Your example is outstanding! For 2 reasons:

1. This case looks like a copycat to what happened in Romania: an innocent murdered by an US official; the official trial in the country where he / she commited the crime is not allowed; the official goes back to US. A small difference though, at least so far: in your example, the criminal's trial is not over yet. But most likely, she will be free. Why? Because she is the wife of an US official working for the Airforce, because she was a CIA operative, but, most important, for this (quoted from your second link):


Basically, they already set her free!

2. I don't know if you noticed, but in your first link is stated the following:


So the second reason for which your example is outstanding is because this case is connected to the OP, to Assange!!! What were the odds?! Did you notice that in the link?

Lol. Now I feel ridiculous )))

Of course, a keychain! And of course I know what it is!

For some weird reason though, I thought it is something related to Blockchain. But no, it's just a simple keychain

Obviously, you can laugh about me now.

This is called the double standard if morality. What is the stand of the Australian govern regarding his citizen? Do they try to protect him? Or: do they try to take him back in Australia and take the trial there? No! Why?

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The following is unknown information for almost all forum members. Maybe just the Romanians know this story.

On December 4th, 2004, 04:30AM local time, the famous Romanian bass player Teo Peter (playing in Compact band) was murdered in a car accident by a drunk US Marine named Christopher Van Goethem. The marine ignored the traffic light and bumped in the car where Teo was present as a passenger. Van Goethem was in his car also with his lover. They were having an affair.

After killing the poor man, the sergeant also fled the premises.

At the moment he was working for the US Embassy, thus having diplomatic immunity.

What happened next? After being captured, US requested his extradition in US, refusing Romanian authorities to take him here in a Court of Law.

What happened in US? The sergeant faced Court Martial but in the end it was stated that he is not guilty for manslaughter charges, nor for adultery (although the adultery accusation was a trivial one compared to the other one). Furthermore, his blood tests concluded he didn't drink alcohool, although he was drunk. Although he admitted he drank a few beers!!! You can read more here or Google the case.

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This is the double standard if morality: all people are equal, but some are more equal than others.

One one hand, US govern interdicts to another govern to judge a crime performed by an American citizen; it also rules he is not guilty. And on the other hand, the same US govern forces to judge on American soil the actions of an Australian citizen, living in UK, in the Ecuadorian Embassy, while this man's govern assists powerless to what happens to Assange.

A military who killed a man is sentenced as not guilty, while Assange, who fought all his life for the freedom of information, faces 175 years in jail!!!

It's hard to say what will happen to him. But nullius pointed out something very important: "By what right does the United States presume jurisdiction over Assange?  He is a not an American citizen, and is thus not generally subject to the personal jurisdiction of American laws.  He is not alleged to have committed any acts within American territorial jurisdiction."

I really wonder how this will be explained during the trial.


That's admirable. 10BTC? Wow! Literally wow!


Hehe, I like that my posts become known for a certain pattern I'll do my best in the future as well. Some cypherpunks retired; other left us for good. But their message lives within us!

Reserved

Apparently, not many got involved as the method requires a few amount of time though, not just "I'm in!": obtain the code, find a 10 minutes mail provider offering the "Compose" option (as not all offer that), and maybe the most difficult part - to find out how to calculate the hash of their code. Unfortunately, I think that many didn't understand the improved privacy of this method and only saw it as being too difficult. I hope though it will be used more in the future.

Indeed it is frustrating that only 1 spot remained uncovered, but the waiting time almost passed

What I didn't understand though is the prize itself. What is a "dropshipped keychain"?

Affirmative

This week's words of wisdom: I just thought I felt a small earthquake, but after I realized that it was just Foxpup who accidentally dropped the wallet when trying to pay the Dalton Gang

The system updated! I hope I'm the first one congratulating you, nullius! (Or at least among first ones )
A well deserved rank up!

A mexican proverb says "Quisieron enterrarnos, pero no sabían que éramos semillas" which means in English "They tried to bury me but they didn’t know I was a seed".

Those who can read between the words will understand the meaning.


I managed today to finish writing it!

Maybe many heard about the name of Julian Assange, but only few really know who he is, what he did or what he does now. From these, even less know why he is an emblematic figure in the crypto space.

This topic is a call for help, that's why I posted it in the Beginners & Help board. It's a call for helping Julian!

I planned writing this topic for a while, but from various reasons (the most important being the lack of time) I delayed it. However, a another recent discrediting of the press (in a way or another) determined me to write this thread. The reason behind is less important though. What's important is Julian needs help.

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The last sentence of this topic is a cautionary tale: "All of us should continue Cypherpunks' work and to fight for freedom!".

