The majority of the EU Parliament’s lead committees today approved far-reaching new anti-money laundering laws: Anonymous cash payments over €3,000 will be banned in commercial transactions. Cash payments over €10,000 will even be completely banned in business transactions. And anonymous payments in cryptocurrencies to wallets operated by providers (hosted wallets) will be prohibited even for minimum amounts without a threshold.
MEP and digital freedom fighter Dr. Patrick Breyer (Pirate Party) explains his vote against as follows:
“Generally prohibiting anonymous payments would at best have minimal effects on crime, but it would deprive innocent citizens of their financial freedom. The medicines or sex toys I buy is nobody’s business. To collect donations, dissidents such as the late Alexei Navalny and his wife are increasingly reliant on anonymous donations in virtual currencies worldwide. Wikileaks has also already been cut off from donations by credit card companies. Where every financial transaction is captured and saved forever, this creates a honey pot for malicious hackers and law enforcement as well as a chilling government shadow over every purchase or donation.
This EU war on cash will have nasty repercussions! For thousands of years, societies around the world have lived with privacy-protecting cash. With the creeping abolition of cash, there is a threat of negative interest rates and the risk of banks cutting off the money supply at any time. Dependence on banks is increasing at an alarming rate. This kind of financial disenfranchisement must be stopped.
Instead, we need to think about ways we can bring the best attributes of cash into our digital future. We have a right to pay and donate online without our personal transactions being recorded. If the EU believes it can regulate virtual currencies at a regional level, it hasn’t understood the global nature of the Internet.”
Background on the cash limit:
There was a great public outcry when the Commission asked the public for their opinion on limiting cash payments in 2017. More than 90% of responding citizens spoke out against such a step. Respondents considered paying anonymously in cash an “essential personal freedom” and that “Restrictions on payments in cash are ineffective in achieving the potential objectives (fight against criminal activities, terrorism, tax evasion)”. According to an ECB survey up to 10% of citizens use cash even for amounts greater than 10.000 € (e.g. buying cars). According to calculations by shadow economy expert Friedrich Schneider of the University of Linz, banning large cash payments would have “only minimal lowering effects on crime”.
Background on “virtual cash”:
Unlike cash, which is entirely anonymous, transactions carried out with cryptocurrencies can, in the case of Bitcoin, be traced on the “blockchain”. Law enforcement has again and again been successfully prosecuting such criminals by detecting unusual patterns and identifying suspects. Some criminals have eventually de-anonymized themselves, and every criminal will need to eventually exchange their digital funds for real money. Virtual Assets are of minor relevance to the global financial system. There is insufficient evidence on the volume and frequency of the usage of cryptocurrencies for money laundering. EU rules would be easy to circumvent due to the global nature of the Internet. Virtual Assets can technically be transferred directly from one person to another without using intermediaries, which makes them impossible to regulate. Where Virtual Assets have been used for criminal activities in the past, prosecution has been possible on the basis of the current rules.
patrick-breyer.de/en/eu-cash-c…
informapirata ⁂
Unknown parent • • •@ShiningToth grazie! Scusaci per l'ora, ma non potevamo farlo prima 😅
@privacypride
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Shamar
in reply to informapirata ⁂ • • •#Google però è ancora un partner benvenuto...
🤷♂️
blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/mo…
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Mozilla and Google Sign New Agreement for Default Search in Firefox
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El Salvador
in reply to Shamar • • •@Shamar E lo rimarrà per diverso tempo. Ma almeno sai che Google usa i tuoi dati, ed è regolamentato più o meno duramente dall'unione europea.
Onerep invece promette di rimuovere i tuoi dati personali esposti su internet, ma chi dice che i tuoi dati (che gentilmente concedi con il contratto) finiscano di nuovo in vendita proprio da loro?
@informapirata @privacypride
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informapirata ⁂
in reply to El Salvador • • •@salvadorbs mi ricorda un po' il sito web di Incogni, che è pieno di mer*a... 😁 😄 🤣
@Shamar @privacypride
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Shamar
in reply to El Salvador • • •@salvadorbs
#Google non usa i tuoi dati.
Google usa te.
video.linuxtrent.it/w/sWFcXj4D…
@informapirata @privacypride
rob
2022-05-25 13:04:02
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El Salvador
in reply to Shamar • • •informapirata ⁂ reshared this.
Shamar
in reply to El Salvador • • •@salvadorbs
Io lo so, ma quanti davvero ne comprendono appieno le conseguenze?
Quando #Mozilla imposta #Google come motore di ricerca predefinito, sta collaborando alla mutilazione della libertà di milioni di persone.
Milioni di persone che continuano a votare peraltro. Sei proprio sicuro che tutti ne comprendano le conseguenze?
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lgsp is moving
in reply to informapirata ⁂ • • •Avevo capito che il CEO di Mozilla avesse legami con broker di dati.
Invece è il CEO di Onerep ad avercelo, quindi questa scissione è una buona notizia 💪
Suggerisco umilmente di modificare il post per chiarire 🙂
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informapirata ⁂
in reply to lgsp is moving • • •@lgsp Ho aggiunto il nome di Onerep nel titolo
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