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from the gonna-need-more-wallets-and-aliases dept.
The European Commission – the executive arm of the European Union – has proposed a directive aimed [at] preventing the use [of] the financial system for terrorist financing which includes a central database for bitcoin and virtual currency users' identities and wallet addresses accessible to government financial intelligence units (FIUs).
The proposal seeks to require member states to bring into force the regulations necessary to comply with this directive by Jan. 1, 2017.
[...] To counter the risks related to the anonymity, national FIUs should be able to associate virtual currency addresses to the identity of the owner of virtual currencies. In addition, the possibility to allow users to self-declare to authorities voluntarily should be considered.
The proposal defines "virtual currencies" as "a digital representation of value that is neither issued by a central bank or a public authority, nor necessarily attached to a fiat currency, but is accepted by natural or legal persons as a means of payment and can be transferred, stored or traded electronically."
Source: CCN.LA
(Score: 3, Funny) by edIII on Thursday August 04 2016, @06:45PM
You're correct. It has nothing to do with taxation. It never did.
Also known in the U.S, as the Internal Revenue Service. More powerful than the FBI since they did actually put Al Capone away in prison. Armed just like the FBI too, except they get to run around saying you're guilty and are required to prove your innocence.
Mass surveillance, which this is a part of, has nothing to do with safety and security of the citizenry, nor does it have anything to do with financial intelligence. The latter would seem to allow us to presume a modicum of justice and accountability out of Wall Street and our banking industry, which has never ever occurred. In fact, we deliberately let some bankers go using the "too-big-too-fail" logic morphed into "too-important-and-skilled-to-face-justice". A poor homeless man is spending 15 years in prison for stealing a hamburger, but the financial executives that helped launder billions of drug lords money roam free and still enjoy their yachts. Even more offensive, they help manage the billions made by private prison owners to house that poor homeless man turned into a Constitutionally allowed slave now being paid an entire order of magnitude lower (~98% less).
It's about what it has always been about; A way in which to monitor the citizens, crush dissent, and establish power from above over the lower classes. The solution is to never give in, never surrender, and be prepared for a new coming civil war where the citizenry rises up and guts the people working for these agencies.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @03:21PM
Note that we are told, those drug lords only exist because some Nixon-era polticos wanted to do down the hippy movement...