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from anarkio

Tags: #bitcoin #agorism

(Originally published in https://web.archive.org/web/20221220112658/https://sovrnbitcoiner.com/get-started-with-bitcoin-circular-economies/)

Peer-to-peer electronic cash

In 2008, Satoshi released “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”, designed for online payments without state or corporate middlemen. Since then, millions of people around the world use Bitcoin to shop online, work remotely, send remittances and store wealth – no bank account required.

Bitcoin offers a uniquely private, self-sovereign and censorship-resistant payment method. Unlike banking, credit cards and Paypal, Bitcoin doesn't require government ID or corporate permission and is available to everyone; unlike Western Union, there are no high fees or long wait times; and unlike physical cash, Bitcoin can't be counterfeited, devalued via inflation or even abolished, and can be sent around the globe with a click of a button.

These advantages make Bitcoin an ideal currency for truly free markets. As the state is excluding regular people from jobs, finances, housing, online shopping and other daily needs via government ID requirements, vaccine passports or (future) social credit scores, an alternative marketplace, outside of state control, is necessary.

Bitcoin circular economies are the solution: Free uncensored markets where traders can buy or sell any products and services for Bitcoin. It's already possible to work remotely for Bitcoin, shop online with Bitcoin and exchange Bitcoin to cash to pay for food and rent, but Bitcoin circular economies will make it possible to fully live on a Bitcoin standard, independent from the state's captured markets.

Similar to agorism, Bitcoin circular economies don't need state permission, corporate acceptance or mass adoption in order to succeed. Instead, these markets thrive on a decentralized peer-to-peer basis for people who need them, with a focus on individuals, communities and small businesses. For example, it would be difficult to convince Walmart's CEO to accept Bitcoin (and to avoid KYC'ed payment gateways such as Strike and Bitpay, which are just as censored as the banking system). In comparison, a local convenience store, family-owned restaurant or farmers market would be more interested in an uncensorable, independent, low-fee payment method like Bitcoin, and would be happy to use a KYC-free payment gateway like BTCPayServer or a mobile wallet like Samourai to accept payments.

Here are some tips on how to accept Bitcoin in your business, work remotely for Bitcoin, sell products in peer-to-peer marketplaces, and build local and global circular economies.

Accept Bitcoin in your business

Accepting Bitcoin in your business gives your customers the option of fast, secure and private payments. In comparison to credit cards, Bitcoin offers lower fees, faster settlements and no risk of chargebacks, fraud or deplatforming. Bitcoin also offers comparable privacy to physical cash, as no personal details are required to send or receive Bitcoin. You could even give customers a 10% discount for Bitcoin payments (or a 10% fee for fiat payments).

If you have an online store, it's easy to accept Bitcoin via BTCPayServer, SatSale or Blockonomics for WooCommerce, Shopify or stand-alone stores. Unlike OpenNode, Strike and Bitpay, these self-sovereign payment gateways enable your business to accept Bitcoin privately and securely – no government ID, company registration or bank account required.

For brick-and-mortar stores, you can use BTCPayServer's point-of-sale app on a tablet, or conveniently accept Bitcoin payments on your phone with a mobile wallet such as Samourai or BlueWallet. Just calculate the total price as usual, then enter it into your Bitcoin wallet and show the customer the QR code. The customer then scans the QR code with their mobile wallet and pays with a click of a button. Fast, cashless payments without a credit card.

For a list of stores that already accept Bitcoin, check AcceptedHere, Cryptwerk, Lightning Network Stores and CoinMap. In addition, here is a “Why accept Bitcoin” brochure to share with your favorite businesses.

Peer-to-peer marketplaces

Peer-to-peer marketplaces such as BitcoinP2PMarketplace, Bitejo and Mobazha offer a place to buy and sell products for Bitcoin, similar to Craigslist or Ebay. You can sell products that you don't need anymore, such as your old phone, clothes or car; post a “looking to buy” ad to find what you need; or offer services, such as lawncare, apartment rentals or proxy merchant services. In addition, Bitvendo is an upcoming open source, self-hostable, federated marketplace, which will enable people to easily open their own online store or multi-vendor marketplace and join a global Bitcoin shopping network.

Jobs

You can also earn Bitcoin via remote work – for example, as a software developer, writer, translator, artist or musician. Working for Bitcoin is a great on-ramp, whether it's a full-time job, a side income or occasional gigs. Microlancer is a KYC-free Bitcoin freelancing website where employers can post jobs and workers can offer their services, while reviews and escrow protect users against scams. FreelanceForCoins is another KYC-free freelancing website that supports direct payments (no escrow). Additionally you can post jobs or looking for work ads to BitcoinP2PMarketplace and Bitejo. In comparison to fiat freelancing websites such as Fiverr and Upwork, no bank account or government ID is required, there are no high fees or risk of locked funds, and it's possible to work pseudonymously.

If you are a content creator, you can include your Bitcoin address or Paynym in your videos, articles, music or artwork to receive donations from fans. Unlike Patreon, Ko-fi and Open Collective, Bitcoin allows you to receive donations pseudonymously without Paypal or a bank account, and isn't reliant on a centralized platform. In addition, you can post your content to Stacker.news to earn Bitcoin tips.

On- and off-ramps

Other than earning Bitcoin from jobs or selling products for Bitcoin, you can also buy Bitcoin with fiat. With peer-to-peer exchanges like Bisq, HodlHodl, Robosats and AgoraDesk, you can buy Bitcoin via cash by mail, cash in person, money orders and gift cards (such as Amazon, Google Play, Steam and Paysafecard). KYC-free Bitcoin ATMs are a convenient option to buy Bitcoin locally with cash. In addition, you can look for a local Azte.co voucher vendor to buy Bitcoin vouchers for cash (or become a vendor yourself). It's also possible to mine Bitcoin at home with specialized ASIC hardware.

If you don't find what you need in Bitcoin-friendly stores or P2P marketplaces, check CoinCards, TheBitcoinCompany and Bitrefill for gift cards to hundreds of stores, including Amazon, Walmart, Uber and AirBnB. With PayWithMoon (US), CoinDebit (US) and TheBitcoinCompany (Intl), you can buy anonymous Visa gift cards that work online and in brick-and-mortar stores (via Google/Apple Pay). Proxy merchants like Proxystore, ShopInBit and Sovereign Stack Rerouter make it possible to pay with Bitcoin in any online store.

Conclusion

Bitcoin circular economies provide a unique opportunity to trade freely, outside of state censorship and corporate deplatforming. Consider to accept Bitcoin in your business, ask your favorite stores to accept Bitcoin or join a Bitcoin peer-to-peer marketplace – and build a truly free market for all.

More info:

KYC-free Bitcoin circular economies: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/kyc-free-bitcoin-circular-economies

How to buy, earn and spend KYC-free Bitcoin (without ID or a bank account): https://agorism.blog/anarkio/buy-earn-and-spend-bitcoin-and-monero

Building a circular economy with Bitejo.com: https://monerochan.news/article/4

Crypto Agorism: Free markets for a free world: https://tube.tchncs.de/w/tPvohTaiocfg5LEsFjGqHN (Slides: https://agorism.blog/anarkio/crypto-agorism)

 
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from xeleriac

About fifteen years ago I was blindsided by a new media phenomenon the likes of which would set my young self on a course of discovery I consider both empowering and harrowing.

Outlets such as globalresearch, zerohedge, bibliotecapleyades, therealnewsnetwork, humansarefree, wakingtimes, activistpost, collectiveevolution, and a number of other random ones that I can't at the moment recall helped to shed light on fringe issues that, for me, served to broaden my understanding of the world while testing my gullibility.

For the first time I came to see the significance of investigative journalism, and ultimately, the prolific schism that exists between uncensored independent reporting and the corporate media industrial complex overseen by the state.

