specinho + 440 August 6, 2022 ................ Digitizing everything might not be a good idea..... For example, old banking system used paper, pen, type writer. Filing in black and white, clear and organized. Computer makes things easier in many ways and save much space required to store paper files. The emergence of internet allowing things to be done more conveniently e.g. ATM card vs counter; interbank or intercountry transfer vs boxes load of cash; online banking vs impersonal presence on the spot. The latest progress is digital currency and mobile wallet. However, online banking and digital currency have hit walls two or three years into operation in some backward countries e.g. money theft, fraud etc. The key lesson might be: we would like to allow convenience, but we should not compromise on safety 1. digitization has allowed us to function without cash. At the same time, a bigger issue is fermenting i.e. banks are operating without actual cash involved. 2. digitization allows conveniences unavailable before. For small cash, it is fine to have platforms mushrooming without monitoring. Could there be possibility that platform owners would run away with all money deposited by customers at one point of prosperity? 3. Digitization allows things to be done remotely. But unlawful alteration of important info could also possibly be done via digital space, unconsciously. Or consciously. Similarly, digitization would allow everything personal to be available at ease, including inserting non existing IDs, trace individual activities and movement until personal privacy and safety could be compromised. Therefore, private and important info are best kept in the old ways, i.e. filing or in computer storage space not connected to internet. Not everything needs to be digitized, only basic info. Not everything needs to be done conveniently via internet. Old but safer methods must be preserved, not replaced. Not too sure these make sense, but there ought to be a balance of modern invention and old creation. The former is created by youngs looking for time saving ways to do things; the later was by thoughtful and sensible pioneers. We must adapt but never forsake the basic needs of mankind i.e. security. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 7, 2022 https://www.activistpost.com/2022/08/gates-calls-social-credit-scores-an-asset-are-they-coming-to-the-us.html Gates Calls Social Credit Scores An “Asset” — Are They Coming To The US? EXCERPTS Aadhaar, India’s federally-operated biometric digital ID system, collected the names, finger print scans, and eye scans of 1.2 billion Indians. The invasive system is praised by Bill Gates, and some US policymakers want to bring a similar social credit database to the USA. ...But Aadhaar is more than just a system that coerces people to submit their personal biometrics to receive their rights. It’s actually a giant social credit system lauded by political heavyweights and global thought leaders. Not much Western attention been put on the Aadhaar system because it’s been overshadowed by their geopolitical foe – China and its social credit system. According to the Huffington Post, which received documents under India’s RTI act or Right to Information Act, the Indian government has integrated data collected by Aadhaar to establish a “360-degree database” that “automatically track[s] when a citizen moves between cities, changes jobs, or buys a new property,” Bill Gates, of all people, explained that the Aadhaar system is “huge asset for India” and branded the creator of the system, Nandan Nilekani – a partner of the WEF (World Economic Forum) – a “hero.” Despite the dystopian possibilities, elected officials in the US are trying their best to foist a giant biometric digital ID system on the entire population under the guise of inequity. Illinois Congressman Bill Foster recently introduced the Improving Digital Identity Act which calls for the public sector, namely Homeland Security to work with the private sector to develop a giant digital biometric ID infrastructure for the United States. Congressman Foster explained to a Gates-funded vaccine ID initiative ID2020 that collecting private biometric information on all citizens could be “leveraged” by the private sector to generate profits.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RichieRich216 + 454 RK August 7, 2022 The simple answer, they want to be able to track everyone, anywhere, anytime, and they want you to volunteer to do it. I go to extreme measures to protect myself and my family; I pay for a secure IP address through a security company, and email is encrypted to family and close friends along with the business I have ownership in. Even GPS can be interrupted; cells have a powerful VPN. I like my privacy, not on social media platforms, and have no interest in being! The 40-year-old and under have no concept of privacy; post a picture today and five years after comes back to bite you. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 10, 2022 Prelude... 'bank of central bankers' - Bank for International Settlements EXCERPT... The crash course for those who don't know about the BIS: It was founded in 1930 as an outgrowth of Rockefeller Trustee Owen D. Young's so-called "Young Plan" to chain German payments for the unpayable WWI reparations scam to a consortium of financiers led by J.P. Morgan. It is located in Basel, Switzerland, but is above Swiss law by terms of a treaty that makes the bank "inviolable" and free from search, seizure or interference in any way by Swiss authorities. And it was identified as the apex of a global system of oligarchical control in a shockingly frank passage by Georgetown historian (and Clinton mentor) Carroll Quigley in Tragedy and Hope: "The Power of financial capitalism had a far reaching plan, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalistic fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the system was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks, which were themselves private