plot thickens.

The Minnesota Advisory Committee on Capitol Security Looking to Prohibit the Carrying of Firearms at the State Capital

Just a heads up, the Advisory Committee on Capitol Security is holding a hearing tomorrow at 11:00 to review the law that allows individuals with carry permits to carry at the State Capital (after providing notice):

The “Advisory Committee on Capitol Security” has scheduled two meetings to review law and policy around firearms at the Capitol Complex, as part of their efforts to make recommendations to the legislature on improvements to Capitol security.

Representative Michael Paymar, a committee member, has repeatedly attempted to pass a law to prohibit law-abiding Minnesotans from carrying at the Capitol. Of course, this is a solution in search of a problem: we are unable to locate even a single instance where a law abiding gun owner has caused any security concern within the capitol complex.

If descending into the den of the damned is your thing you may find this hearing of interest. Personally, I think we should wait until the state Senate and Congress are in session, get a few thousand people to show up at the Capital, and erect a 30 foot wall around the building and its grounds to quarantine the infection that is government. It would be mutually beneficial. They don’t want us to carry firearms in their temple and we don’t want them spreading their violent statism in our communities.

James Clapper to Front Privacy Review Committee

What happens when you’re the Director of National Intelligence and lie to Congress during a review of your actions that clearly violated the privacy of the American people? You’re appointed to head a review committee that is tasked with determining whether or not you violated the privacy of the American people:

At the direction of the President, I am establishing the Director of National Intelligence Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies to examine our global signals-intelligence collection and surveillance capability.

The Review Group will assess whether, in light of advancements in communications technologies, the United States employs its technical collection capabilities in a manner that optimally protects our national security and advances our foreign policy while appropriately accounting for other policy considerations, such as the risk of unauthorized disclosure and our need to maintain the public trust.

I know many people are outraged by this but if you look at it from a political standpoint it makes sense. Congress was briefed on and approved the National Security Agency’s (NSA) widespread spying operations. Clapper provided Congress with an out by lying to it, which gave it the opportunity to claim it was misinformed about the NSA’s operations. Since Clapper was a good sport and gave Congress a means of covering its ass, he is being rewarded by being placed in a position where he can further cover Congress’s, and the president’s, ass.

Politics is a dirty game that rewards the meritless.