Groups of hardworking thinkers, researchers, and reporters came out of the gate strong, many of whom are dissenters and nonconformists themselves, many of whom have been going strong for well over a decade now without a tenth of the financial support received by the corporate press conglomerates of the world.

All things considered, the new media landscape is certainly not immune to criticism—mainstream media has crucified it for years, characterizing its reporting as nothing more than conspiracy theory, misinformation, falsehoods, and other hegemonic watchwords.

To thinking individuals it should be clear by now that the barons of the corporate press have a vested interest in maintaining its monopoly on public perception, done through a tightly-controlled, uniform press establishment. It follows that any challenge to the carefully staged status quo of mass media would be subject to tense ridicule, as has been case with so many excellent journalists, outlier reporting agencies, and dissenters.

That concludes my tender intro.

If I see one more op-ed about the fucking World Economic Forum I swear to gawd I'm going to donate all my dogecoin to the Council on Foreign Relations!

For a fair amount of time now I have been a reader of an assortment of apolitical indy media.

I try to avoid sectarian reporting, notably the political theatre of statism and its trappings. It's trivial to me, so I steer clear. But only within the last five years have I come to notice a disappointing trend in the reporting and commentary of apolitical indy media: It's becoming an echo chamber.

Operation Pandemic showed us how much traffic alternative content creators could drive through their websites, resulting in a wealth of clickbait, as well as a wealth of high-quality investigative journalism too (a part I loved).

That said, I suppose I'm just tired of reading about corruption. And I'm tired of having my attention throttled by parties that stand to gain from my attention.

So I suppose the problem is me, not grassroots media.

I don't want to read about the struggle in Rojava, or the next UFO “leak,” Ukraine or Syria or Russia, new pollution, more debt, economic freefall, scientism, culture wars, privacy violations, germaphobia, and so on, ad nauseum. I know. I get it.

But tbh, I don't think I need more of this knowledge right now in my life. What I need is wisdom.

Wisdom is the intercourse of information and understanding.

Wisdom is knowledge applied.

It is not about the endless consumption of media, no matter how vanguard it appears to be. What are you going to do with it anyway, with this habitual indulgence to stay up to speed? What's yer motivation to consume?

I don't give a fuck about what the plutocrats of the world are doing—I already know what they're doing and it bores me. It bores me because it is losing relevance in my life. It's losing relevance to me because I am trying to create a parallel structure, not enable the dying beast before us. Isn't life about going out there and addressing your concerns in real-time?

Taking chances?

Adapting to challenges?

Disrupting patterns of thought and behaviour?

Building community?

Do it now, you fucking boob!

 
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from fmda

Yes, crazy, I know. The favorite go-to company to point the finger at and call out for advancing surveillance— am I seriously defending them? Despite (or, I prefer to think because of) my commitment to freedom and truth, I feel the need to play the devil's advocate when it comes to Google.

The tech giant is probably the easiest target for criticism of literally anything they do.

If it comes out with a new service: If it fails? (seriously, there are so many abandoned projects) “You guys are terrible!”

It succeeds? “Why is this evil company trying to wrestle its way into everything I own?”

Personalized ads aren't working properly? “Why do your ads suck so bad! I don't want to buy an inflating turtle toy!”

Personalized ads are working? “How intrusive! How did you know what I wanted to buy?”

It's a bit like being a banker. If you fail, people will get mad at you. If you succeed, people will get even more mad at you. It's really difficult to not be hated by people, despite a very important point:

Google has contributed more to humanity than almost any other company.

I can already hear the privacy maximalists tearing me to shreds. Let's ignore all the emotion and cut straight to the chase:

Q: Who made the best freely available Open Source mobile operating system? A: (AOSP, Android Open Source Project, created by Google.)

Q: Who made the best freely available Open Source browser? A: Chromium is open source, and it's so good that it's used by all the major browsers, with the exception of Firefox. Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera GX, Brave Browser, and many others.

Q: Who made a highly useful device for young learners: A simple laptop with no distractions, intended for learning through technology without clutter? A: How much schools and individual students have benefitted from the extremely cheap ($200-$300 USD) and practical Google Chromebooks is unquantifiable, but what's even better is.. you guessed it. Chromium OS is the open source barebones version of Chrome OS.

Q: Who made the most secure hardware phone chip on the planet, on an easily affordable phone with excellent overall security, and then proceeded to allow relocking the bootloader after flashing an alternate operating system, something previously impossible on all standard smartphones? A: The Google Pixel phones are basically the only viable option for flashing alternate de-googled mobile operating systems securely, such as the popular and excellent GrapheneOS and CalyxOS. For reference, Edward Snowden uses GrapheneOS. Yes, it's possible to flash a different OS on other phones, but the other phones won't allow relocking the bootloader, which is an extreme security risk. Ironically, Google themselves have made it easiest and most convenient to de-Google your phone!

As a last point, which you may not like, but is objectively true: Q: Who has given a platform to voices who wanted to speak the truth the most? A: Youtube. Now I'm obviously aware that they have censored some creators, but it would be dishonest to ignore the fact that for every controversial person they censor, there are 10 more that they ignore. Thus, despite their political disagreement with controversial views, they have platformed and allowed for dissenting voices to speak!

Reframing Unproductive Hatred

The reality is, Google is really good at making quality stuff, and often (but not always) open sources their applications. This is exactly what we support, so why are we demonizing them? If you don't like Google's intrusive spyware, I have an excellent solution for you.. just stop using it.

Otherwise, stop whining on your GrapheneOS (built on top of AOSP) (on a Google Pixel) on Brave Browser (build on Chromium), turn on your music on Soundcloud (created with Google's programing language, GoLang), driving home with your Google Maps...

and start building.

I encourage you to look through the long list of more open source Google projects, as there are many I didn't mention: https://opensource.google/projects

 
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from xeleriac

Alphabet Inc. is the holding company for google and several other of its subsidiaries. TBH I don't give a shit enough about this conglomerate to furnish the reader with a history, so you can wikiless on yer own time.

As a degoogler, I confess this was a difficult leech to remove. Yahoo: simple. Facebook: easy enuff. But ditchin' the googlebeast was a challenge. The basterds don't make it easy.

So pervasive is this company that hundreds of millions of people's lives would be thrown into disarray if its services were suddenly made unavailable. That's downright pathetic and also indicative of how much influence the Geelzebub has grown to exercise over modern man.

Anyway, I don't have any sort of inspirational tale to tell about this foul company. It is but one of the “Big Five” IT companies that dominate the digital landscape today.

With help from intelligence firms, think tanks, academia, and the state, these silicon valley companies all work together.

Why? To make the world a more connected place, of course!

To protect children!

To create jobs!

To save the world!

Blah, blah, blah, and a bunch of other asinine tropes to conceal the ultimate aim to implement a system of slavery that an unthinking public cannot detect let alone combat. Think, Plato's Cave—but with really fast wifi and an array of computer monitors instead of walls.

If you're the type of person that treasures all the redeeming qualities of being a human person, I strongly encourage you to divorce google now now now.

Not convinced? How about this excerpt from a 2020 article by cupwire:

“Google has been constantly embroiled in some kind of controversy for almost two decades. Between changing user settings remotely, manipulating search results, censoring their search results, exposing the private information of its users, dealing with constant antitrust investigations, acquiring businesses to further its data collection and analytics, obstructing investigations against them, and a slew of other matters, there's a lot going against them.

But this post isn't about any of that. It's also not about the things that could have negative privacy implications, such as Google Glass (featuring, the Glassholes) nor is it a bland read through of their privacy policy while making up hypothetical scenarios in which they collect the data they say.

What you'll find here are 13 years worth of scandals, mishaps, and borderline malicious decisions regarding privacy with Google at the center.”

You can read the full exposé here.

EDIT: the writer behind fmda, another instance of agorism.blog, does a devil's advocate of google here.

 
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from xeleriac

Just this morning I finished reading Psychiatry: The Science of Lies by the late, great Thomas Szasz.

