Travis West

All of this FEMA talk in socials reminds me of when I tried to trespass FEMA from a whole city once.
Story time:
FEMA came to my local city, which I am a councilman for, with updated flood zones mapped out and they requested the city join their national flood insurance program. This was earlier this year or last year, I can't quite remember when exactly.
The program allows building owners in the flood zone to buy "federal" flood insurance.
Sounds innocent, but the program also provides the city with a specific ordinance that the city MUST pass. The ordinance requires the flood insurance in the flood zone for any permits, and possibly for any federally-backed mortgages IIRC, and it requires the city to enforce it. So the city has to force folks in the flood zone to buy insurance.
And if the city didn't join the program, there would be consequences:
The city would be ineligible for FEMA assistance in the event of a disaster. New mortgages for buildings in the floodzone would no longer be able to use federally-backed loans ( ! ). And the city would no longer be eligible to receive federal grant money (cities get a lot of this, our money is broken).
I viewed this as the federal government forcing an ordinance on me and my local citizens that we don't want. It was the feds saying, "Do this or you don't get the millions of dollars that your city takes from us via grants."
I even went to an open house that FEMA put on about this issue and I asked why individual property owners couldn't just join the program voluntarily, why does the entire city need to do it and force the insurance on people. The people there weren't the people who could change anything, so it wasn't useful.
Flood insurance, in my opinion, should matter to three parties, none of which is the federal government: The building/homeowner, the bank/person behind the mortgage, and the insurance company insuring the home.
I voiced my concerns about this program and I suggested the program was unethical in its implementation. I urged a no vote and recommended the city trespass FEMA personnel from all city property to send a message to them. Then when (or if) the feds follow through with denying federal funds to the city, we get senators and local media involved.
Because federal grant money and federally-backed mortgages were being held hostage, the city council voted to join the program, with me being the only no vote. Even the other councilmen acknowledged just prior to the vote that they felt they were being forced and didn't have a real choice. Costs and regulations are so burdensome nowadays that small cities rely a ton on grant money. I hate it.
Oh, and by the way, this is probably something every city in the nation with even the smallest part of it in a flood zone faces. So if you live within a city, might be worth checking in and seeing how they handled this.
Now that it is on my mind again, I suppose the city could still trespass FEMA personnel. An item for next month's agenda. LFG!
Stay frosty out there.

2024-10-02 16:38:50 UTC

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I used to work these sort of stings. Very righteous cases.
I didn't see much bitcoin use in that world, noticed more CashApp/Venmo use. Vast majority was cash.
I did one time pay for a decoy escort ad using bitcoin because they only accepted Mastercard or bitcoin and my card for missions was a Visa. I didn't bother requesting for reimbursement from the Sheriff's Office on that one.

2024-09-29 21:30:12 UTC

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IDK, I heard something similar said about Arrakis and you see what happened in Dune Part 2...

2024-09-11 02:48:05 UTC

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Hehe, he said retards

2024-09-05 22:06:00 UTC

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So good.

2024-09-01 07:35:59 UTC

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Gross.

2024-08-31 06:08:15 UTC

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Glad you are still going to have a show. What Bitcoin Did was a good run. My go-to Bitcoin content!

2024-08-30 18:43:36 UTC

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A classic.

2024-08-29 21:35:11 UTC

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Based.

2024-08-29 01:33:19 UTC

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I pronounce it as "peanut butter."

2024-08-29 01:32:15 UTC

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Brazil is dumb!

2024-08-22 20:10:41 UTC

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Nice!

2024-08-16 14:19:20 UTC

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Thought this was bound to happen. Good news for privacy!
I haven't read the finding but based on your summary, it sounds like one could in theory limit the scope of a geofence warrant to physical areas where any device present would likely belong to a witness, suspect, or victim; Where identifying them would be relevant to the case and the search would not involve collecting data of "innocent" devices.
For example, I recall a case once where a remote energy infrastructure site was broken into and items stolen. It belonged to a private business, some sort of wind energy business IIRC. The only road leading into it was private property and no customers would have a reason to go out there. The crime was done in the middle of the evening too. So during the commission of the crime, anyone out there at the site could be assumed to be the suspect or at least a suspect of criminal trespass on private property. With a few cell sites covering the area and a WiFi router at the location, a geofence warrant of the area made sense.
But the conditions above are not the norm and a lot of geofence warrants would cover areas of populated cities or high trafficked roads.

