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The government is not sanctioning the mechanics of a gun. You can read in books and online about how they work in full detail, the “code” and designs for them i

The government is not sanctioning the mechanics of a gun. You can read in books and online about how they work in full detail, the “code” and designs for them is usually open. A lot of hobbyists use this to build their own airsoft, potato guns, and other nonlethal mechanisms. Violence and privacy are also different categories. A weapon that can quickly kill dozens or hundreds of people should arguably be regulated differently than a blockchain protocol that enables user privacy. > the code or math isn't banned or illegal, the organisation is There is no organization. The protocol is sanctioned - meaning if you fork the code, or build your own implementation, you risk the same fate as the tornado cash developers. > That is not what happened so it's not a comparison at all. It is very similar. The US sanctioned the Tornado Cash protocol and anybody who is using or contributing to it.

mschuster91 4y ago
> The government is not sanctioning the mechanics of a gun. You can read in books and online about how they work in full detail, the “code” and designs for them is usually open. A lot of hobbyists use this to build their own airsoft, potato guns, and other nonlethal mechanisms. The government hasn't sanctioned the code of Tornado Cash, only the concrete instance present on a couple wallet addresses. When I use the public knowledge of a library book on how to create a gun to actually create a gun, I create an instance of a gun - and in all developed countries, I will run into weapons laws and regulations at that point. As for spud guns, these are questionably legal or outright banned in many large nations outside of the US [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun_legality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun_legality
- whatisweb3 4y ago
  > The government hasn't sanctioned the code The government has explicitly said that all property and interests in property of Tornado Cash, and anybody found to be supporting it it any way, is blocked. This is why GitHub and all hosting services will refuse to allow it on their platforms. The code is implicitly sanctioned. Any person who posts the code will probably have their repo removed, and maybe their account flagged or deleted. If you continue to try posting the code to many different hosting services you might be seen as supporting Tornado Cash, and could be facing jail time. The protocol - the math and rules - is also implicitly sanctioned. If you build a new protocol using similar cryptographic tools, you will probably face similar risks. > only the concrete instance present on a couple wallet addresses. If you feel this US will stop at only these addresses, you are very naive. Any individual can fork the protocol, and it will be on a new address. Any individual can also build a competitor to Tornado Cash using similar cryptography, and they will probably also be putting themselves and their project at risk of US sanctions. > When I use the public knowledge of a library book However, the information is free - you can find it in a public library, and nobody is attempting to censor it. There are two separate problems here. One is that the US sanctions are leading to censorship of knowledge and cryptographic research, which is concerning. The other is that the US sanctions are targeting an open source protocol enabling E2EE privacy on the blockchain, not that different than if they were to sanction Matrix protocol.

mschuster91 4y ago

> The government is not sanctioning the mechanics of a gun. You can read in books and online about how they work in full detail, the “code” and designs for them is usually open. A lot of hobbyists use this to build their own airsoft, potato guns, and other nonlethal mechanisms. The government hasn't sanctioned the code of Tornado Cash, only the concrete instance present on a couple wallet addresses. When I use the public knowledge of a library book on how to create a gun to actually create a gun, I create an instance of a gun - and in all developed countries, I will run into weapons laws and regulations at that point. As for spud guns, these are questionably legal or outright banned in many large nations outside of the US [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun_legality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spud_gun_legality

whatisweb3 4y ago
> The government hasn't sanctioned the code The government has explicitly said that all property and interests in property of Tornado Cash, and anybody found to be supporting it it any way, is blocked. This is why GitHub and all hosting services will refuse to allow it on their platforms. The code is implicitly sanctioned. Any person who posts the code will probably have their repo removed, and maybe their account flagged or deleted. If you continue to try posting the code to many different hosting services you might be seen as supporting Tornado Cash, and could be facing jail time. The protocol - the math and rules - is also implicitly sanctioned. If you build a new protocol using similar cryptographic tools, you will probably face similar risks. > only the concrete instance present on a couple wallet addresses. If you feel this US will stop at only these addresses, you are very naive. Any individual can fork the protocol, and it will be on a new address. Any individual can also build a competitor to Tornado Cash using similar cryptography, and they will probably also be putting themselves and their project at risk of US sanctions. > When I use the public knowledge of a library book However, the information is free - you can find it in a public library, and nobody is attempting to censor it. There are two separate problems here. One is that the US sanctions are leading to censorship of knowledge and cryptographic research, which is concerning. The other is that the US sanctions are targeting an open source protocol enabling E2EE privacy on the blockchain, not that different than if they were to sanction Matrix protocol.