No, my dainty copyright enthusiasts, I did not purchase this book from a retailer. Sorry to disappoint yews. It was shared to me by some unknown peer who wanted to make it available for others to read and enjoy. Thank you, whoever you are.

Besides Szasz's work being pretty fuckn explosive, it is a publication I discovered through what is known as a shadow library.

enter the shadow

I wish I thought of it, to be honest—a colossal web archive of literature open to everybody with access to a web-connection and a machine. No strings attached. This idea of an open-source global literary commons, a liberated library, is nothing less than revolutionary. According to the eminent pirate archivist, Anna, like all things revolutionary, it's not exactly a walk in the park.

I've been using shadow libraries for three years now and boy, let me tell you: boners and bookmarks are aplenty. Readers, let us rejoice. I remember how amazed I was when I discovered that these archives maintain such an extensive collection of material. Really current publications, too.

I don't see how it is not a service to humanity. Making literature—a cultural treasure and perennial source of knowledge and inspiration—as accessible as possible sounds like a spankn good idea to me.

Alternatively, if, like so many well-groomed individuals, I am hoodwinked by the idea that art mustn't be freely shared, then I suppose I would cry theft! O' how the bleeding heart of the indignant author, the corporate publishing house, and the public relations hack vie for your sympathy.

intellectual property: just another rich man's trick

As I've chosen to educate myself about IP/copyright and its controversies, it has become clear to me that it's a confidence trick, albeit, a deplorable one meant to further extend the dogma of capital outward and into the mind of the human race. Slavers! up to their usual tricks again, eh ...

Because I am hungry and in need of a snack, I can't wax too philosophically about how contemptible it is to me that some assholes in a legislature want to prevent us from reading what is available to read. Fuck those guys!

  1. Anna's Archive

  2. Library Genesis

  3. z-library

(If there's any way to verify book downloads from these sh_libraries, it might be wise to do so. Checksums or hashes, whatever there is available. I can see this being a delicious opportunities for threat actors to insert various spyware/malware etc. into the freeware-copyleft community.)

The teams behind these archives really deserve a cookie. I have so much respect for them. There's still a lotta fasci dirtbags out there that wanna burn books, or at least, prevent you from reading the “wrong ones”. It's obvious to me that they've failed. So let's seize the day by learning, unlearning, and relearning all the things that matter to us.

I don't know about you, but I'm down to honor the work done by those who encourage us to read and read radically.

 
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from fmda

If you're reading this, there's a good chance you're out of your teens, likely in your 20s, and possibly in your 30s or older.

You grew up on the internet. Maybe you grew up on AOL chatrooms, or Xbox parties, Minecraft, Steam, Pewdiepie's Happy Wheels, you name it. You remember hearing about Bitcoin waaaaaaay back. You remember Google Plus shutting down like it was yesterday (that was four years ago, by the way).

Some of you already have children, too. This makes what I'm about to tell you very relevant.

How Do You Do, Fellow Kids?

As someone on the younger side, allow me to explain the Gen Z perspective. We've never heard of the Snowden leaks. We don't know what http was like. We don't understand the slightest bit of internet infrastructure or privacy and security.

We just see our modern technology as a gateway to pleasure. This is (unfortunately) not an exaggeration: look through a 15 year old “e-girl”s phone. What will you find? Plenty of mindless cutesy phone games, social media apps (for your healthy dose of narcissism and dopamine rewiring), messaging applications, and a personal favorite, the app for romanticizing fantasy dreams, Pinterest.

But that's it. We see an app, we assume it's a magical tool which no downsides, and so, we install it without blinking an eye. We want to feel connected, so we make an Instagram account and connect with friends. All of our friends have snapchat, or Kik, or Whatsapp, let me install it too!

How do young people connect and socialize nowadays? If you are out of touch with reality and were fed too much trad Twitter, you might be inclined to believe modern teenagers are Weimar-style, sexually active, drug abusing, degenerate hedonists. This is partly true! But, reality is a bit more daunting.

You might be surprised to find out that overall, rates of sexual activity are down, not up, in modern times. Keep in mind this chart is from 2018, a whole 5 years ago. Could you imagine how much lower it is post pandemic lockdowns?

decline in sex among young males and females

How is this possible? Is this due to a rise in traditional values among young men and women?

Lol.

No, of course not. Have you spoken to the average teenage male? The porn addict? The junk food glutton? The videogame obsessed loser with no ambitions?

Well, if young people aren't doing the dirty, and they're simultaneously the opposite of abstinent Christians, then what is happening?

So what is this Discord thing?

Discord has not existed for very long. Its only real competitor, Skype, is very popular for professional use, but rarely used by young people.

For teens, Discord is “the thing”. If you ever match up with a cool random teammate in a game and you want to keep in touch, you say “What's your Discord tag?”. Originally marketed as “the social messaging app for gamers”, it has now expanded its brand to target “communities”, which typically include younger people (but not always).

Time to get to the point. Discord is one of the main places young people have to find a connection with eachother. Other alternatives are dating apps like Tinder, or social media like Instagram. But Discord is very popular, especially if you're under 18.

how are young people meeting eachother

Why? Well, it's easy to express yourself. You can have a profile picture of anything you like. If you're a female and want to attract males, setting a cute anime profile picture will immediately boost your desirability. Oh, and if you do find an online boyfriend? You get the feeling of connection from something called: matching pfps. Yes, it's corny, and the idea is you show your love for eachother by matching profile pictures. It's a bit like getting a matching bracelet or shirts, but more affectionate.

matching pfps This is common for online couples.

There are also communities in Discord, called “servers”. They're basically massive (or small) open (or closed) groupchats. You can make an official server for Monero, or you can make a little server for your group of 30 friends who play DnD. It's common for people to make a server for their online friend group and add people they meet who they think might play games or hang out with them.

There are also popular servers created solely for people to meet eachother, with hundreds of open voice channels with people constantly moving around, talking to new people and having usually stupid, but sometimes, very interesting conversations.

You thought your OPSEC was bad?

These hubs are the hotspot for young people to engage relationships. You might think: What kind of relationship can a young teenager enter through an online app? You're in for a surprise. Let me tell you a fictional (but very accurate) story of one such person. Let's name the girl: Alicia.

Alicia is a pretty normal teenager compared to her peers. She's 16, and is conventionally attractive, but has only had a couple nonserious relationships in real life. They didn't end well, and one of the boys cheated on her. Her relationship with her parents is quite shaky. Her mom and dad got a divorce when she was 10, and she's had to move back and forth throughout her life. Her dad is an alcoholic. Her mother is a toxic manipulator, diagnosed with bipolar. Pretty shaky foundations. She doesn't really enjoy highschool, and though she was really excited about college and adulthood when she was in her late years of elementary, she sees her future rapidly shriveling up. Alicia smokes weed and vapes, gets off to wattpad fanmade erotica, and enjoys cozying up to hot chocolate and anime or netflix when she's sad.

She also plays Valorant, a modern FPS shooter. That's where she met a new friend, another girl, which asked her if she wanted to join her Discord server. That way, she and her friends could queue up together to play! Playing with friends is always more fun than alone, so Alicia says yes.

Alicia makes a few friends, but there are also boys in the server. One particular user, Dan, has a deep voice and charming personality. Alicia develops a crush on him and starts flirting with him. Over the next few days, she tries to pull him away for herself. She sends him funny memes, asks him if he wants to play without telling the others... eventually, she admits her crush, and he reciprocates.

Boom. You now have an e-couple.

Things develop further. Dan asks Alicia to show a picture of her face, and in return he sends his. They both find eachother attractive. The flirting and hanging around continues. They play games together and start watching movies and anime together, privately, away from the group. They change their profile pictures to matching ones. The rest of the group tease them but are secretly jealous of their chemistry.

You can probably see where this is going.

