In another unfortunate turn of events for anyone hoping to have their right to privacy protected as guaranteed by the United States Constitution, the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, or applicable state and federal laws, the government of the United States has argument that the disclosure of Chainalysis’ proprietary heuristic information in the US v. Sterlingov case would “jeopardize numerous law enforcement investigations and impair the effectiveness of law enforcement tracking tools” by allowing the development of “criminal countermeasures to blockchain analysis.”
The oath that each and every employee of the United States government takes when they first take office reads: “I solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will maintain true faith and loyalty to it; that I assume this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully perform the duties of the office I am about to assume. So help me God.”
Apparently, this oath is only applicable as long as it serves the agenda of the United States government. In seeking to maintain a protective order to seal the disclosure of Chainalysis heuristic information, the US government has argued, in essence, that the right to privacy does not exist when transacting on the blockchain. In newly released court documents, the US government defines software developed to protect individual financial privacy on the blockchain, such as coinjoins, as “adversarial,” and maintains that disclosure of blockchain methods and techniques Chainalysis training carries with it the reasonable expectation of allowing “circumvention of the Act.”
Unfortunately, it is unclear which laws the US government is referring to. The argument that disclosure would allow “criminals, drug trafficking organizations and terrorists” to evade law enforcement cannot be made in good faith, as Chainalysis itself states. crypto Crime Report 2023 has discovered that the total transaction volume of illicit activities is just 0.24%.
Just as the early Internet was supposedly only used for crime, the proportion of daily commerce on the blockchain increases as bitcoin adoption grows. Therefore, it cannot be argued that the development of privacy protection software is contradictory in any sense of the word, except for the business model of Chainalysis and the surveillance agenda of the US intelligence complex, which invested 1, 67 million dollars in Chainalysis in 2020 and another 1.64 million dollars. USD in 2021 through the In-Q-Tel Central Intelligence Agency venture capital fund.
While the development and use of privacy protection software such as PGP, E2EE or VPN cannot be considered criminal under the First and Fourth Amendment, neither can the development or use of software intended to protect financial privacy in bitcoin. However, it appears that constitutional frameworks do not prevent the US government from making statements that directly undermine the people’s right to protection from unwarranted surveillance.
Classifying blockchain surveillance countermeasures as criminal is just another step the US government has been taking toward full surveillance of American citizens’ communications in recent years. In 2015, Congress voted to extend the Patriot Act through the USA Freedom Act, which continues to allow bulk collection of telecommunications data through telecommunications providers, and the proposed EARN Act IT, which would essentially prohibit end-to-end communications. finish encryption.
So far, the only attempt to circumvent the law in the US government’s response to the detailed order is found in its own argument.
This is a guest post by L0la L33tz. The opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.