2024-08-16 13:25:44 UTC

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I don't know... might just be Moscow time.

2024-08-14 21:10:44 UTC

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ES. The direction the place is going, the culture and religion, the weather and beaches, very appealing.

2024-08-14 21:05:08 UTC

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So bad.

2024-08-07 03:15:45 UTC

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Batching is normal. It isn't suspicious.

2024-08-05 07:02:19 UTC

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Interesting!

2024-07-29 08:14:31 UTC

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Thanks for sharing baklava with us!

2024-07-24 00:41:56 UTC

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I just made it too! Will have to catch up somewhere.

2024-07-24 00:39:01 UTC

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Ah, man! Bummer!

2024-07-23 03:56:24 UTC

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The ocean creeps me out!

2024-07-22 19:17:26 UTC

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Yep! It is on my to-do list to make short videos on each heuristic/technique. Not sure when this will get done but it is requested all the time! This year I hope.

2024-07-22 16:15:14 UTC

I'll be doing a workshop on how to chain surveil yourself at the #BitcoinVeterans Citadel this Saturday at the #BitcoinConference in Nashville. Will cover some privacy tips and techniques as well. The workshop schedule will be shared as we get closer to the conference. There will be many workshops going on - definitely check it out if you are searching for signal!
https://image.nostr.build/c381ca344b0f273ce72934cc325e641c21b7a1d7d6fc0efee4a736f1e89b101b.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/9b62f60a49307b2bc3aebb596e2d051ecfc112c2d8cf90bd17076411f84bad55.jpg

2024-07-21 16:05:39 UTC

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Cool.

2024-07-21 13:54:30 UTC

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Nice work!

2024-07-11 04:24:13 UTC

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Where is a Cart Narc when you need one?

2024-07-06 20:37:41 UTC

Had a lot of fun!
#nevent1q…y4qq

2024-07-06 17:59:30 UTC

https://www.therage.co/william-hill-release-on-bail/

2024-06-25 00:15:25 UTC

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So awesome!

2024-06-22 05:05:39 UTC

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What else does Greenpeace get wrong?

2024-06-20 21:10:29 UTC

I finally took the time to recover my Samourai Wallet funds today.
I donated it all to the SW defense fund at https://p2prights.org/.
If you believe in financial privacy and freedom tools, I encourage you to donate as well.
https://image.nostr.build/1a6ab9b36ab08bd71102d9fc4ad689561b2bf3345c2f77d7effe2317e4e8ec1c.jpg

2024-06-09 23:42:16 UTC

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The action was surprisingly good.

2024-05-30 03:28:58 UTC

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What if the spooks get orange pilled?

2024-05-29 22:28:05 UTC

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https://image.nostr.build/e42334a5564a02f2e12d0eccca248d89d4b92ae14f11dff33d22986ddcb3b3de.jpg

2024-05-26 01:19:16 UTC

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Would be great but he also had his chance to do that already. We can hope still.

2024-05-22 22:36:56 UTC

Secured a sign from @npub1ekq…q22r. Not obnoxiously large at all.
https://image.nostr.build/5e73e6e3f370e9a15025d0bcd97635eaf6cd41049c0a33b4f41d7498a7bbb59a.jpg

2024-05-20 23:46:22 UTC

Neat story! Pretty interesting. Thanks for sharing.
#nevent1q…fy0s

2024-05-20 23:43:50 UTC

Good stuff! Listen to it while you run or work... You probably won't regret it. Inform yourself!
#nevent1q…4n5u

2024-05-20 17:08:25 UTC

Looks interesting!
#nevent1q…9wtv

2024-05-20 15:29:26 UTC

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A Trezor.

2024-05-19 13:43:34 UTC

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Praise Poseidon.

2024-05-17 20:31:47 UTC

Thanks for having me on the show, @npub1h8n…rpev! I had a lot of fun.
https://youtu.be/spliDvOQdv8

2024-05-11 21:03:10 UTC

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And Trump didn't pardon Assange.

2024-05-10 22:59:37 UTC

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You can buy gift cards at a variety of places with The Bitcoin Company app. Used it a lot for Uber and just normal Visa cards.
There are stores here and there that accept bitcoin for payment of goods/services. Bought a lot of drinks and tacos in Miami!
Btcmap.org is a resource to find such places.
I am selling a truck right now. Willing and preferred to be paid for it in sats!

