[Cryptography] Privacy, Code, and the Future

[Howard Chu]

Andrew Lee wrote:
> Roman Storm, one of the developers of Tornado Cash, a smart contract on Ethereum designed to enable transactional privacy, has been found guilty of conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business [1].
> 
> Tornado Cash is simply code. It runs on the Ethereum Virtual Machine, autonomously.
> 
> Yet, in 2022, the U.S. government designated it as a sanctioned entity, making it illegal for U.S. persons to interact with it in any capacity, including simply receiving coins therefrom [2].
> 
> This case, and its verdict, makes writing open source code that enables privacy a crime.

That's pure FUD. Roman Storm got in trouble because he was making a profit off the Tornado Cash platform.
By definition, he was operating a business. A money transmitting business, without a license.

Writing open source has nothing to do with the case.

https://cryptobriefing.com/doj-targets-tornado-cash-profits/

> It makes receiving a transaction from autonomous code a crime.
> 
> 
> Technology is becoming more powerful, more decentralized, and more foundational to society. With that power comes tension between openness and control, privacy and compliance, innovation and regulation.
> 
> It’s very easy to overlook these moments, since they feel distant or abstract.
> 
> But make no mistake, they set precedents.
> 
> They shape culture.
> 
> They influence what we, the cypherpunks building at the edge, believe is possible or, rather, permissible.
> 
> 
> “We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any.” — Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk’s Manifesto, 1993
> 
> 
> Today is a setback for cryptography, for open source and for digital rights int he so-called land of the free [3]. We’ve taken one step back.
> 
> It’s time to take two steps forward.
> 
> 
> The Crypto Wars never ended.  They simply waited until the cypherpunks were all but gone.
> 
> But you are still here.
> 
> Now is the time to rise.
> 
> 
> - Andrew
> 
> 
> [1] https://cointelegraph.com/news/tornado-cash-roman-storm-found-guilty-partial-verdict
> 
> [2] https://ofac.treasury.gov/recent-actions/20220808
> 
> [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner
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-- 
  -- Howard Chu
  CTO, Symas Corp.           http://www.symas.com
  Director, Highland Sun     http://highlandsun.com/hyc/
  Chief Architect, OpenLDAP  http://www.openldap.org/project/