The Cypherpunks group emerged initially in 1992 from Eric Hughes, the author of "The Cypherpunk Manifesto", John Gilmore and Timothy May, the author of "The Crypto Anarchist Manifesto". From a former meeting in Gilmore's office, a mailing list was born, under the name of Cypherpunks mailing list.

During time, others joined Cypherpunks' fight against the State surveilling the citizens. They eventually reached a number of over 1000 contributors.

Julian Assange was part of the group between 1995 and 2002. His brilliant mind was easily observed by the others. If May, Hughes or Gilmore were focused more on "algorithms for people", on digital cash and on public's access to cryptography (in an era when NSA was fighting with all its powers against that), Assange had a different principle: “Freedom of information is a respected liberal value”.

The WikiLeaks Manifesto, a document less known, unfortunately, contains other words of wisdom from Julian: "Only revealed injustice can be answered; for man to do anything intelligent he has to know what's actually going on".

Since the apparition of Gutenberg's printing press in 1448, which led to the Printing Revolution, elites' power over classified documents decayed constantly. This was one of the first forms of the information decentralization. Julian Assange took it to a whole new level.

And this happened after the launch of WikiLeaks, in 2006.


Sharing a similar thought with Snowden; and even more: trying to help him by recommending him where to settle and where not to settle his new life after betraying the govern; Assange published thousands of classified information from all parts of the world.

His connection to Bitcoin?, some may ask.

After US govern initiated a financial blockade over WikiLeaks' accounts, Julian realized the potential of Bitcoin and intended to accept the new cryptocurrency as a form for donations. The idea put BitcoinTalk on flame at that time:

"Bring it on”, emphasized RHorning.

However, continues Assange, ""Satoshi Nakamoto,” the pseudonymous inventor of Bitcoin, responded: “No, don’t "bring it on". The project needs to grow gradually so the software can be strengthened along the way. I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.” [...] Six days later, on 12 December 2010, Satoshi famously vanished from the Bitcoin community, but not before posting this message: “It would have been nice to get this attention in any other context. WikiLeaks has kicked the hornet’s nest, and the swarm is headed towards us.”".

As a deep sign of respect for Satoshi and for his work, as Assange stated also (in the previous mentioned link), "WikiLeaks read and agreed with Satoshi’s analysis, and decided to put off the launch of a bitcoin donation channel until the currency had become more established. WikiLeaks’ bitcoin donation address was launched after the currency’s first major boom, on 14 June 2011.".

A sign of respect which is a rara avis nowadays.

But Julian's rely on Bitcoin certainly didn't help just WikiLeaks: it also helped Bitcoin to become more popular; it raised awareness about Satoshi's creation; it brought more and more people on the path opened by Satoshi.

What happened next is known better than the above mentioned history. US govern started to hunt Assange in 2011, and as a response, Julian managed to help himself by asking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy from London. His request was granted in 2012. However, his staying in the embassy was not easy - among others, he never put his step outside the embassy until 2019(!), living almost as an inmate. Between a fabricated accusation of sexual harassment, which was dropped after years by the Swedish govern, and his continuous work for WikiLeaks, Assange also tried to keep his moral and to do his best to avoid the extradition to US, being well aware this would mean if not a death penalty, then at least 175 years behind the bars.

Unfortunately, in 2019 Ecuador ended his asylum, for reasons more or less ridiculous, but it's almost clear that the decision was forced somehow by other secret agencies or by other governs.

At the moment of writing this thread, Julian's trial for extradition has started. During the trial, he is staying in prison.

As I was saying recently, in a previous topic,


It is in our hands also to help Julian. And helping him means to help freedom of information!

I'm not going to say how to offer this help. I'm sure everybody knows, or, at least, has an intuition about that.

There is time for debates and time for action. Debating is dead now.

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Issues of note:

I also recommend reading the following:
- Nils Melzer's The Trial of Julian Assange: A Story of Persecution - The shocking story of the legal persecution of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and the dangerous implications for the whistleblowers of the future
- Robert Manne's piece of art The Cypherpunk Revolutionary Julian Assange
- The Most Dangerous Man In The World: The Inside Story On Julian Assange And WikiLeaks, written by Andrew Fowler
- Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet, by Julian Assange. The book is a discussion between Julian, Jacob Appelbaum (Tor developer) and Jérémie Zimmermann (co-founder of La Quadrature du Net)
- Underground, by Suelette Dreyfus & Julian Assange. It is a fascinating book about the rise of Australian hackers and phreakers from 1980s, including the early activity of Julian Assange which, by that time, was known under the nym Mendax
- When Google Met WikiLeaks, by Julian Assange
- The Unauthorised Autobiography, by Julian Assange.