corporations." https://www.corbettreport.com/how-the-banksters-play-good-cop-bad-cop/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/australias-central-bank-working-bis-launch-digital-currency-system Australia's Central Bank Working With BIS To Launch Digital Currency System by Tyler Durden Tuesday, Aug 09, 2022 - 06:05 PM Australia's Reserve Bank is launching a pilot program over the course of the next year in collaboration with the Bank for International Settlements (the central bank of central banks) to test the “benefits” of a blockchain ledger based digital currency system. The central bank is added to a long list of participants in BIS efforts to introduce CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) with the target goal of launching them globally by 2025-2030. It's important to note that substantial economic changes would have to occur within the next few years in order to make CBDC a viable option for the general public. Though many people use electronic transactions as a matter of convenience, a large portion of the population still prefers cash. In the US, surveys within the last few years show that at least 37% of Americans still choose cash over other methods of payment like credit and debit cards. In Australia, the number stands at around 32%. The usage of digital payment systems also does not necessarily denote a societal shift away from the idea of cash, it only shows a preference for convenience. People still like to know that cash exists as an option if they need it or want it, but central banks are working diligently to remove physical cash as a choice within the next 8 years. CBDCs, much like all blockchain based currency mechanisms, are inherently devoid of privacy. By it's very design, blockchain tech requires a ledger of transactions than can be tracked by governments if they so choose. Physical cash, though fiat in nature, is at least anonymous. With the advent of widespread CBDCs the very notion of privacy in trade would utterly disappear from society within a generation. Not only that, but if these currencies are tied into a social credit system like the one used in communist China, then there is a good chance governments will be able to freeze accounts or even erase your savings at the push of a button. And, without physical cash there would be no recourse for trade. A person deemed “problematic” could be locked out of the economy on a whim. The fact that the BIS is so heavily involved in national digital currency programs suggests that the ultimate goal of CBDCs will be an eventual global digital currency – A one world currency mechanism that all other digital currencies are eventually absorbed into. This collaboration extends to the IMF and World Bank as well. With so many physical currencies in use around the world and at least 30% of each western nation preferring cash, there is little chance that central banks will be able to force the issue of CBDCs unless there is an economic downturn or crash that inspires a public outcry for alternatives to existing currencies. Meaning, banking elites will need a crisis that damages the very buying power of multiple currency systems in order to get people accept an aggressive shift to a cashless society before 2030. The pitfalls of such a framework are many and the potential for abuse goes far beyond the idea of fiat printing. CBDCs would give banks and governments ultimate power of influence over the populace, inspiring fear in individuals as they consider the threat that their access to the economy could be severed at any moment should they say or do anything in defiance of the authorities. Banks and politicians will try to sell CBDCs as the pinnacle of convenience and a necessary transition in order to stabilize the economy. What they will not mention is the pervasive level of control they will gain in the process. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 10, 2022 On a postive note... "Anything But A Cashless Society": Physical Money Makes Comeback As UK Households Battle Inflation by Tyler Durden Wednesday, Aug 10, 2022 - 01:45 AM The World Economic Forum (WEF) has been pushing hard for a 'cashless society' in a post-pandemic world, though physical money has made a comeback in at least one European country as consumers increasingly use notes and coins to help them balance household budgets amid an inflationary storm. Britain's Post Office released a report Monday that revealed even though the recent accelerated use of cards and digital payments on smartphones, demand for cash surged this summer, according to The Guardian.... https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/anything-cashless-society-physical-money-makes-comeback-households-battle Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 10, 2022 https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/pure-dystopia-amazon-buys-irobot-map-inside-your-home Did Amazon Buy iRobot To Map Inside Your Home? by Tyler Durden Wednesday, Aug 10, 2022 - 01:45 PM Amazon.com Inc.'s $1.7 billion acquisition of robot vacuum cleaner company iRobot Corp. is a move by the megacorporation to use Roombas to map the interior of homes. This data type is a digital gold mine for Amazon because if marketers know more about what's inside, they can easily create tailormade ads. From a market perspective, Amazon's acquisition of iRobot is to gain deeper insight into customers' homes via the autonomous robotic vacuum cleaner called "Roomba." ... ... So, what iRobot brings to Amazon is the ability to embed its vast surveillance infrastructure into what appears to be a harmless vacuum, but just as Echo smart speakers are always 'listening,' perhaps the vacuum will always be watching. As a reminder, Amazon has a frightening partnership with the Central Intelligence Agency -- maybe it's time to ditch the Roomba. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 11, 2022 Dozens Of Whole Foods Stores Allow Customers To Pay With Palm Print Biometric Data by Tyler Durden Wednesday, Aug 10, 2022 - 07:40 PM Amazon's palm-reading payment technology will expand to dozens of Whole Foods locations across California. Shoppers will be able to pay for groceries by scanning the palm of their hand at checkout devices instead of using cash or card, as this is more evidence of the emergence of a cashless society. The Verge reported that 65 Whole Foods stores in California would soon get the new payment technology. This is the most extensive rollout by the e-commerce giant since announcing the payment system in 2020. "Customers can set up Amazon One by registering their palm print using a kiosk or at a point-of-sale station at participating stores. To register, you need to provide a payment card and phone number, agree to Amazon's terms of service, and share an image of your palms. Once completed, you can take items to checkout and not have to take out your wallet — or even your phone. A hover of your hand over the device is all that's needed to pay and leave," The Verge said. Amazon One has been pilot tested at Whole Foods stores in Los Angeles, Austin, Seattle, and New York. Amazon said customers had found the new payment system more convenient to checkout, though privacy concerns emerged last year by a group of lawmakers who raised questions about the megacorporation collecting biometric data of its customers. A group of senators in 2021 sent Amazon CEO Andy Jassy a letter for more details about how it scans palm prints. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), and Jon Ossoff (D-GA) asked Jassy if Amazon plans to expand its biometric payment system and if the data collected will allow the company to increase the effectiveness of targeted ads. "Amazon's expansion of biometric data collection through Amazon One raises serious questions about Amazon's plans for this data and its respect for user privacy, including about how Amazon may use the data for advertising and tracking purposes," the senators wrote in the letter. Amazon One appears to be ushering in a cashless society where a customer's body is becoming a transactional tool. Amazon has successfully provided customers with a convenient lifestyle through high-tech devices (think of Alexa smart speakers and Ring smart cameras), but the only tradeoff is the company harvests user data for advertisement purposes. https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/dozens-whole-foods-stores-allow-customers-pay-palm-print-biometric-data <br /> Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 11, 2022 https://web.archive.org/web/20201003055112/https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/heres-how-cashless-society-would-affect-day-day-life Here's How A Cashless Society Would Affect Day-To-Day Life by Tyler Durden Tue, 08/25/2020 - 22:05 Authored by Daisy Luther via The Organic Prepper blog, Have you ever thought about the ramifications of a cashless society? I’m talking about the real, first-person effects, not some ephemeral conspiracy theory or possible biblical prophecy. This is bad news for a lot of reasons, not the least of which are the ways it would affect day-to-day life. Here’s my definition of a cashless society, so we’re all singing from the same songbook: Cash would no longer be legal tender, therefore you could not make purchases with it, pay bills with it, or spend it in any way. You would not be able to deposit cash into your bank account so you wouldn’t be able to accept cash for an exchange of goods or services. Therefore, cash would be nothing more than a worthless piece of paper. (I know, I know. Debt-based currency is a totally different article though.) We’re heading this way. Jose recently wrote that Venezuela is rapidly becoming cashless and here in the United States a concerning early sign is that there is a “change shortage” which is causing many stores to give you your change on a store loyalty card or invite you to donate that change to some cause. Gifts Think of all the times that cash is an appropriate gift. I’ve always given money, like stuffing a child’s birthday card with a $20 bill or giving a new graduate some cash to put toward college expenses. When I got married, we received quite a bit of money from various loved ones. My dad always gave my daughters some spending money of their own each time we visited and they were surprised and delighted every single time. However, in a cashless society, there are two problems with this. First of all, the recipient would not be able to use the cash. He or she would not be able to spend or deposit it. Secondly, if a monetary gift is given, it would have to be done with a check or electronic transfer. This means that the government (and the Tax Man) would know precisely how much money any person is given. That might not be a big deal for the 7-year-old who got $20 from grandpa, but what about the graduate who raked in a couple thousand in gifts from family members to celebrate his or her accomplishments? At what point will the government have their hands out for “their fair share?” Side Gigs A lot of folks are really struggling right now with the COVID shutdowns. Jobs have been lost, hours have been cut, and financial problems abound. One of the ways that these people are making ends meet is with side gigs. Folks are cutting grass, cleaning houses, driving for Uber, delivering food, babysitting – they’re coming up with all sorts of ways to make some extra money. A huge percentage of these people are being paid in cash. But if suddenly you can no longer spend your cash, you’d need to be paid electronically. How many people who don’t already have a business have a merchant account for taking credit or debit cards? There are options like Paypal and Venmo, which take a percentage fee, but they’re going to have to figure out something. And then, as above, every single bit of this side gig money is traceable and trackable. This could quickly turn your 20 bucks from lawn mowing into $15 after taxes. Selling Secondhand Goods Raise your hand if you’ve ever sold something to pay a bill. Me too! I’ve sold jewelry, furniture, exercise equipment – all sorts of stuff to meet an obligation when in a pinch. Not only