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from the is-that-a-bitcoin-in-your-pocket dept.
girlwhowaspluggedout writes:
"Davi Barker, co-founder of the BitcoinNotBombs advocacy group, has recently described a run-in he had with the TSA. Barker was about to board his plane on his way back from the New Hampshire Liberty Forum, when he was stopped by two TSA agents. Barker, who was wearing a BitcoinNotBombs shirt and carrying a few hundred metal lapel pins some with the logo of Blockchain.info, a popular Bitcoin wallet and block explorer service was just cleared by airport security. But the TSA agents wanted to search his luggage again. They were looking for his Bitcoins:
I turned back to the orange shirt and asked 'What did the Bitcoin look like?' Bill chimed in and told the agent that what he was saying was impossible because Bitcoin is digital and doesn't have have any physical manifestation. You can't 'see' Bitcoin. The orange shirt said they looked like medallions or tokens. I said I didn't understand what he was talking about, and he simply repeated, in a child like way, that Bitcoins are like metal tokens. I told him that I didn't have any tokens.
The TSA agents suspected he was travelling internationally with over $10,000 worth of Bitcoins. This, presumably, might be seen as a form of money laundering. When another member of his group said that Barker was not going to fly out of the country, the agents simply turned around and disappeared."
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Daniel Dvorkin on Sunday March 02 2014, @05:04PM
... is actually a pretty smart guy. I've never been able to bring myself to ask him how he tolerates working with these people on a daily basis.
Pipedot [pipedot.org]:Soylent [soylentnews.org]::BSD:Linux
(Score: 4, Interesting) by internetguy on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:05PM
Why would a smart guy work as a TSA agent? I would rather be a trash man than someone working as a propagandist promoting fear in the security theater industry. If he's smart then he should be helping to promote peace rather than installing fear in the citizenry.
Sig: I must be new here.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Daniel Dvorkin on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:16PM
I think his attitude is more or less "it pays the bills and doesn't use up my mental energy for the important stuff in life." I wouldn't be happy with a job like that, personally, but I know several people who are and I have to admit they seem to be a lot less stressed than I am a lot of the time.
Pipedot [pipedot.org]:Soylent [soylentnews.org]::BSD:Linux
(Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:23PM
Not to mention, it's hard to judge somebody that just wants to eat.
It's a terribly shitty job that does nothing positive for freedom or our well being, but in this Great Depression, I won't begrudge any of them a paycheck that keeps them fed.
Now, if this was an explosive economy chock full of jobs left and right, I would agree that your buddy is an asshole and has a lot in common with those working in the DMV or the IRS during "peace time".
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by RedGreen on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:30PM
"during "peace time"."
Has the US ever had a peace time because in my 50+ years on this planet I don't remember them ever not fighting someone or thing and if my memory serves me in its entire history it has been the same since it was founded...
"I modded down, down, down, and the flames went higher." -- Sven Olsen
(Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:44PM
I mentioned peace time in quotes as an analogy for a good economy. Something which we haven't had now for almost a decade, and I've no hope of seeing one any time soon either.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SpockLogic on Sunday March 02 2014, @10:56PM
"We've Always Been at War with Eastasia."
The Military-Industrial-Congressional Complex needs war to keep you proles in line.
Overreacting is one thing, sticking your head up your ass hoping the problem goes away is another - edIII
(Score: 3, Insightful) by edIII on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:15PM
By "in line" you mean nice productive little cattle that they can feed parasitically on through taxation with thinly-veiled-corrupted-cronyism as representation?
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by mhajicek on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:39PM
While I sympathize with the man's need for employment, doing something immoral is not excused by getting paid for it. On a related note I'm on vacation in Florida right now; we drove down from Minnesota. I protest the TSA with my wallet.
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 3, Interesting) by umafuckitt on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:08PM
While I think the TSA is rather over the top, I think calling them immoral is to devalue that particular adjective.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:32PM
Exactly. They are simply groping thugs without any morals or ethics.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 04 2014, @07:33AM
Especially when going to Florida.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @08:28PM
Being able to legally grope little girls and see them nude without pedo charges?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday March 02 2014, @09:36PM
Maybe he monkeywrenches. I know they do a lot of testing with silhouettes to catch people officially "slacking" although unofficially I'm sure they catch some monkeywrench activity.
(Score: 1) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 02 2014, @11:18PM
On the other hand, he's probably not nearly as judgmental of others as you are.
(Score: 1) by internetguy on Monday March 03 2014, @04:15AM
>> On the other hand, he's probably not nearly as judgmental of others as you are.
His lack of ethics concerning the use of fear tactics, and other techniques used by communist regimes, on his fellow citizens is not judgmental.
Sig: I must be new here.
(Score: 2, Funny) by evilspacemonkey on Sunday March 02 2014, @07:41PM
Yep, I don't know how both those guys do it.