Besides, the following movies are parts of the must watch category:

Ithaka - a documentary showing Julian's struggle to avoid extradition to US
Mediastan: A Wikileaks Road Movie - a WikiLeaks very own documentary - full movie
Risk - a WikiLeaks documentary, directed by Laura Poitras (a friend of Julian Assange) - full movie
The Fifth Estate - a great movie about WikiLeaks
We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks - yet another documentary about WikiLeaks
Underground: The Julian Assange Story - another movie about Julian, depicting his early career.

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Translations (in chronological order):

• Română: Apelul pentru Assange || Manifestul WikiLeaks – Cu toții ar trebui să-l citim, translation by GazetaBitcoin
• Filipino: Ang tawag para kay Julian Assange || Ang Pagmanipesto ng WikiLeaks - Basahin, translation by jeraldskie11
• Polish: Wezwanie do Juliana Assange || Manifest WikiLeaks - Wszyscy powinniśmy go przeczytać, translation by cygan
• Pidgin: De call for Julian Assange || De WikiLeaks Manifesto - Make all of us read, translation by sokani
• Bengali: জুলিয়ানের জন্য ডাক - সবার পড়া উচিৎ, translation by Learn Bitcoin
• French: L'appel pour Julian Assange || Le Manifeste de WikiLeaks - Nous devrions le lire, translation by iwantmyhomepaidwithbtc2
• Urdu: جولین اسانج کی کال || وکی لیکس کا منشور - ہم ک, translation by JunaidAzizi
• Indonesian: Panggilan untuk Julian Assange||Manifesto WikiLeaks-Kita semua harus membacanya, translation by dansus021
• German: Der Aufruf für J. Assange || Das WikiLeaks-Manifest - Wir alle sollten es lesen, translation by cygan
• Russian: Призыв Джулиана Ассанжа || Манифест WikiLeaks - мы вс, translation by DrBeer

As I stated above, there is no reason for being unhappy, nor for thinking your posts aren't already / will not be paid. In case they will be paid this week, you still didn't lose anything.

Why does it matter if they weren't counted for the previous week and they will be counted on current week? You'll receive same payment for the respective 5 posts.

Latest update: I added two emblems for Cult of Lauda, as requested.

The Queen of Cats guides us. The Queen of Cats teaches us. The Queen of Cats protects us. In your light we thrive. In your mercy we are sheltered. In your wisdom we are humbled. We live only to serve. Our lives are yours.

I bow down in front of the Supreme Leader!

Thank you for explaining us, CryptopreneurBrainBoss!

Are you also so kind, please, to confirm that the period is from Sunday 12:00:00PM to next Sunday 11:59:59AM?

Or to state the actual hours, if these are wrong.

Thus, everybody will know the correct interval.

Actually no, you didn't lose any posts.

If those 5 posts were taken into account in the previous week, it means you already got paid for them. Of course if they were eligible.

But you didn't "lose" them.

The question is though, what timezone uses the forum?

There are less risks when using escrows, that's right. Dont't forget though that escrows also take taxes for their services.

However, as I wrote in my previous post, the topic wasn't written as a guide for trading securely. Its meaning is to open the eyes for why is important to build a good reputation on the free market and also offering a few tips in this direction. Read also my prior post.

I also didn't understand at first how time is calculated now - meaning how can it be from Sunday to Sunday and I thought maybe it was a mistake. Before it was Monday to Sunday.

I understood now after reading your post, but I still have one question: what is forum time? When I post something I see the hour from my timezone, as I set it at my account. What time is forum time?

This reminded me of something similar I saw in a topic about how to earn merits "quickly and guaranteed". The suggestion was for being bullish in the WO thread.


At first sight it sounded funny, but seeing you state a similar thing here makes me wonder.

Edit: I just realized you also wrote that topic. And as far as I see, your merits increased by applying the same strategy. This might have to do overall with human way of thinking - bringing "good news" make people feel better. Sometimes even more generous, I suppose.

Indeed, you are right.

I intended initially to mention escrows as well, but the subject is way too complex as a whole.

My intention with this topic was to raise awarness why a good reputation is needed on the free market, not how to perform trades safely It is a different subject. Related, but not the same.

Even though, I touched a bit the "who sends first" problem and I suggested to the newbies to be willing to send first at their beginning in trading, in order to gain trust and reputation. Of course, taking all cautionary measures needed.

Also, the same good reputation is needed also for escrows - they should also be interested in building a good reputation

Many users come on this forum for trading activities. And the merchandise is varied - physical goods, digital goods, cryptocurrency exchange, auctions, collectibles, PC equipment, mining equipment and so on.

The forum acts as a free market and the good reputation is fundamental for successful deals. As Tim May said more than 30 years ago, "Reputations will be of central importance, far more important in dealings than even the credit ratings of today".