that, but I have a yard sale every single year to downsize the things that I found I don’t really use, which often brings in a few hundred dollars. How will this work in a cashless society? Well, if you are selling just one larger item, you’d probably end up using some kind of payment app like Venmo or Paypal. On the other hand, a yard sale would be nearly impossible to conduct electronically. Who is really going to be able to sit there and do Paypal transactions all day, especially when folks are buying things that cost 25 cents? And there we are, down another way of making some quick money. Tips Lots of folks who work in food service and the beauty industry, just to name two niches, depend on tips to make a living. Generally, tips are collected from tables or paid out at the end of the shift if they were put on a debit card. But…once there is no cash, these tips will have to end up going on a regular paycheck. One hundred percent of this money will be subject to payroll withholdings. This will mean that a lot of people see a sharp decrease in their earnings, plus they’ll have to wait for their checks to get the money. It puts a lot of power into the hands of the management and it would not be difficult at all for someone to manipulate the amounts the workers have earned. Children I’ve written many times about the importance of allowing children to handle their own money. It teaches them responsibility and life skills that will serve them well in the future. (Learn more about talking to your kids about money in this article.) My daughters have had access to money since they were in kindergarten, and possibly before. Now, how are you going to give a five-year-old access to money if it’s all electronic? Are they going to end up with their own bank accounts and debit cards? That hardly seems realistic. There is also the option of gift cards, but that means the money can only be spent at certain places, taking away the vital learning curve of saving your money to put it toward a Big Goal. Forget lemonade stands, gifts from Grandpa, or putting change in a piggy bank – these will all be things of the past. The unbanked or underbanked Eight million households in the United States are “underbanked” or “unbanked.” This means that they don’t have any kind of bank account due to fees, bad credit, or other obstacles. These people rely on check-cashing businesses that already take a hefty fee to give them the pay they’ve earned. What will they do when this is no longer an option? Most of the people who are unbanked or underbanked are living under the poverty line already. This would mean that they can no longer pick up side-gigs to make ends meet, they can’t do odd jobs, and getting them any kind of assistance will be more difficult. Slate reports how the coin shortage is affecting these Americans: To the average American, this shortage may only cause minor headaches—a harder time paying at a parking meter or exact change required at a coffee shop. But some 8 million American households, or 6 percent of Americans, are “unbanked,” meaning that because of fees and other financial hurdles, they have no checking, savings, or money market account. Many rely instead on services such as money orders, pawn shop loans, or payday loans. According to Venky Shankar, a marketing professor at the Center for Retailing Studies at Texas A&M University, Americans who make $25,000 a year or less use cash for around 45 percent of their purchases. So those Americans might struggle to pay for essential services without change on hand. They also might find it more stressful to round up or donate their change, should stores ask for it. “For an unbanked or underbanked person, it could leave them in a horrible situation if they don’t have access to the cards,” saidAngela Lyons, a professor of economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (source) And this is just a coin shortage. Imagine how difficult it would be if our society became completely cashless. There is an alarming amount of power in access. So, we can see this isn’t an ideal situation for any of us. But even these things are relatively minor in comparison to the potential for abuse against citizens in a cashless society. If every single dime you bring in is tracked and recorded, you will have no financial privacy, and you’ll also be at far more risk. Many of us keep some cash savings around the house for emergencies. Even if there is a bank holiday, we’ll be okay because we have the money sitting around to take care of any incidentals while we are unable to access our banked money. But what happens when things are cashless? All that money we’ve stashed away over the years would have to go into the coffers and we’d lose a certain amount of control. It’s all well and good when times are okay, but what happens when there’s a Cyprus-style event and the government decides a bail-in is in order? If you don’t recall, back in 2013, billions of dollars were seized from depositors to protect the small country’s banking system. This was done to make good on an $11.6 billion dollar debt owed to creditors outside the country. If you think that sounds far-fetched – like something that could “never happen here,” it’s incredibly important to note that we already have language that allows for bail-ins here in the United States. After the bailouts for the economic crisis of 2008, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act of January 2010, which prohibits government bailouts but allows bail-ins. So, yes, the money in your account could indeed be used to save a floundering bank. Not only that, but think about the outrageous phenomenon of civil asset forfeiture. If you aren’t familiar with it, that means that an entity can seize your property or money even when you have not been convicted of a crime. Civil asset forfeiture provides billions of dollars to the US Government and local police departments every single year. Imagine how much easier that would be if your wealth was all in one place. And let me take it just one step further before I take off the tinfoil – think about how many websites, YouTube channels, and social media accounts have been purged and demonetized over the past few years. Is it that much of a stretch of the imagination that this could be taken a step further? That perhaps unpopular opinions could be fined and money immediately be withdrawn from the accounts of those who dissent with the status quo? Maybe I’m just another paranoid conspiracy theorist. But are you actually paranoid when “they” are really out to control you? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 11, 2022 Article by the famous Jefferey Jaxen - https://jeffereyjaxen.substack.com/p/another-public-health-emergency-what A Monkeypox AGENDA... ...cashless society... EXCERPT ...A CDC media statement on June 9 specifically states that monkeypox can not spread in the following scenarios: Yet a recent People.com's article quotes an expert stating transmission is possible with “…any high touch items like money, doorknobs, shopping carts, have the potential for transmission…” During the Covid media hype, the idea of physical money already took an early hit despite the public being told the disease was a respiratory illness and studies showing virus transmission from contaminated surfaces was slim to none. Now, with a virus whose transmission happens primarily by direct contact, how will the public respond if cash is spotlighted as a possible vector (despite being true or not)? The ‘Great Reset’ crowd is spearheading a switchover to digital currency. The World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium aims speed the deployment of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins. Klaus wants it. And if Klaus wants it, you should probably think about being opposed to it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 11, 2022 https://www.weforum.org/press/2021/11/first-of-a-kind-global-resource-for-central-bank-digital-currency-stablecoin-launched/ First-of-a-Kind Global Resource for Central Bank Digital Currency & Stablecoin Launched Public.affairs@weforum.org Two kinds of digital currency – central bank digital currency and stablecoins – have caught the attention of policy-makers and the private sector The way global leaders develop, coordinate and regulate such digital currencies will have profound implications on markets, social inclusion and privacy To help inform policy-makers, financial institutions, digital currency issuers and others of the key risks and benefits of these digital currencies, the World Economic Forum partnered with 85 organizations from around the world They produced a state of the art governance resource for leaders to faster assess and evaluate key policy and regulatory actions Learn more and access the tools Geneva, Switzerland, 19 November 2021 – A new digital currency resource suite aims to help leaders better understand and action new policies and regulations around the rapidly evolving topics of central bank digital currency and stablecoins. Created by the World Economic Forum’s Digital Currency Governance Consortium, the new tool was created following 18 months of research and analysis with more than 85 member organizations across the public and private sector and civil society. The nearly 200 members of the consortium are from over 30 countries. The Consortium’s research and findings cover three key topics: regulatory gaps, the value of digital currencies for financial inclusion and aid disbursement, and technology choices. They are broken up into 8 white papers, which can be read here. Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum said, "This consortium has built on our long history of public-private cooperation to accelerate necessary and timely conversations for responsible digital currency deployment. It has convened the world's leading policy-makers, payment providers, banks, civil society organizations and start-ups to identify and address critical gaps in research and policy guidance." Anne Richards, Chief Executive Officer of Fidelity International said “Investor and consumer protections continue to be imperative for cryptocurrency and stablecoins, and the Digital Currency Governance Consortium focuses on this important topic, making a valuable contribution in mapping consumer risks and regulatory gaps to inform future policy-making.” Sheila Warren, Deputy Head of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution Network, World Economic Forum said, “This body of work illustrates where opportunities exist and challenges remain to the establishment of a responsible, equitable, and thriving global financial future in which digital currencies play a significant role. The consortium exemplifies public-private collaboration and includes experts from civil society and academia, reflecting the largest and most diverse set of stakeholders ever to convene on these topics .” The Consortium calls for cross-sector cooperation and a focus on greater interoperability, inclusivity and transparency in the deployment of central bank digital currencies and stablecoins. It outlines the critical contributions the private sector can make in the areas of design and distribution, as well as provides much needed technical advice to policy-makers. Notes to editors Access the resource Learn more about the Forum’s Blockchain and Digital Assets Initiatives and the Digital Currency Governance Consortium Read the Forum Agenda also in French | Spanish | Mandarin | Japanese Check out the Forum’s Strategic Intelligence Platform and Transformation Maps Follow the Forum on Twitter via @wef@davos | Instagram | LinkedIn | TikTok | Weibo | Podcasts Become a fan of the Forum on Facebook Watch Forum videos Learn about the Forum’s impact Subscribe to Forum news releases and Podcasts Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 11, 2022 https://www.activistpost.com/2022/08/trudeau-is-implementing-a-federal-digital-identity-program.html Trudeau is Implementing a Federal “Digital Identity Program” By Keean Bexte Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in lockstep with Klaus