The details don't matter: eventually, after much sexual flirtation, Alicia sends a photo of herself naked, and Dan sends a picture of his penis. But things don't end there. Ever heard of phone sex? Yeah, they do that too. And Discord allows you to share video.

So now, you have 2 minors on video masturbating with eachother.

...

If you have a daughter, you should be terrified right now (if you weren't already). Discord's atrocious track record with CP supporting furry admins doesn't help either.

But if you're reading this, then you probably already know that every single digital interaction, picture, metadata and all, are stored permanently by the NSA without your consent. Discord has become a cesspool for child pornography, and the worst part of it is that the kids on it don't realize how big of a privacy risk what they're doing is.

I don't have a grand solution or conclusion to make. It's terrible. But I hope parents will feel motivated to build healthier environments for children. Not by restricting access to modern technology, but by being around and being a good teacher. Remember, most of the young degenerates (no offense) come from broken households.

Awareness is key. I don't see this being talked about enough.

As a final note, this blog by Session on love + privacy is a pretty good read: https://getsession.org/blog/find-true-love-on-session

 
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from xeleriac

All the steps I'm now taking to secure my privacy and reclaim control over my data makes me reflect on the days when my digital practices revolved around porn, torrents, google, and routinely ignored software and OS updates.

How careless of me.

I used the web like a stooge from age 12 to age 30. That's a lot of frivolous internet use with practically no thought given to security, anonymity, or threat modelling. Big data thanks me. And I get Five Big Winks from the Five Eyes.

For so long I had waived my privacy without thinking hey maybe I should be smarter about this. Maybe I oughta learn more about this revolutionary tool I use on the daily. Maybe, just maybe, who I am, and what I do, has value—both online and offline.

I do wonder if the poor digital opsec of my past has compromised my efforts going forward. Perhaps only time will tell.

All things considered I take heart knowing that if my digital efforts to anonymize and agorize are in vain, at least I am cultivating a tactical mindset, a useful mentality as we plunge deeper into a “guerrilla information war with no division between military and civilian participation,” as Marshall McLuhan so aptly put it in Culture is Our Business (1970).

 
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from xeleriac

So I decided to sign up for PayPal.

As a privacy advocate, this was a pretty big deal to me. Knowing full well the loathsome track record of PayPal as an instrument of the technocratic state, I agonized over this decision.

The skinny: I applied for a remote editing gig. If I wanted it, I'd have to get the P, and I don't mean Pfizer. The employer wanting me on board as an editor apparently only makes payments to its freelancers via PayPal. Balls.

Understand this. I don't ever give out my provincial name (i.e. “legal name”... does that mean another name can be illegal?). Well, sadly, I gave it to PayPal. I thought it'd satisfy their hunger for a “true and correct identity.” Then I could get on with my life and provide for my family. Not so fast! What a foolish move. At least I didn't give them any other personal identifiers of mine.

Within minutes my activity was flagged as 'suspicious' and all features were frozen. I was informed by a bot that until I provided their “team” with gang-issued photo ID, my account privileges would be suspended indefinitely. Here's the kicker. I just said fuck it and decided to close my account. Ah, not so fast there, private eye. Wanna close your account, do ya? Send us that ID. We'll review it first. Then maybe we'll close your account.

Well stuff me in the KYC.

I can't believe I even bothered. All things considered, I did it with my family in mind. Noble though that may be, I compromised integrity and now I feel like I have to do damage control, which suxxx. Those stasi motherfuckers have me flagged. Great. I don't even get any work out of it! A raw deal [I recently learned that the organization accepts any PayPal account as long as I invoice them!]. The parasite class will always try to leverage our families against us. Never forget that. That's how this/a mafia works.

Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies are evidently trojan horses for the expansion of the corporate surveillance-state. I'm discovering how troubling this is in real time. I remember the days when a signup took two seconds and an email address. Now its like your applying for a fucking mortgage.

The crazy thing is, the functionaries writing and peddling these KYC + AML standards literally work for the organized crime establishment. Have you read the Paradise Papers? How about the Panama Papers? These conmen want to know how to con you better. They're using big data for that. Just look at Palantir.

Us mutineers better start putting our heads together, or we're gonna find ourselves living in an open-air prison faster than you can say “end-to-end-encrypted.”

That said, there are people are out there, both underground and on-the-ground, doing really tremendous work to preserve privacy and freedom in the digital age.

This report is dedicated to them.

 
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from fmda

Peterson has taken a rigid moral stance against internet anonymity in his tweets in the last few months. He also recently appeared on Joe Rogan Experience to explain his views.

According to him, “virtualization” (online anonymity) is:

  1. A vehicle which increases Dark Triad/Tetrad behaviours (psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, sadism).

  2. Hiding as an excuse to justify the lack of your personal responsibility (You should proudly and bravely stand behind your opinions despite the consequences. You should rearrange your life to be on better social standing in order to resist the hits you will get).

Before we begin, I will state that I believe Jordan Peterson is one of the most positively influential men of the 21st century. He has done incomparable work in articulating the social problems of our ages, made incredible progress in bridging the gap between spirituality and science, and is never a disappointment to listen to. I hope he realizes how dangerous his opinion is, because I genuinely believe it to be a mistake of ignorance, rather than a malevolent take.

Let’s start with point 1. The idea that Dark Triad/Tetrad types are more likely to be anonymous online is 100% fact. The idea that their voices, and by extension, their influence is boosted by social media is also obvious.

This is irrelevant. There is a joke as old as the concept of cyberbullying itself: “Cyberbullying is not real, just close your laptop.” This is a cold and unsympathetic statement, but it’s 100% true. Not only can you immediately terminate your entire presence without any consequences, but on most social platforms there are softer measures, such as word filters, muting, or blocking, which lots of people use! You are entirely in control of your presence online. In this manner, the internet has become a haven of highly purified free speech. Egos are completely separate from opinions and you face no physical consequences for free thought.

There is something to be said about this bizarre lens that Peterson has chosen to look through in order to come to the conclusion that “bad people are using it, so it must be bad, therefore we must do something about it”. Does that ring any bells? Is this not the same exact argument authoritarians have been using in order to control people for millennia?

The danger of hate speech —> restrict free speech. The danger of gun violence —> restrict firearms. The dangers of abuse of workers —> restrict markets. The dangers of fraud —> government regulation. The dangers of “hoarding” —> Fiat. The dangers of “wrongthink” —> Read 1984 if you haven’t already.

Anyone that is in favor of individual freedom knows that the overprotectionist narcissistic mother (as Peterson himself puts it, but I am referring to centralized power as a whole) leads to more destruction, more chaos in the long run, because the child (Man) has isolated from the true conditions of existence. Like shielding a baby from any harmful bacteria, its body becomes extremely fragile to anything bad. A setup for a premature death.

Therefore by narrowing his view of internet anonymity, Peterson is blinding himself to the good it has provided, such as protection from abusers, governments, corporations, or the shielding of one’s personal reputation while being able to freely express ideas with others, publicly, but anonymously. Damaged reputation, saved money, saved lives, saved time, etc are also much harder to track in a study because they didn’t happen, compared to negative things that did happen with someone’s anonymous troll comments. How many lives were not destroyed because the person decided to protect their identity? Evidently, it is a waste of time to try to measure this accurately.

As a side note, I think Peterson has totally miscalculated and demonized his core fanbase by naming anonymity supporters as “anonymous troll demons”. Sure, there used to be some people that were skeptical of him, believing him to be controlled opposition (I find this view too paranoid for my taste), but most people that were ignored and demonized by society (primarily men that saw themselves as husks of their great ancestors, desperately in search of meaning, sitting behind a computer), found him as a great inspiration against the tide of modern authoritarianism. Personal responsibility and individualism over collectivism! Young men almost saw him as a replacement father. Well, he has now damned those men to be anonymous troll demons, just because they’ve seen the pitchforks of cancel culture and chose to play the game smart.

