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The nuance is slightly different - it's like the CEO's breaking into the homes of millions of Americans. The fellow participants in his democracy (in Israel) we

by lainga 5y ago

The nuance is slightly different - it's like the CEO's breaking into the homes of millions of Americans. The fellow participants in his democracy (in Israel) were not affected; there are two separate jurisdictions.

rchaud 5y ago
"Well, we barred them from doing it within our borders" is not a great example of a democracy in action. These firms were allowed to operate a criminal enterprise until 2017 on the voters' home soil. Just because it wasn't against the laws at that time doesn't absolve the political leadership of responsibility.
- andrewflnr 5y ago
  > "Well, we barred them from doing it within our borders" is not a great example of a democracy in action. It kind of is, though. The voters voted to protect themselves. And while you could think of that as selfish and not be wrong, at least they were able to protect themselves against a well-funded lobby that almost certainly would have liked to prevent them.
- Animats 5y ago
  The entire Times of Israel series on binary options [1] tells a sad, sordid story. It came out slowly. At first, it just looked like a few minor scammers. But as the Times dug deeper, publishing over 50 articles, it came out that at peak, the binary options scam was 40% of the Israeli financial sector and had enough political connections to stall enforcement. The Israeli crackdown came only after the scam was starting to hurt Israel's foreign relations.[2] Israel's "public diplomacy" minister: “Leaving aside the profound moral questions this raises,” [referring to reports estimating that billions of dollars have been stolen from unwitting customers by fraudulent Israeli binary options firms], “I come from the field of foreign policy, protecting Israel from delegitimization and BDS [the boycott, divest and sanction movement]… These activities threaten Israel’s legitimacy. [The industry] will “contribute to those who want to delegitimize us if these charges turn out to be absolutely true. It’s very, very disturbing… horrible.” So now there's a large community of scammers who, having been kicked out of binary options in Israel, are looking for new areas in which to operate. Forex, contracts for difference, and cryptocurrency scams have been found. DraftKings has some of the same people involved. This is one of the worst things that can happen to a country - developing a large, successful criminal class. It's really hard to get rid of them, and they may end up running the country, as happened to Russia after the downfall of the USSR. [1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/binary-options/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/binary-options/ [2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/michael-oren-backs-knesset-probe-of-binary-options-which-threatens-israel/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/michael-oren-backs-knesset-pro...

by lainga 5y ago

rchaud 5y ago

"Well, we barred them from doing it within our borders" is not a great example of a democracy in action. These firms were allowed to operate a criminal enterprise until 2017 on the voters' home soil. Just because it wasn't against the laws at that time doesn't absolve the political leadership of responsibility.

andrewflnr 5y ago
> "Well, we barred them from doing it within our borders" is not a great example of a democracy in action. It kind of is, though. The voters voted to protect themselves. And while you could think of that as selfish and not be wrong, at least they were able to protect themselves against a well-funded lobby that almost certainly would have liked to prevent them.
Animats 5y ago
The entire Times of Israel series on binary options [1] tells a sad, sordid story. It came out slowly. At first, it just looked like a few minor scammers. But as the Times dug deeper, publishing over 50 articles, it came out that at peak, the binary options scam was 40% of the Israeli financial sector and had enough political connections to stall enforcement. The Israeli crackdown came only after the scam was starting to hurt Israel's foreign relations.[2] Israel's "public diplomacy" minister: “Leaving aside the profound moral questions this raises,” [referring to reports estimating that billions of dollars have been stolen from unwitting customers by fraudulent Israeli binary options firms], “I come from the field of foreign policy, protecting Israel from delegitimization and BDS [the boycott, divest and sanction movement]… These activities threaten Israel’s legitimacy. [The industry] will “contribute to those who want to delegitimize us if these charges turn out to be absolutely true. It’s very, very disturbing… horrible.” So now there's a large community of scammers who, having been kicked out of binary options in Israel, are looking for new areas in which to operate. Forex, contracts for difference, and cryptocurrency scams have been found. DraftKings has some of the same people involved. This is one of the worst things that can happen to a country - developing a large, successful criminal class. It's really hard to get rid of them, and they may end up running the country, as happened to Russia after the downfall of the USSR. [1] https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/binary-options/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/binary-options/ [2] https://www.timesofisrael.com/michael-oren-backs-knesset-probe-of-binary-options-which-threatens-israel/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/michael-oren-backs-knesset-pro...