Light @light@qoto.org

A 2-pixel tall pixel font. (!) https://joefatula.com/twoslice.html

TL;DR:

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) revealed that the US Treasury is finalizing a ban on privacy tools, specifically private cryptocurrency transactions, by expanding the PATRIOT Act to digital assets.

https://www.therage.co/us-government-to-bring-patriot-act-to-digital-assets/

FinCEN Director Andrea Gacki confirmed that the Treasury is working on finalizing the so-called mixer rule, which uses the PATRIOT Act to prohibit private transactions in cryptocurrency.

We are seeing more and more illegal transactions being done in crypto,” Representative Liccardo claimed in the hearing, citing a study which found that out of 111 examined fraud cases, 91% allegedly involved so-called decentralized finance, or 'DeFi'. The concern here, according to Liccardo, arises from the pseudonymity of transactions.

While Gacki stated that FinCEN was working with blockchain analysis companies to deanonymize pseudonymous transactions, Liccardo countered that software like mixers would allow users to evade even sophisticated detection techniques.

What is the "Mixer Rule"?

The Treasury's mixer rule is not so much a mixer rule rather than a blanket ban on any software and even behavior that would grant users of public blockchains transactional privacy.

Notably, the mixer rule's suggestions on cryptocurrency swaps, transaction delays, "splitting," and the creation of single-use addresses, wallets, and accounts, would even put users under suspicion with the authorities, potentially ending in criminal liability – similar to how transaction structuring, sometimes also known as "smurfing," is deemed a federal crime in traditional finance, referring to the intentional breakup of transactions to fall below the $10,000 currency transaction reporting requirement.

In traditional finance, smurfing carries a federal prison sentence of up to 5 years, even if the money transferred did not stem from illicit origins.

Banning All Cryptocurrency Transactions for non-US Jurisdictions

The Special Measures to Fight Modern Threats Act, originally introduced in 2022 by Representative Himes of Connecticut as part of the COMPETES Act, would effectively grant the Treasury the power to ban any type of transaction it deems a concern without public notice or input under PATRIOT Act authority.

"one likely scenario is that the Treasury would use this authority to prohibit U.S. banks from being involved with cryptocurrency transactions validated by miners located outside of the United States."

IMO contracts should require all parties to paraphrase them from memory in addition to the wording in order for them to be enforceable. If that's not possible then it's not fair to say there's enthusiastic consent on all sides.

Would it now be illegal in the UK to seed this torrent?
https://archive.org/details/to-kill-a-war-machine
#UKlaw #AskFedi #freespeech #UKpol #PalestineAction

🕑 EU Citizens have 4 days: the clock is ticking!

European countries are finalizing their positions on Chat Control this Friday. If your country supports Chat Control, it is vital you contact your representatives and voice your opposition to the EU's latest surveillance and censorship tactic. 🇪🇺

The latest from staff writer Em: https://www.privacyguides.org/articles/2025/09/08/chat-control-must-be-stopped/

#ChatControl #EU #Privacy #E2EE #StopChatControl #CSAR #ChatControle #Bulgaria #Croatia #Cyprus #Denmark #France #Hungary #Ireland #Italy #Latvia #Lithuania #Malta #Portugal #Slovakia #Spain #Sweden #EUpol #CSARegulation #Article #PrivacyGuides

The federal government wants fewer FOIs.

Crikey wants more. We know filing FOIs can be daunting — so let us do it for you!

For the next few weeks, we're accepting ideas for requests that we'll take, shape, file and then will keep you in the loop when we hear back.

https://www.crikey.com.au/2025/09/08/foi-request-freedom-of-information-crikey-foi-4/

Personally, I loathe Dr Seuss with a passion!

https://unherd.com/2025/09/the-misuse-of-seuss/

This is classic cognitive behavioral therapy — it’s decatastrophizing, performed on a pigeon. To be fair, this can be a useful technique for anxiety management. But why is it almost all that this book has to offer? There’s no vocabulary my daughter, at age 3, doesn’t know; there’s no syntax she doesn’t already utilize. The book eschews conventional written dialogue for speech bubbles — there’s not even a “the pigeon screeched” following his “Whazza-Whazza-WHAA!?!” We see much of the same in other current best sellers, and in the young-reader books favored by many schools as the new academic year gets underway. The language is colloquial to an extreme. In Dragons Like Tacos (483 weeks on the Times list), a book that was also read at my daughter’s school, the narrator states, “Hey dragon, why do you guys like tacos so much?” In On the First Day of Kindergarten (two weeks on the list), we hear, “On the first day of kindergarten, I thought it was so cool riding the school bus to my school!” In The Smart Cookie (29 weeks on the list), which often reads like a therapist’s version of a child’s inner monologue, the titular cookie states, “I didn’t feel comfortable speaking up or sharing my ideas. I didn’t feel like a smart cookie.”

In childhood, our minds work differently. Children can learn multiple languages simultaneously without the enormous effort adults must put forth to achieve often worse results. This should also be the period in which they hear elevated language: beautiful, beguiling, weighty, humorous — a version of adult language. It would be so much more effortlessly and naturally acquired than at any other time, and it, too, could be theirs — if only we’d read them the books that would bring it to them.

New Strip Found: Shoe - 2025-09-07 https://www.gocomics.com/shoe/2025/09/07

#comicstrip #shoestrip

Kiwis, want to help those in need in Gaza without currency conversion fees or percentages being sliced off your donation by a payment provider?

You can donate in NZD via the Anglican Missions Board bank account *and* get a third back at tax time.

Donations go toward:
Healthcare, including rehabilitation and the work of Al-Ahli Hospital;
Education, including support for traumatized kids;
Emergency support for communities in Gaza, the West Bank, etc.

Help is given without exclusion by "age, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion or political affiliation. Our focus is only the humanitarian imperative."
Further details here: https://anglicanmissions.org.nz/humanitarian-emergencies/holy-land/
#Gaza #NewZealand

this is so joe rogan-coded