This brings us into point #2. To summarize, Peterson argues that life’s meaning comes in part from standing against the mob, holding what’s true above all else, and being proud of your beliefs in truth in the face of evil. Basically, triumph over evil adversity with pride rather than shame and cowardice. By extension, this makes the act of anonymising your identity an act of shame, an admission of guilt, and a cynical act that admits your enemy has power over you.

Fair point. Some of you may already be thinking of the countless situations in which someone may face repercussions as a consequence of their publicity (such as getting fired, going to jail, losing reputation) but Peterson argues that you should work to position yourself in a manner so that you have a strong foundation. Perhaps if you work in an environment that is hostile to your political opinions, consider getting at least prepared to explore other options.

The issue is that he looks through it one dimensionally. First of all, I completely agree: Everyone should position themselves to be as strong and uncensorable as possible. And why should that be seperate from anonymity? Why can’t we have our cake and eat it too? And that assumes that while you are not positioned comfortably, you aren’t allowed to speak your opinion. Why should truth wait it’s turn?

Besides, if we follow Peterson’s logic, that means that there are clearly defined social boundaries and rules to abide by, and we are meant to follow predictable and stable rules of behaviour. Maybe keep quiet on certain topics for a few years until you’re set, then go out there and speak!

But that is not how the world actually works; something completely popular becomes wrongthink in the span of a few years, while other things go from crimes to popular opinion (think of the vaccine mandates or BLM protests and how quickly public opinion of them swayed) in a matter of months.

BLM and police support graph

Vaccine regrets graph Vaccine regrets in France, 2021

The world around us is in constant, chaotic flux, and most of us are not in a position in which we can afford to take the risk of our livelihoods for the sake of public virtue. We don’t even know what is draw attention to us because it isn’t even illegal yet, but then all of a sudden, you are sent to jail.

  • Alexey Pertsev is still in Dutch jail for having broken no law. His mistake? He worked on an open source project, Tornado Cash. Without warning or charges, he suddenly found himself in jail, with no possibility for explaining himself.

  • Then there are the bigger cases, such as Julian Assange, who, should we mention, has spent over 3 years in Belmarsh Prison, known as the “Guantanamo Bay of Britain”? Assange has faced no legitimate charges (“hacking” now means sharing of confidential documents obtained by a source, which is by definition, most of journalism), and his 3 fabricated rape charges were dropped right before they could become a full case, for the sake of prolonging his torture and because the cases would never stand in a higher court of law. Is this a worthwhile price to pay for virtue? Rotting in solitary confinement for 3 years, for 23 hours a day?

  • Andrew Tate was recently arrested in Romania. Ironically, he is the perfect guinea pig test subject for Peterson’s view: He told people his opinions shamelessly, and very intentionally positioned his life in such a way as to not be susceptible to abuse, and did so better than almost anyone else in the world could have. His net worth is in the tens or hundreds of millions. So, did it work? Or is he rotting away in Romanian jail without any evidence of his crimes?

In short, yes, one should absolutely work to position their life to be as resistant to censorship as possible. But that doesn’t mean sacrificing your personal safety or the safety of your loved ones.

There is also something to be said about separating the art from the artist. In this metaphor, the art can be anything created by the artist, such as visual art, music or comedy, but it can also extend to anything, such as technology, code, political beliefs, or how good they can cook a steak. Anonymity allows for the art to be separated from the artist.

Artists like:

  • Satoshi Nakamoto, innovator of one of the most important inventions of human history? What if he published Bitcoin with his full name? His public identity would have been linked to all of his mined coins; in fact, they (and his online presence) would have likely been a target of CIA or NSA and co-opted by them, or who knows what other horrors they could have done to try to control Bitcoin. They would probably spread an anti-privacy motto and how KYC is necessary and good for adoption ;)

  • “Publuis”, a pseudonym used by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to publish The Federalist Papers, a crucial document in the founding of America, arguably, the most important country for guaranteeing personal freedoms in human history.

  • Nicolaus Copernicus, who first put forward his theory of heliocentrism anonymously, in the form of a manuscript now known as the Commentariolus.

  • Many authors throughout history who have written under a pseudonym, including many women writing under male names, hoping to separate their art from themselves as the artist (such as J.K. Rowling, the Brontë sisters, Marry Ann Evans, Amantine Aurore Lucile Dupin, Alice Bradley Sheldon and many others)

As a final note, I will clarify that Jordan Peterson is not in favor of actually removing all anonymous accounts; rather, he wants anonymous accounts and public accounts to be separated. This already happens to an extent (“verified” accounts on various platforms already have a high trust score and are more likely to show up on your feed than anonymous accounts, as the latter have a higher chance of being spam), but it seems he wants it pushed further.

To hell with that. We have had enough of the surveillance state monitoring our every action, controlling our thoughts and actions, and reshaping society behind closed doors. It is time for us to fight back and regain our personal freedoms. NORMALIZE ANONYMITY.

My privacy is not up to your opinion.

 
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from anarkio

Tags: #bitcoin #monero #crypto #agorism

Infographic:

cryptocircular2_small.jpg

Transcription:

Crypto is cash for the internet:

✓ Send and receive money worldwide without restrictions.

✓ Fast, low fees, no middlemen.

✓ No bank account or government ID required.

Bitcoin (BTC)

The original cryptocurrency. Widely accepted and easy to use.

Monero (XMR)

A private-by-default cryptocurrency. Low fees & fast confirmations.

As independent, privacy-friendly and censorship-resistant money, cryptocurrencies provide economic freedom and financial inclusion for millions of people worldwide.


1) Get a wallet

To get started with crypto, simply download a wallet to your phone or computer.

No application, account fee or personal information is required.

Wallets give you a crypto address, with which you can easily send and receive money.

Recommended wallets include:

  • BlueWallet.io (BTC)
  • SamouraiWallet.com (BTC)
  • SparrowWallet.com (BTC)
  • Monero.com (XMR)
  • FeatherWallet.org (XMR)

2) Earn crypto

Crypto circular economies support free & fair trade for small businesses, freelancers and communities. Trade directly without middlemen.

Find jobs or gigs, sell second hand electronics, clothes & more, or accept crypto in your business with Bitejo.com (https://bitejo.com) – peer-to-peer classifieds for Bitcoin and Monero.

Unlike Ebay, Upwork or Etsy, Bitejo doesn't take any fees, doesn't require a bank account or Paypal, and is available worldwide.

More marketplaces:

  • Microlancer.io
  • MoneroMarket.io
  • t.me/BitcoinP2PMarketplace

3) Spend crypto

Shop with Bitcoin or Monero, exchange it to cash, buy gift cards or hold it as savings – the choice is yours.

a) Shop online

Thousands of stores already accept Bitcoin and Monero directly:

  • AcceptedHere.io
  • Monerica.com
  • Oshi.tech
  • LightningNetworkStores.com

b) Withdraw cash

Withdraw crypto to physical cash with Bitcoin ATMs:

  • CoinATMRadar.com

Or via cash by mail/in person:

  • LocalMonero.co
  • HodlHodl.com
  • Bisq.network
  • Robosats.com

c) Visa gift cards

Spend crypto with a Visa gift card (no ID required):

  • PayWithMoon.com
  • TheBitcoinCompany.com
  • CakePay.com

d) Store gift cards

Buy gift cards to popular stores like Amazon, Walmart, Steam, Uber & more:

  • Bitrefill.com
  • CoinCards.com
  • TheBitcoinCompany.com
  • CakePay.com

e) Proxy merchants

Pay with crypto in any online store via personal shopping services:

  • Proxysto.re
  • Purse.io
  • ShopInBit.com
  • SovereignStack.tools

Learn more about Bitcoin and Monero:

  • Bitcoin.org
  • GetMonero.org
  • WhyCryptocurrencies.com
  • SovrnBitcoiner.com
  • TheMonero.dance
  • KYCNot.me
  • Agorism.blog

For more infographics, visit: https://anarkiocrypto.imgbb.com

 
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from anarkio

Tags: #bitcoin #crypto #agorism

Bitcoin is a unique, private and censorship-resistant way to pay in online and brick-and-mortar stores. Unlike credit cards and banking, Bitcoin doesn't require corporate permission or government ID. Just download a wallet and you can send and receive money in minutes, worldwide.

