Warning. Encrypt your wallets and store them offline

[Wind_FURY]

http://bitcoinist.com/u-s-congress-quietly-pass-cloud-act-to-increase-government-access-to-online-info/

The Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data (CLOUD) Act was passed along with the federal spending bill on Friday, March 23rd, 2018. The act allows law enforcement agencies to demand access to online information from any country in the world.

Some, including influential speaker and author of Mastering Bitcoin, Andreas Antonopoulos, have criticized how the act was passed without debate and the act’s implications for privacy.

"The CLOUD Act passed. It destroys privacy globally, so it had to be snuck into the $1.3 trillion omnibus without debate.

Encrypt. Encrypt. Encrypt. Go Dark.

When privacy is criminalized, only criminals have privacy. We got sold out, again."

- Andreas M. Antonopoulos (@aantonop) March 23, 2018

If you use Blockchain.info or store your Bitcoins in an exchange or any other web wallet, then it is time to withdraw them and keep them stored offline.

Hardware wallets are good but if you do not have the budget and you are a techie, I suggest using something like https://bitkey.io/.

For ordinary people who are not into computers, use Electrum, encrypt your wallets and store them in a USB flash drive.

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[o_e_l_e_o]

Just be aware that USB drives will decay over time, cheap ones as quickly as within a couple of years. A paper wallet is safer for long-term off-line storage.

Also remember to back up your back ups, and securely store your recovery phrase.

[wantjokull]

Isn't that is threat to all of us or whoever is engaged in the crypto currencies as whole? The article clearly states that under the amendment of congress lead they can initiate legal enquiry on the foreign resident through the foreign government. But I have a massive confusion here, each country is having their own rules and regulation against the protection of the resident from external bodies and government has right to deny that one on purpose. Aren't those two rules will clash together and U.S. wont be able to fulfil this act at all?

Also, I am concerned about the crypto market now, as this could cause dramatic negativity amongst every single person in the crypto and might just put the market value in jeopardy. Any thoughts?

[jseverson]

Isn't that is threat to all of us or whoever is engaged in the crypto currencies as whole? The article clearly states that under the amendment of congress lead they can initiate legal enquiry on the foreign resident through the foreign government. But I have a massive confusion here, each country is having their own rules and regulation against the protection of the resident from external bodies and government has right to deny that one on purpose. Aren't those two rules will clash together and U.S. wont be able to fulfil this act at all?

Also, I am concerned about the crypto market now, as this could cause dramatic negativity amongst every single person in the crypto and might just put the market value in jeopardy. Any thoughts?

It's kind of a little overblown. Don't get me wrong, it's still concerning, but it doesn't mean the US government automatically has access to everything everywhere:

From: https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/03/23/apple-supported-cloud-act-passes-congress-will-change-how-governments-share-data

The bill would give the executive branch, specifically the Department of Justice, new powers to enter into information-sharing agreements with foreign governments. As of now, if a foreign law enforcement entity wishes to obtain data from a U.S.-based tech company, that government must have a specific mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) with the U.S., the kind that must be ratified by Congress. The CLOUD Act removes that provision, while also no longer requiring the need for a judge to sign off on such requests. It would allow the DOJ to enter into such agreements without the approval of Congress or the courts.

There were no debates about it because it basically just cuts red tape. Authorities still won't have access to data they were denied access to, unless their request was denied specifically because of said red tape. I'll need to review it more thoroughly though, I guess.

[Wind_FURY]

Whatever. As long as congress passes that kind of a bill each time and it becomes law, it's time to run away. Our freedom is slowly being taken away from us from right under our noses, and we applaud them for it because it makes us feel "safe".

[jseverson]

Whatever. As long as congress passes that kind of a bill each time and it becomes law, it's time to run away. Our freedom is slowly being taken away from us from right under our noses, and we applaud them for it because it makes us feel "safe".

Oh, I'm not applauding it. I'm just saying that they still don't have access to data they didn't have access to prior to the bill. It doesn't make it so that you don't have privacy anymore. It doesn't even reduce your privacy itself. It just makes it faster for them to request for your data. Whether or not they will get it hasn't been affected in the least, from what I can tell.

User wantjokull asked the right question, asking how the US will be able to bypass sovereign countries' privacy laws with this bill, and the answer is that it can't.

[Tooevilforyou]

I don't know if that bill takes from our privacy or if it remains the same but I know that it doesn't give them a right to our coins though and that is what matter, we all knew the day was coming when exchanges would start to request information from it's users.

[HeRetiK]

Whenever I feel like I'm too paranoid for this world, it turns out that I'm probably not paranoid enough. Whenever I feel like a luddite for keeping certain apps off my phone and avoiding cloud services, it turns out to be justified. I honestly doubt that the general populace will ever have privacy again. Especially from the viewpoint of a non-US citizen, the supranational role that the US tends to take is sometimes quite disturbing, to say the least.

Also, I am concerned about the crypto market now, as this could cause dramatic negativity amongst every single person in the crypto and might just put the market value in jeopardy. Any thoughts?

Nah. Anybody worth their salt is not keeping private keys online.

Just be aware that USB drives will decay over time, cheap ones as quickly as within a couple of years. A paper wallet is safer for long-term off-line storage.

Also remember to back up your back ups, and securely store your recovery phrase.

Good advice, as this is easy to forget. Remember the good old 3-2-1 rule: At least 3 copies in total, of which at least 2 should be on different mediums onsite and at least 1 copy should be offsite.

[gtx1060aa]

And whether it is worth it to do to those people, chi sums sometimes do not reach and $ 100, if you are engaged professionally, then yes, you need to buy a special purse device and so it's pointless