Schwab’s Great Reset agenda now that the Liberal government has unveiled its ambitious federal “Digital Identity Program.” As first reported by True North’s Cosmin Dzsurdzsa, included in Canada’s Digital Ambition 2022 are details about how the federal government is building a digital identity infrastructure that will affect all Canadians. “The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for government services to be accessible and flexible in the digital age. The next step in making services more convenient to access is a federal Digital Identity Program, integrated with pre-existing provincial platforms,” the report reads. “Digital identity is the electronic equivalent of a recognized proof-of-identity document (for example, a driver’s license or passport) and confirms that ‘you are who you say you are’ in a digital context.” As previously reported by The Counter Signal, Canada is already a partner with the World Economic Forum in a digital ID project, which appears to be currently underway at major Canadian airports in the form of ArriveCan. As per the WEF’s Known Traveller Digital Identity website, “The pilot group, convened by the World Economic Forum, consists of the Government of Canada and the Netherlands, Air Canada, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.” This updated, ubiquitous digital ID further cements Canada’s commitment to the Forum. Indeed, the Liberal government has not been shy about admitting that the pandemic provided an opportunity for a reset in how government is done. Just last year, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland called the pandemic a “window of political opportunity” and “an epiphany.” Since then, the Liberals have toyed with a series of digital identity verification systems, including the failed federal contact tracking application and the much-maligned CanArrive passport that’s clogging up Canada’s airports. Despite the chaos that ArriveCan is causing, the Liberals appear hellbent on pushing digital IDs even further regardless of how it affects everyday Canadians. Source: The Counter Signal Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 24, 2022 https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/ecb-says-cash-not-fit-digital-economy-dismisses-cbdc-privacy-concerns ECB Says Cash "Not Fit" For Digital Economy, Dismisses CBDC Privacy Concerns by Tyler Durden Wednesday, Aug 24, 2022 - 04:00 AM Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times, In the digital economy, cash is no longer a useful tool, and a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the “only solution” to continue the existing monetary system, according to a new paper from the European Central Bank (ECB). ARTICLE CONTINUES.... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN August 26, 2022 https://www.activistpost.com/2022/08/pakistani-government-threatens-to-block-digital-ids-to-shut-down-access-to-bank-accounts.html Pakistani Government Threatens to Block Digital IDs to Shut Down Access to Bank Accounts TOPICS:BankingDigital IDPakistanProtestThomas Lambert August 26, 2022 Amid continued blackouts and great political unrest, the Pakistani government has threatened protesters with having their digital IDs blocked so they can’t access their bank accounts. Interior minister Rana Sanaullah issued the threat as a warning to former PM Imran Khan (whose been encouraging protests across the country), his cabinet, and protesters after one federal minister was publicly heckled in a restaurant. Khan has since been charged with “terrorism” after he accused Pakistani police and the judiciary of detaining and torturing one of his aids. The charge has, predictably, not gone over well for the current administration and has only revitalized protests. Khan has been extremely critical of the current administration since being ousted from the government following a no-confidence vote in April, with his rhetoric growing increasingly accusatory in nature. For their part, the government has responded by blocking online and live TV coverage of Khan’s speeches. “The fascist imported government sunk to a new low today by banning live coverage of my speeches on TV and then blocking YouTube temporarily during my speech at Liaquat Bagh. All this after continuous intimidation of mediapersons and taking channels off air earlier,” Khan wrote on Twitter. “This is not only a gross violation of freedom of speech but also negatively affects the digital media industry and the livelihoods of many. What they need to understand is that no matter what they do, they cannot suppress the will of the people, which is Haqeeqi Azadi.” Besides political turmoil, ongoing electricity blackouts coupled with rising costs have stoked the flames of Pakistani protests, and massive demonstrations have erupted across the country. VIDEOS - People took to the streets after receiving huge utility bills despite 12-16 hour daily black out Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Wagner + 643 August 28, 2022 (edited) On 8/6/2022 at 12:47 PM, specinho said: ................ Digitizing everything might not be a good idea..... For example, old banking system used paper, pen, type writer. Filing in black and white, clear and organized. Computer makes things easier in many ways and save much space required to store paper files. The emergence of internet allowing things to be done more conveniently e.g. ATM card vs counter; interbank or intercountry transfer vs boxes load of cash; online banking vs impersonal presence on the spot. The latest progress is digital currency and mobile wallet. However, online banking and digital currency have hit walls two or three years into operation in some backward countries e.g. money theft, fraud etc. The key lesson might be: we would like to allow convenience, but we should not compromise on safety 1. digitization has allowed us to function without cash. At the same time, a bigger issue is fermenting i.e. banks are operating without actual cash involved. 