On BitcoinTalk, the reputation in trading is represented by the "Marketplace Trust", which is a score which shows your positive, neutral and negative feedback. If a trader has a bigger positive trust score, it should mean that he is trustworthy. The opposite is true as well: if a trader has a relevant negative trust, he / she should be avoided.

The system is more complex than that, but this is not the point of the topic. However, two important aspects need to be mentioned:
- for negative trust feedback, on this forum exists also a "Flag System" which can be used for a more detailed explanation about a trader's untrustworthiness
- although the trust system was designed for trading activities, forum members tend to give feedback also based on their personal opinions about others, thus influencing the trust score. Thus, the users interested in trading with someone should read carefully all the feedback about the respective person in order to have a clear impression about who is the one they're willing to trade with.

As mentioned above, the topic is not about the trust / flag systems, but about the importance of having a strong reputation. The bigger the reputation is, the bigger chances are for an user to make a transaction. As well, the opposite is true: an attempt of scam or a violation of a contract may ruin a reputation.

Generally, people involved in trading - no matter if they are sellers or buyers - are looking for smooth, successful trades. And the general idea is that if a person has good recommendations (in this case - feedbacks), there are low chances of getting scammed. That's why, a trader who wants to sell a product will be interested in a buyer who has good feedbacks (and also a good trust score), stating that he / she pays fast (for example). A trader who wants to buy is interested in a seller that has good feedbacks stating he /she sends the product as he /she agreed to do, his / her product arrives fast, it is in good shape, without damages etc.

Another problem which occurs often is the following: generally, if the parties don't have (both) a good reputation, the following question is asked: "who is the one who sends first (the money / the good)?". Basically, the one with reputation asks the other one to send first, as he / she can't prove his / her trustworthiness. If the other one is not willing to take the risk and send first, the deal is off (not to mention how this situation goes when there are two parties having both a bad reputation). This problem has way lower chances of occurring if there are implied two parties having both good reputation - in this case, most likely, none of them would mind to send first.

Reputation defines us as individuals in the society and as a consequence, in trading activities.

Honest persons and traders should be very interested in proving their trustworthiness on the free market, thus being able to easily, smoothly and successfully transact their merchandise.

However, if the respective trader is a new member here, he /she should perform some steps, in order to gain trust from the others in trading activities. Reputation isn't built over the night, nor over the month. It takes time to build a strong reputation or for your (user)name to become known by others and seen as "trustworthy". But once a trader achieves a good reputation, his / her reputation certifies for being a trustworthy merchandiser.

There are several ways for starting a career in trading on the free market. Maybe a new member can start, as a seller, with sending his good first and wait for money afterwards. Or, if he /she is a buyer, he / she can send money first and wait for the good afterwards. But he / she must choose cautiously the other party and ensure that party is someone with a good reputation, thus minimizing the risks of being scammed. If the trade is successful, it should be followed by another and another and in time, with easy steps, the career in trading and the good reputation are built.

As an end note, BitcoinTalk is even more complex when it comes to trading. Besides the trust score and the feedbacks, a trader can also take into account the other party's rank and merits earned. Not to look only at the rank / merits, but take them as a whole, together with the trust score. If an user has a high rank, or he / she earned many merits in the past, these should be signs of someone having good intentions. This is not always true, though. But these aspects together with a strong positive trust score show an overall picture of someone which is less likely trying to scam.

Everybody must make their due diligence. But have in mind that for being trusted, you must have a good reputation. And for having a good reputation you should prove (many times) that you honor your agreements.

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Translations (in chronological order):

• Română: De ce reputația este esențială pe piața liberă, translation by GazetaBitcoin
• Filipino: [Translation]Bakit mahalaga ang reputasyon sa libreng merkado, translation by jeraldskie11
• Polish: Dlaczego reputacja jest niezbędna na wolnym rynku, translation by cygan
• German: Wieso Reputation auf dem freien Markt unerlässlich ist, translation by AHOYBRAUSE
• Bengali: ফ্রি মারকেট এ রেপুটেশন কেনো অপরিহার্য, translation by Learn Bitcoin
• Pidgin: Why Reputation de Important for Free Market, translation by Nheer
• French: Pourquoi votre réputation est primordiale dans un marché libre, translation by iwantmyhomepaidwithbtc2
• Indonesian: Mengapa reputasi memiliki peran penting di pasar bebas, translation by dansus021
• Urdu: فری مارکیٹ میں ریپوٹیشن کیوں ضروری ہے۔, translation by ThemePen
• Russian: Почему репутация важна на свободном рынкk, translation by DrBeer

In case this syndicate evolves in a real gang, please let me know, to update the gangs topic

Being serious now, I started a topic for helping low ranks but, apparently, without success.