You don't need a bank account in order to use Bitcoin. For example, you can buy Bitcoin with cash (in person, by mail, with Bitcoin ATMs or vouchers) or with gift cards:

With Bitcoin circular economies, you can buy and sell products for Bitcoin. The following ideas can help you to get started:

  1. Sell electronics, clothes, food & more for Bitcoin with https://bitejo.com or https://t.me/bitcoinp2pmarketplace
  2. Earn Bitcoin with remote work, microtasks and gigs with https://microlancer.io (Software development, art, copywriting, tutoring, personal assistants & more)
  3. Find more ways to stack sats with https://www.stacksats.how
  4. Tip with Bitcoin in restaurants, bars or taxis or send Bitcoin as a gift: https://lightning.gifts
  5. Find local Bitcoin-friendly businesses and earn Bitcoin rewards while shopping with https://oshi.tech
  6. Browse hundreds of businesses that accept Bitcoin with https://acceptedhere.io, https://cryptwerk.com, https://lightningnetworkstores.com
  7. Search a large range of Bitcoin-friendly stores with https://spendabit.co
  8. View a map of Bitcoin brick-and-mortar stores here: https://coinmap.org
  9. Encourage your favorite businesses to accept Bitcoin with this brochure: https://twitter.com/linkinparkrulz_/status/1543348394181148672 or this introduction: https://anarkio.codeberg.page/bitcoin
  10. Accept Bitcoin in your online store with https://btcpayserver.org or https://blockonomics.co or use a mobile wallet in your brick-and-mortar store such as https://bluewallet.io
  11. Sell Bitcoin vouchers in your store (similar to phone refills) with https://azte.co and https://bitramp.co
  12. Send Bitcoin invoices with https://zaprite.com
  13. Buy gift cards to most mainstream businesses with https://bitrefill.com, https://coincards.com, https://thebitcoincompany.com
  14. Use a Bitcoin personal shopping service to buy from any online store, no credit card required: https://sovereignstack.tools/rerouter, https://proxysto.re
  15. Shop from Amazon and pay with Bitcoin with https://purse.io
  16. Get anonymous global mobile data with https://silent.link, an anonymous VOIP number with https://jmp.chat or SMS verifications with https://juicysms.com
  17. Earn Bitcoin tips by posting with https://stacker.news
  18. Support your favorite podcasters and earn sats with https://fountain.fm
  19. Monetize your Youtube channel, blog or social media by adding a Bitcoin donation address or Paynym: https://paynym.is
  20. KYC-free Bitcoin tips for Twitter: https://tweetoshi.com
  21. Enable Bitcoin tips, subscriptions and memberships for your content with https://starbackr.com or https://getmash.com
  22. Start fundraisers with https://geyser.fund, https://tallycoin.app or https://docs.btcpayserver.org/Apps/#crowdfunding-app
  23. Join or start a local Bitcoin marketplace for your city in Signal or Telegram: https://github.com/taxmeifyoucan/p2p-trading/
  24. Visit a Bitcoin meetup: https://bitcoin-only.com/meetups or start a Bitcoin group in Freedom Cells: https://freedomcells.org
  25. Switch to a Bitcoin-friendly VPS host and domain registrar: https://1984.is, https://bitlaunch.io, https://njal.la
  26. Easily send Bitcoin tips, subscriptions and shop online with https://getalby.com
  27. Read articles about living on Bitcoin from https://cointastical.medium.com, https://darthcoin.substack.com and https://sovrnbitcoiner.com
  28. Join online Bitcoin communities like https://t.me/sovereignbitcoiner and https://matrix.to/#/#citadel:bitcoin.kyoto

Replace these fiat platforms with a Bitcoin standard:

  1. Ebay, Craigslist, Amazon, Etsy: https://bitejo.com, https://t.me/bitcoinp2pmarketplace, https://plebeian.market, https://mobazha.com
  2. Upwork, Fiverr: https://microlancer.io, https://freelanceforcoins.com
  3. Uber, Lyft, Deliveroo: https://degenrides.io, https://libretaxi.org (or buy gift cards with https://thebitcoincompany.com, https://bitrefill.com)
  4. GoFundMe, Kickstarter: https://geyser.fund, https://tallyco.in, https://docs.btcpayserver.org/Apps/#crowdfunding-app
  5. Patreon, Ko-Fi, Open Collective: https://starbackr.com, https://getmash.com, https://docs.btcpayserver.org/Apps/#payment-button
  6. Paypal, Stripe: https://btcpayserver.org, https://blockonomics.co, https://satsale.org
  7. Credit cards: https://paywithmoon.com, https://coindebit.io, https://thebitcoincompany.com
  8. Sim cards: https://silent.link, https://jmp.chat, https://juicysms.com
  9. Mobile payment apps: https://bluewallet.io, https://samouraiwallet.com

For more info:

 
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from anarkio

Tags: #tech #tor #privacy #anonymity #bitcoin #monero

A concept for a decentralized KYC-free Bitcoin/Monero fund for Tor node hosting (“Sponsor” a node):

The Tor network needs many diverse decentralized nodes for privacy and resistance to collusion and attacks (e.g. KAX17).

Many people can’t host nodes at home due to safety, cost or resources. Tor-friendly VPS hosts that accept BTC are expensive or already host many nodes.

However, people may want to donate to people who have the resources to run a node but can’t afford the costs out-of-pocket.

This concept for a decentralized KYC-free Bitcoin/Monero fund for Tor node hosting aims to connect donors to node operators and strengthen the Tor network.

How it works:

1) Donors send Bitcoin/Monero to the Tor node fund.

2) The node operator enters the IP address of their Tor node. The existence, uptime and bandwidth of the node is verified via the Tor Metrics website. Ownership is proven via a text file in webroot, DNS entry or the contact details listed in Tor Metrics. The operator also enters their Bitcoin/Monero address.

3) As long as the node is online (checked via Tor Metrics), the node operator receives an amount of Bitcoin/Monero every month from the donation fund.

4) Optional bounties for home nodes vs. VPS nodes (IP doesn’t resolve to a known data center) and relay nodes vs. exit nodes.

 
Read more...

from anarkio

Tags: #agorism #bitcoin #monero #privacy #kyc

Fair and free markets for food, jobs, housing, healthcare, mail, sim cards & more – no government ID or state permit required.

Video: https://tube.tchncs.de/w/9xvdnjBB64gXRrdES7N4se Odysee mirror: https://odysee.com/@anarkio:a/survival-outside-the-state:f Youtube mirror: https://youtube.com/watch?v=4LkKC5xqU8A

Slides and transcript: https://agorism.blog/anarkio/survival-outside-the-state

Slide 1:

Slide 1

How to survive outside of the state.

Advanced privacy, sovereignty and censorship-resistance techniques, which work today.


Slide 2:

Slide 2

The current system is broken. The state has total control over the white market economy.

The state's largest mechanism for surveillance and censorship is the government ID system, also known as KYC.

The state forces employers, landlords, doctors, banks, ISPs, cell providers, mailmen and even gyms and libraries to require government ID. Without a passport or driver's license, it becomes difficult to find a job or a place to live.

Not only does this put innocent people under constant state surveillance, it also excludes approximately 1 billion people worldwide from the economy.

KYC isn't only about “handing over your data”. If that would be the case, it would be enough to simply say your name or fill out a form. Instead, only people with a state-assigned document are permitted to take part. The state's monopoly on identity ignores reality, in favor of gatekept databases and centralized control.