2. digitization allows conveniences unavailable before. For small cash, it is fine to have platforms mushrooming without monitoring. Could there be possibility that platform owners would run away with all money deposited by customers at one point of prosperity? 3. Digitization allows things to be done remotely. But unlawful alteration of important info could also possibly be done via digital space, unconsciously. Or consciously. Similarly, digitization would allow everything personal to be available at ease, including inserting non existing IDs, trace individual activities and movement until personal privacy and safety could be compromised. Therefore, private and important info are best kept in the old ways, i.e. filing or in computer storage space not connected to internet. Not everything needs to be digitized, only basic info. Not everything needs to be done conveniently via internet. Old but safer methods must be preserved, not replaced. Not too sure these make sense, but there ought to be a balance of modern invention and old creation. The former is created by youngs looking for time saving ways to do things; the later was by thoughtful and sensible pioneers. We must adapt but never forsake the basic needs of mankind i.e. security. Pretty soon we will have to eliminate coinage because it costs more to produce than what it is worth. We will need aluminum or plastic coins. The plan, for America, may be to make the average person so poor that they will be dependent on the government to live. Tax the middle class out of existence eventually. Aside from the middle class that works for the government and its cronies. That is obvious to any astute observer. See The cost of Coinage in America https://docs.google.com/document/d/12xIe1zAKluuzT3dnTqx_LyuoihSfz0JTDl6lCvHRDdc/edit Edited August 28, 2022 by Ron Wagner Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ron Wagner + 643 August 28, 2022 On 8/24/2022 at 6:06 AM, Tom Nolan said: https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/ecb-says-cash-not-fit-digital-economy-dismisses-cbdc-privacy-concerns ECB Says Cash "Not Fit" For Digital Economy, Dismisses CBDC Privacy Concerns by Tyler Durden Wednesday, Aug 24, 2022 - 04:00 AM Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times, In the digital economy, cash is no longer a useful tool, and a central bank digital currency (CBDC) is the “only solution” to continue the existing monetary system, according to a new paper from the European Central Bank (ECB). ARTICLE CONTINUES.... This and a modern genetic material based ID is about impossible to avoid in the future. Right now our government can easily track us with many different markers including drivers licenses and cameras etc. etc. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
specinho + 440 August 28, 2022 14 hours ago, Ron Wagner said: Pretty soon we will have to eliminate coinage because it costs more to produce than what it is worth. We will need aluminum or plastic coins. The plan, for America, may be to make the average person so poor that they will be dependent on the government to live. Tax the middle class out of existence eventually. Aside from the middle class that works for the government and its cronies. That is obvious to any astute observer. See The cost of Coinage in America https://docs.google.com/document/d/12xIe1zAKluuzT3dnTqx_LyuoihSfz0JTDl6lCvHRDdc/edit Not too sure if aluminum is suitable.. The next car type made trendy might be of aluminum, no? Gently touch with finger, dented and change new, so to speak.......... right, plastic and rubber coins. They finally found another usage for used containers, tires etc. It's amazing to have something priced at $ 1.23 or 4.87...... and most amazingly 1.23 or 2.43 babies........ what an idea of take all unemployed and unpaid into government's payroll......... way to go.... 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN October 18, 2022 IMF Executive remarks how the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) can be used to give a person a "social score" or "Credit approval by banks", just like what is happening in China. QUOTE...can use transactional data to underwrite credit for social scoring. Using an example of how many coffees I drink every day, where I get coffee & if I use Uber. Financial service providers can use this data to give me a credit score. https://twitter.com/SikhForTruth/status/1581565560906977281 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN October 18, 2022 https://www.activistpost.com/2022/10/global-finance-elites-are-planning-cbdc-social-credit-scores.html Global Finance Elites Are Planning CBDC Social Credit Scores The parameters they set for digital currency will nudge your behaviour through social scoring, to control society and to control you. Unlike cryptocurrencies, which are private, Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be issued and controlled by the central banks themselves. In many ways, it’s the same as banknotes, but it’s likely that every single transaction will be monitored for compliance. On Friday 14th October, the IMF streamed a live video on YouTube called “Central Bank Digital Currencies for Financial Inclusion: Risks and Rewards.” Speakers were Her Majesty Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, who’s also the UN Secretary-General’s Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director, IMF, and Bo Li, Deputy Managing Director, and Cecilia Skingsley the BIS Innovation Hub Director. It was all about global financial inclusion, which they said has improved over the past ten years, but almost a quarter of the world’s adult population is still unbanked. It is hoped that central bank digital currencies would be affordable, widely accepted, and safe instruments, which would address some of the issues surrounding financial inclusion, among other things. With 2619 views, the live stream went under the radar for many. Our buddy Tim Hinchliffe over at The Sociable kept an eye on what was going on. Tim posted a video of Bi Li, the Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, explaining how CDBSs can be programmed... ... The