2024-05-10 22:55:25 UTC

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Looks like me and the boys at our local Bitcoin meetups.

2024-05-10 22:53:21 UTC

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Trust is dumb.

2024-05-09 01:33:00 UTC

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I have heard there are crystals in the dArK wEb.

2024-05-06 12:31:23 UTC

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I love spreadsheets.

2024-05-06 00:38:34 UTC

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You think that is impressive? I once walked by my wife in the kitchen and DIDN'T slap her butt.

2024-05-05 03:29:54 UTC

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Sometimes companies will have automated systems that do this. May be worth writing them and asking for a review/second chance.

2024-05-04 22:42:59 UTC

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These libertarians and anarchists must not like roads.

2024-05-04 20:12:50 UTC

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I showed this to my kids and offered a 100 sats reward to any of them that guessed correctly what it was. The oldest got it! They had fun.

2024-05-04 16:34:51 UTC

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My wife and I would like to open a coffee shop in the coming years. We will accept fiat, but I do imagine the baristas saying, "Ew... government money..." and rolling their eyes.
"Bitcoin preferred here."
The best money. The honest money.

2024-05-04 14:03:48 UTC

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I just ordered two copies a couple days ago. I am going to start giving one copy away to friends/family when I buy new books; a new habit.

2024-05-02 23:34:29 UTC

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Are you going to be at the Bitcoin Conference this year in Nashville? I'll be delivering a presentation/workshop in the Bitcoin Veterans area there on chain surveiling yourself. I'll cover techniques and tips on Bitcoin privacy there.
A big threat is when one tries to cash out through a centralized exchange. Avoid that and your problems become considerably smaller.
Acquiring KYC free coin: Various options. A good resource is kycnot.me

2024-05-02 04:19:45 UTC

I view the arrests of the (alleged) Samourai Wallet developers/coordinators as the US Federal government kicking the hornet's nest. This criminal case is going to be significant. It takes time generally for defendants to find attorneys to represent them. As soon as I hear about a defense fund for these two, I will share the crap out of it. The government's jab on this one was way too far and I hope they come to regret it.
Standing by to help. Freedom tech will win in the end. Stay frosty, my friends!

2024-04-30 19:51:08 UTC

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Taxation is theft.

2024-04-30 19:38:04 UTC

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Assuming it will be remote since the feds have it out for him still.

2024-04-29 13:43:38 UTC

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You would think Lazarus Group could do better. So many mistakes made after mixes/swaps/bridges.

2024-04-29 05:13:54 UTC

All human kingdoms become Babylon.

2024-04-28 13:45:52 UTC

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Losing OXT hurts. My go-to analysis tool!

2024-04-28 13:43:47 UTC

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This occurs with plainly worded laws too unfortunately. You can have the top judges in the US sitting on the federal Supreme Court, who you would hope are equipped with some of the best legal skills and knowledge (lol), and they come to opposite interpretations on matters like firearm rights/the 2nd Amendment. The fight becomes about types of clauses, the intent of the drafters, history, and how technology has changed.
Code and math (cryptography) is the law that works, IMO. Remove the human intepretation and enforceability from the equation and there is less corruption.

2024-04-28 03:14:03 UTC

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Imagine challenging or insulting the US federal government and one of the few safe havens is fleeing to Russia. That is embarassing. Not the America I thought it was when I was a young patriot.

2024-04-28 00:35:20 UTC

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Made me laugh so hard.

2024-04-27 22:36:26 UTC

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I wish you good fortune in the wars to come.

2024-04-27 22:32:59 UTC

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#FreeCJ

2024-04-27 22:31:09 UTC

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Yeah, saw that. Not surprising but it is still disappointing.
Reading your reply reminds me that I have your book on Bitcoin privacy that I haven't read yet!

2024-04-27 21:41:40 UTC

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Yeah. America can't afford it so we know it will eventually have to stop.

2024-04-27 19:41:49 UTC

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It doesn't make sense. The State doing state things.

2024-04-27 03:34:54 UTC

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"But if you are not breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about."
Law is subjective and it will be twisted to the agenda of those in power. The legal process is part of the punishment, even if one is found not guilty at the end.
I may be black pilled on law and politics in general, but I am white pilled on freedom technology. We will win, but it won't be because elites and federal agencies join hands with us or some Court rules in favor of privacy and freedom. The trend of the Court is the opposite of that.
Whar gives me hope is focusing on owning my own property and defending it with cryptography, arms, and friends/family. Be a hard target.