Fortunately, agorism bypasses the state's systems and allows everyone to take part in free and fair markets. With agorism, you can find work, rent apartments, receive healthcare and more – no government ID or state permit required.


Slide 3:

Slide 3

One problem with the state's monopoly on identity is surveillance, which stretches far beyond the tracking and surveillance capitalism of Big Tech.

Via government ID systems, the state tracks innocent people from birth certificate to death certificate. It compiles databases of names, birth dates, photos, home addresses, jobs, bank balances, medical records and more. Which it shares with third parties without the individual's knowledge or consent.

This level of data collection is unnecessary. For example: Buying bread or a bus ticket with cash doesn't require a name. Medical records should stay between the doctor and patient. Many people only share their home address with close friends and family.

Government ID requirements can also put people in danger, such as people who are escaping from abuse or activists who are using a pseudonym for safety reasons.


Slide 4:

Slide 4

What is worse than surveillance, is total censorship.

The state actively refuses to print ID for millions of people, which shuts them out of the mainstream economy and makes it difficult to survive.

If your country of birth or residence refuses to print a birth certificate, passport or national ID card for you, there is nowhere to go and no appeals.

Even if you have witnesses, are a skilled worker, can prove your identity via non-government records, or are willing to give fingerprints, there is no way to convince the state to enter you into its database. In most cases, this problem starts at birth or early adulthood, and the individual has done nothing wrong.

NGOs like Red Cross and United Nations are aware of the exclusion and discrimination caused by government ID systems, but they are unable to convince the state, nor offer alternative IDs. Jurisdictional arbitrage like Flag Theory requires an already existing ID. Even the Californian driver's license for undocumented people requires an existing international passport or ID card from another country.

Old strategies like paper tripping no longer work. It's difficult to find so-called corrupt bureaucrats who would print ID for you under-the-table. In many countries, it's difficult to find fake ID vendors, and if you can find one, it may not work to open a bank account or find a job.

Ignored, blamed and even criminalized by the state, millions of people are left on the edge of society without recourse and with great difficulty to even earn money or find a place to live.


Slide 5:

Slide 5

Authoritarianism is increasing globally. Every year, more services require government ID, shutting people without ID or who need privacy or pseudonymity further out of the economy.

During corona statism, vaccine passports required not only an untested vaccine, but also an existing government ID. In some countries, cops and soldiers patrolled the streets during lockdowns and demanded ID from innocent people. As is clear to most people, this wasn't about health, but about control.

Digital IDs and CBDCs will make it worse. The claim that digital IDs will help unbanked people is a lie that uses vulnerable people as an excuse, while continuing to deny them access to the economy.

Just like the current system, access to Digital IDs and CBDCs will require an existing entry in the state's database. Giving your name and fingerprints will not be enough, if you weren't already registered at birth.

If the state really wanted to promote inclusion, it would remove the barriers to obtaining ID, or remove ID requirements entirely. There is nothing blocking the state from this. The exclusion is intentional, and the system is working as designed.

If the goal was indeed mass surveillance, or even profiteering from money printing and taxation, the state would have no issue with entering people into its database. In reality, the state's pathological desire to bully, deprive and ostracize is stronger than its desire to simply surveil and profit.

The pervasiveness of digital ID will only make survival more difficult for marginalized people. For example, if grocery stores only accept CBDCs to buy food, and access to public transit requires Digital ID.

In addition, even people who currently have access to ID are at risk of exclusion from the upcoming Digital ID system. Corporate deplatforming is already a huge issue, and a centralized single point of failure like CBDCs will make this worse. Anyone who resists could easily be cut off from the statist white market.

Agorism is already a necessity for many people today, and will become vital for many more, as state authoritarianism increases.


Slide 6:

Slide 6

As you can see, government ID is nothing more than an artificial system, designed to control, surveil and dehumanize.

It should not be possible to exclude an innocent person from the entire economy and even push them to homelessness, just because a singular state bureaucrat doesn't want to print a document for them. Everyone has a name, appearance, background and personhood. You should not need the state's permission in order to have a name or to exist.

KYC wasn't around forever. Even a few years ago, it was easy to rent an apartment, find work, send a money transfer, or buy a sim card, just by filling out a form and paying. This authoritarian power grab is new and unnecessary. Things worked perfectly fine before.

Peer-to-peer trust methods are more inclusive, humane and work better. This can be as simple as saying your name, using a PIN to pickup mail, a vouch or portfolio to get a job, or a cash deposit for a rental.


Slide 7:

Slide 7

Instead of relying on state permission, agorist markets provide a much-needed alternative method to find work, housing, healthcare and more.

Agorism has worked since decades, including in authoritarian regimes, where it is needed the most. Agorist markets are also known as gray and black markets, the informal economy, the underground, and Second Realms.

There are many reasons to bypass state regulations when doing business, such as saving time and money, avoiding censorship or restrictions, protecting your privacy, or ideological or humanitarian reasons.

Agorism focuses on peer-to-peer transactions, small businesses and communities. No need for a global revolution or corporate mass adoption. If you can get what you need from agorist markets, you don't need to worry about what the mainstream market is doing. Found an apartment for cash? That's winning. Earn crypto online? That's winning. Agorism is there for those who need it, and every transaction outside of the state is a win.

Agorism helps you to build independence from the games of the state, large corporations and geopolitics, which the individual can't influence, and instead focuses on local and global small businesses and communities, where the individual's voice counts.

Good people disobey unjust laws. A hotel owner who doesn't require ID can save someone from homelessness or help them to escape from abuse. An agorist doctor can save lives. A seller of anonymous sim cards can help people to keep in touch with loved ones, or help an activist to fight for human rights.


Slide 8:

Slide 8

There are multiple ways to run an agorist business.

The Gray Man strategy is when a state-registered white market business offers agorist services under-the-table to trusted customers. Some examples: A phone repair store sells anonymous sim cards on request. A hotel rents out rooms without ID to people in need, such as victims of abuse or undocumented people. A restaurant hires a chef for cash under-the-table, so that they can pay rent. A doctor agrees to treat an out-of-pocket patient without ID.

Proxy merchants are individuals or businesses that have access to ID, and allow people to use their company as a proxy to access services anonymously. An example is a friend who sends a bank transfer for you and you repay them in Bitcoin. Your roommate deals with the rental contract on your behalf and you pay rent to them in cash. A local business allows you to pickup mail there. A company registers sim cards under their name and resells them anonymously.

Second Realm businesses operate entirely outside of the state, without government ID or a registered company. Such as remote freelancing for Bitcoin or lawncare for cash. Importing medicine from countries that don't require prescriptions. Selling your old car in Craigslist. Renting out your apartment for cash while you are traveling.


Slide 9:

Slide 9

Now some practical examples, covering food, finances, jobs, housing, healthcare, energy, logistics, communications, education, community, and how you can get started today.

Starting with food: It's still possible to buy food with cash in mainstream grocery stores. Even when corona restrictions closed most other stores, or demanded contactless payments such as credit cards and banking apps (which all require ID), most grocery stores stayed open, didn't require vaccine passports, and continued to accept cash.

However, it's still important to grow independence from large corporations and support small businesses and local farms. Whether that's growing your own food and getting water from a well on a homestead or buying from farmers markets.

There are even farmers who accept Bitcoin and Monero, such as Gratuitas coffee and Beef Initiative.

In the future, if the state would force mainstream grocery stores to only accept CBDCs, local grocery stores who accept cash or crypto would become vital for access to food. In addition, proxy merchants who have access to CBDCs could go shopping for unbanked people.


Slide 10:

Slide 10

Without government ID, it's impossible to open a bank account or get a credit card. It wasn't always like this. It used to be possible to open a Paypal account, buy a Visa gift card or send a Western Union transfer without ID. Now, you can't even send 20 dollars to a friend, if you don't have a passport or driver's license.

Thankfully, cash still works for local in person transactions, and some online stores still accept cash on delivery or cash by mail. Some online stores accept gift cards, that you can buy with cash from local stores. In some countries like the US, anonymous Visa gift cards are still available. Physical gold and silver work well as savings.

Proxy merchants can send bank transfers, pay bills or purchase products on your behalf, and you pay them in cash or crypto.

The most important tool for financial freedom is cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin and Monero make it possible to send and receive money worldwide, without government ID or a bank account. Perfect for online shopping, brick-and-mortar stores, remittances, jobs, fundraising, tips, savings and more.

Many individuals and businesses are building Bitcoin and Monero circular economies, which aim to make it possible to live fully on crypto, including food, jobs, housing, healthcare and travel.


Slide 11:

Slide 11

In order to pay for food and rent, you need a way to earn money.

Sadly the state also has a monopoly over the mainstream job market. Despite your skills, work ethic and effort, if you don't have ID, most employers won't even consider to hire you.

Fortunately, there are many agorist employers who value meritocracy and equal opportunities. If you can do the job, they are happy to hire you.

Some examples are under-the-table jobs for cash, for example, in construction, farming, factory work, restaurants, or selling products for cash in local markets. Additionally, there's remote work for cryptocurrencies, including software development, graphic design, music, writing and translation.

It's possible to find remote work for crypto in KYC-free freelancing platforms like Microlancer and Freelance For Coins, as well as in peer-to-peer marketplaces like Bitejo and Bitcoin P2P Marketplace in Telegram.

Co-ops and collectives also offer agorist jobs. For example, a bicycle repair co-op, or a cafe collective. DAOs are similar to co-ops, and can be used for projects, jobs, fundraising and more. For agorist DAOs, check Dark Fi.


Slide 12:

Slide 12

Shelter is important. Protection from the elements, a place to sleep, relax, feel safe, and call home. But even a necessity like this is gatekept behind government ID KYC.

Peer-to-peer rentals help people to access shelter outside of the state. Whether it's renting for cash from a guy in Craigslist, living with roommates who deal with the contract on your behalf, finding an AirBnB host who doesn't require ID, or joining an intentional community like a housing project or an eco village.

Proxy merchants could help people to rent white market apartments, while a crypto-friendly AirBnB could help people to rent short-term and long-term accommodation for Bitcoin or Monero.

Intentional communities like eco villages and Bitcoin Citadels could provide an autonomous space where people could live, work and thrive outside of state control.


Slide 13:

Slide 13

Even if you pay with cash and write your contact details and medical history on the form, doctors may refuse to treat you without ID. Not only is this against the Hippocratic Oath, it also puts people in danger and unable to seek healthcare.

Fortunately, it's still possible to find doctors who don't require ID, via word-of-mouth or support groups. Generally this requires out-of-pocket payment, but there are also some charitable health clinics funded by donations, where people in need can receive free or low cost treatment.

A Bitcoin health insurance company and network of Bitcoin-friendly doctors could help people to access healthcare for an affordable price, as well as print health insurance cards that people can use to visit doctors without government ID. A Bitcoin GoFundMe alternative could also help individuals and charities to raise money for medical expenses.

It's also possible to import medicine from countries that don't require prescriptions, such as buying from an international online pharmacy. This helps people to access the medicine that they need to survive.

In addition, biohackers are making it easier to DIY your own healthcare. Four Thieves Vinegar is working on ways to synthesize medicines from freely purchasable re-agents, and advances are being made in robotic surgery and CRISPR.


Slide 14:

Slide 14

Often, electricity and heating is included in rentals, and the landlord makes the contract with the energy company on your behalf. However, it's useful to build energy sovereignty, especially in times of increasing prices or even risks of blackouts.

Off-grid solar panels and batteries can help you achieve energy sovereignty. Generate electricity from sunlight, even on a cloudy winter day, and store it in batteries for later usage. Even an emergency hand crank or pedal generator could help you to recharge your phone or listen to the radio during a blackout.

Gas generators and propane heaters can also give you independence from the grid. Although there is still dependence on oligarchs and national supply lines, you can buy gas in advance and use it during a blackout, when the grid is inaccessible or rationed.

In the future, community-run energy grids and improvements in renewables and battery tech could make it easier to live independently from the state's energy grid.


Slide 15:

Slide 15

It can be difficult to receive mail without ID. If you are living in an informal apartment rental, it may not be possible to receive mail there, and most PO box services require ID.

Depending on where you live, there may be courier-operated parcel lockers that only require a PIN that you receive by SMS, or general delivery may be possible with a passphrase.

Some taxi apps offer delivery services and accept cash, which works for local deliveries. In some cases, you could ask the taxi driver to pickup the package from the post office on your behalf.

It's also possible to simply ask a friend or local business if they could receive the package for you.

In the future, a KYC-free PO box network could help people to receive mail. In this concept, local businesses could sign up as PO box providers and set their own fees and terms. Then customers could send mail to this address, and pick it up with a passphrase.


Slide 16:

Slide 16

Access to the internet is also gatekept behind government ID. Most home internet providers require ID, although in some rentals, the landlord deals with the contract on your behalf. In many countries, even prepaid sim cards require ID, but some stores still sell anonymous sim cards under-the-table.

It's possible to access the internet by importing a sim card from a country that doesn't require ID such as the US or UK, using an anonymous e-sim like Silent Link, or making use of public wifi networks.

With more proxy merchants and public wifi providers, uncensored access to the internet would be possible for everyone.


Slide 17:

Slide 17

Access to education and training is also censored by the state. Universities, trade schools and libraries require government ID, even if you pay in cash.

Thankfully, there are accessible ways to learn new skills, such as with online education and local hackerspaces and meetups.

Youtube videos, online courses, forums and open source software help people to learn about any topic online, including software development, languages, music, writing and DIY.

In addition, meetups, hackerspaces and anarchist libraries make it possible to learn a variety of practical skills, such as electronics, carpentry, gardening, cooking, sports or even biohacking.

The network of online classes and in person community spaces is growing, and it's getting easier to learn new things, improve your skills and meet new people, outside of the state's monopoly on education.


Slide 18:

Slide 18

There are already some agorist, libertarian and crypto communities, for example in Twitter, Telegram, Reddit and Matrix, as well as in person meetups and conferences.

Bitcoin and Monero peer-to-peer marketplaces like Bitejo and Bitcoin P2P Marketplace in Telegram help you to build crypto circular economies, and buy and sell products and services outside of the state.

Spread the word about agorism, and help to build fair and free markets that everyone can participate in.


Slide 19:

Slide 19

How to get started?

Find and use services that don't require government ID.

Consider to accept crypto in your business, for example via BTCPayServer, or join a crypto peer-to-peer marketplace. Offer proxy merchant services if possible.

Build parallel economies that operate outside of the state and are future-proof against the dangers of CBDCs, digital IDs and increasing state authoritarianism.

Join millions of people worldwide, who participate in the informal economy every day.

For more information, check out “An Agorist Primer” by SEK3, “Second Realm: Book on Strategy” by Smuggler & XYZ, Vonu Podcast, Agorism Blog, and learn about Bitcoin or Monero.


Slide 20:

Slide 20

Free the markets, free the world.


More info:

Agorism: – https://anarkio.codeberg.page/agorismhttps://agorism.blog/anarkio/crypto-agorismhttps://agorism.blog/anarkio/flag-theory-micronations-agorism

KYC-free alternatives: – https://agorism.blog/anarkio/why-the-states-monopoly-on-identity-is-more-dangerous-than-google-facebookhttps://agorism.blog/anarkio/roadblocks-to-obtaining-government-idhttps://agorism.blog/anarkio/dangers-of-decentralized-id-systems

Bitcoin & Monero: – https://sovrnbitcoiner.com/get-started-with-bitcoin-circular-economies/https://monerochan.news/article/4https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/kyc-free-bitcoin-circular-economies

 
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