2024-04-26 13:47:05 UTC

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Bullish on privacy.

2024-04-25 14:14:05 UTC

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Under current American law, users could use the service legally unless the funds the user was using are considered "illicit." So, if you had bitcoin you purchased from some exchange and you used the service to merely gain some privacy, that isn't a crime. I was a SW user myself.
Coordinated spending isn't a crime by itself, at least for now.
If you sold illegal drugs on a dark web market and withdrew the earnings to SW so you can hide the source of the funds, that would likely be considered money laundering.
Different laws will apply to the businesses/services that touch the funds.

2024-04-25 13:51:42 UTC

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The more references a criminal case can include to "scary" and "illegal" entities, even if there isn't really a strong connection, the better it will be to influence a judge and jury in the state's favor.
Drugs, child sexual abuse material, terrorism, etc.

2024-04-25 13:45:09 UTC

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Yeah, licensing is a crock. It is state intervention into the market. There does exist private licensing, which I don't oppose, but the private licensing is voluntary and more of a situation where professionals are assocoating together to bring standards to a certain industry; They aren't launching investigations and imprisoning practitioners that don't get licensed with them (think associations).

2024-04-25 01:21:16 UTC

The indictment against the alleged Samourai Wallet (SW) operators was unsealed today. A few friends have been asking for my opinion on it and my channels are blowing up. I used to serve in law enforcement as a detective that specialized in cybercrime and blockchain analysis. The following information may be useful or interesting to some.
Reading through the Department of Justice’s press release and the indictment itself, here are my initial thoughts:
There are plenty of examples of past investigations resulting in arrests/convictions related to the operation of custodial mixing services, with Bitcoin Fog being the one in recent news. With a service taking custody of funds and moving funds between other people/users, they are likely going to be considered a money service business. And if a money service business doesn’t block Americans from using the service, the US Department of Treasury will require the operators of that service to register with them and follow their compliance regulations. Many foreigners have been arrested in foreign jurisdictions in order to be prosecuted in the US with an American judge and jury for allegedly violating federal American laws (read that sentence twice).
With these sorts of cases, you are typically dealing with the idea that a service didn’t register correctly and follow compliance regulations. And then the other idea is that the operator of the service knew and allowed funds to move through it that would be considered “illicit” or “sanctioned.”
Examples of illicit funds may be proceeds from illegal drug sales or funds stolen from someone. The sanction piece can involve entities, such as particular Bitcoin addresses, individuals, companies, or countries, using the service or receiving from the service. The US federal government maintains a sanction list.
The above summary has been an on-going fight on privacy, censorship, and regulatory overreach for a while. It isn’t new (and Roman Sterlingov should be free). SW’s indictment is different from the situation I summarized above though.
SW was a non-custodial service. This means that users controlled (their private keys to) their funds themselves and the service provider (SW) allowed the coordination between users through its infrastructure, such as the app, the server, the continued development, etc. This makes this case much more interesting and more concerning to me.
Regarding the first count against the men: Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering. The SW indictment alleges that SW was a service that provided “large-scale money laundering and sanctions evasion.” So we are talking about users using illicit funds with the service and sanctioned entities using or receiving from the service. And we are talking about the SW coordinators “conspiring” with the relevant users to do this.
The indictment is constantly referring to SW as an “application” that is conducting or facilitating the mixing through a “centralized coordinator server.” Who controls the application and server? Allegedly the two men named in the indictment.
When it comes to SW’s Whirlpool service: Through their server, their application is selecting the inputs. Their application is communicating information between all users necessary for the mixing to occur. Their application is using the private keys on behalf of the users. Their application is broadcasting the mixing transactions to the Bitcoin network. The picture the indictment is painting is that the application and server are essentially doing the money laundering, as opposed to the users using the service. Similar verbiage and logic are used to describe SW’s Ricochet service too (adding hops to a send you intend to do).
The above summary is the most shocking piece of the indictment, in my opinion. The implications of this reach beyond Bitcoin-related apps and services. Think of the apps and services, just in general, that a user could use to engage in criminal behavior. Now think of arresting the developers/creators for what the user did.
Regarding the second indictment against the men: Conspiracy to Operate an Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business. The indictment says the SW operators were “involved in the transportation and transmission of funds intended to be used to promote and support unlawful activity.” There isn’t any mention or consideration of custody of funds in this. The logic of the indictment: Some users may have used SW’s application and server for “unlawful activity” and therefore, SW was involved in the unlawful activity. Again, this is a scary precedent. Think of the applications and servers out there right now that users may be using for unlawful activity.
There are many mentions apparently from the coordinators themselves that address the knowledge and intent element (important for a criminal trial). The SW operators were obviously passionate about financial privacy and resisting compliance regulations. Their messages (especially with their style of messaging) will be easy to spin/take literally, even if the coordinators were just trying to be edgy with their marketing/brand. The SW coordinators did not help themselves in this regard.
I think the government will focus a lot on the coordinator’s knowledge and intent of the service being used for illegal activity. I believe this is how the government will “limit” the scope of the precedence and how it will try to differentiate the SW service from others.
Regarding the illicit funds/sanctions piece: The blockchain analysis showing funds from Dark Web markets that sell illegal drugs flowing into SW’s Whirlpool will be easy for the prosecution. The same goes with sanctioned entities sending to or receiving from SW’s Whirlpool. It will also be easy to show funds flowing from known hacks, exploits, and/or thefts flowing into SW’s Whirlpool. The government will need to prove the men knew this was happening and that they facilitated it by providing the SW application and server. Their mouths may be their downfall on this one, but I think it is pretty clear that the SW operators’ intent was to provide a neutral financial privacy tool that didn’t control user funds, leaving the responsibility of the use of those funds on the users themselves.
With the logic in this case, I wonder if it will be argued that blockchain analysis companies are also culpable since they surely had their own funds being mixed in SW’s Whirlpool to collect data points. Were their funds facilitating illegal activity? Or were their funds facilitating financial privacy in general? (Maybe facilitating privacy was just the byproduct of having the chance to trace through exclusions.)
Overall, the case leads to some interesting questions.
Is a wallet software and developer a money service business now? How about a full node? These both facilitate the transmission of funds too. The implications of this case are not good for privacy or code. I’m ready to donate to the defense.

2024-04-24 17:36:27 UTC

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This made me laugh so hard.

2024-04-24 12:20:24 UTC

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Curious... do you use spam filters on your email?

2024-04-21 00:49:45 UTC

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I am more of a Phoenix and Strike lad when it comes to lightning.

2024-04-21 00:48:40 UTC

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Better to bury the corpse of a horse or cow above the body you are trying to hide. That way, on the chance dogs alert to the burial site, the recovery team finds the horse/cow bones first and stop, assuming the dogs merely alerted on the animal and not the human beneath.
#ThingsILearnedAsACop

2024-04-20 21:43:44 UTC

Wow!
I used to work these sort of undercover operations that targeted people (usually men) who were trying to meet children online for immoral purposes.
Never had one turn violent. But you always planned for the possibility!
Viewer discretion advised.
https://x.com/collinrugg/status/1781695551446376714

2024-04-20 17:16:20 UTC

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God wills it!

2024-04-18 23:39:33 UTC

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Watching right now. It is very funny so far!

2024-04-17 23:49:00 UTC

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Loved it. Wife and I watched the whole thing while at a restaurant on the coast of El Salvador!

2024-04-16 17:21:48 UTC

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Really fun to watch as someone who played the games!

2024-04-15 22:50:16 UTC

Hello, El Salvador!
https://image.nostr.build/42a21783cf8f49ed9d099c517e9cf73b51fd95272da7a78a8e41f9cb8df0c24b.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/ee1d23046e7fad167d1a846338ac0a468b6f80aa1e4ad146433fc717dd935a94.jpg

2024-04-14 22:42:20 UTC

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TRON? Ew.
But it is good to speak truth no matter what the audience.

2024-04-13 12:55:53 UTC

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So gross.

2024-04-13 12:51:59 UTC

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Sad to especially see kids put through this.

2024-04-06 21:56:35 UTC

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I quit my fiat job. Got a job to help/promote Bitcoin. I stacked sats. I orange-pilled my father-in-law. I didn't stack as many sats as I could have. Going forward, I am going to focus more on Bitcoin, increase my expertise on Bitcoin, try to orange-pill more folks, and stack sats harder.

2024-04-01 13:11:47 UTC

If it was a State actor doing the spam, instead of degenerate gamblers and scammers, would this attack be more obvious and taken more serious?
Disappointing that businesses like Bitcoin Magazine are encouraging and promoting spam too. Shake my head every time I hear them try to justify it.
#nevent1q…r5h7