smart contract would allow targeted policy functions, like welfare payments, consumption coupons, food stamps, etc. With CBDCs, we can precisely control what people can and can’t own. Also, what kind of use this money can be programmed for, like food only. – Bi Li Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN October 18, 2022 https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/central-bank-digital-currencies-would-let-governments-control-what-people-spend-money Central Bank Digital Currencies Would Let Governments Control What People Spend Money On: IMF Official Admits by Tyler Durden Monday, Oct 17, 2022 - 07:20 PM Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times, The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said that central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) could potentially allow a government to control what people spend their hard-earned cash on. Speaking at the IMF-World Bank annual meeting on Oct. 15, Deputy Managing Director Bo Li said that a CBDC could improve “financial inclusion” through programmability. “A CBDC can allow government agencies and private sector players to program, to create smart contracts, to allow targeted policy functions,” Li explained. “For example, welfare payments, for example, consumption coupons, for example, food stamps.” “By programming CBDC, that money can be precisely targeted for what kind of people can own [CBDC] and for what kind of use this money can be utilized, for example for food.” Li, who stepped into the role of deputy managing director at the IMF on Aug. 23, 2021, added that by allowing the government to precisely target what people need, this will enable said government to “improve financial inclusion.” However, his comments were quick to garner a reaction from experts, including Nick Anthony, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives. Anthony wrote on Twitter that the IMF executive’s comments revealed how a CBDC would “allow the government to precisely control what people can and cannot spend their money on.” Prior to joining the IMF, Li worked for many years at the People’s Bank of China, according to the IMF’s official website. A staff member counts renminbi (yuan) at a bank in Haian, Nantong city, East China’s Jiangsu Province, on May 15, 2022. (CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images) ‘I Don’t See How Americans Would Want This’ In a follow-up post on Twitter, Anthony quoted a comment made by Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, writing: “I can see how China is for this. I don’t see how Americans would want this.” Anthony also noted that “governments have a historical pattern of misusing these tools,” citing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s move to freeze the bank accounts of anti-COVID-19 vaccine mandate protesters earlier this year. A May report (pdf) from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) found that almost 90 percent of national central banks are planning to launch their own CBDC for release to the general public. That includes the United States, where Washington is currently looking into the possibilities for issuing such a digital currency, with officials citing an array of alleged benefits, such as efficient and low-cost transactions, boosting economic growth, and improved access to the financial system. However, critics fear CBDCs will increase government control over money that could be used as a tool for financial discrimination while simultaneously tracking purchases, and restricting access to funds, thereby working against decentralization, which is one of the main advantages of adopting cryptocurrencies. Agustin Carstens, general manager of the BIS, noted in 2021 that central banks would have “absolute control over the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability, and then will also have the technology to enforce that.” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell last month also stated that a CBDC would not be anonymous and would be identity-verified, meaning details regarding transactions of a CBDC would be public. The European Central Bank (ECB) reiterated Powell’s remarks at the same Banque de France event on Sept. 27, with ECB President Christine Lagarde stating: “There would not be complete anonymity as there is with … bank notes.” Lagarde did, though, add that “there would be a limited level of disclosure and certainly not at the central bank level.” Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN October 22, 2022 EXCERPTS ...The big deal, of course, is that CBDCs are not like cash or bank deposits or the other forms of payment that we use in our everyday transactions. Instead, they are programmable. Just like a piece of software running on your computer or an app on your stupidphone, CBDCs can be programmed to act in certain ways. Conditions can be set on their use. They can be created or deleted, frozen, devalued or inflated with the click of a button. And, like any piece of software, they can be updated—with or without your knowledge—to provide new functionality at any time. So here is the next question we must tackle in this exploration: What can CBDCs be programmed to do?.... https://corbettreport.substack.com/p/what-is-programmable-money https://www.corbettreport.com/what-is-programmable-money/ What Is Programmable Money? The Corbett Report Oct 16 by James Corbettcorbettreport.com October 15, 2022 There are 3 types of people in this world. There are those who read that SWIFT has "solve[d] the significant challenge of interoperability in cross-border transactions by bridging between different distributed ledger technology (DLT) networks and existing payment systems" and get a chill down their spine rub their hands in glee ask what SWIFT is, get bored halfway through the answer, and go back to checking their TikTok feed Now, given that you're reading this editorial, you're probably in the first category of people. (And if you're in the second category, all I can say is GET OFF OF MY LAWN YA DAMN GLOBALIST BANKSTER, YOU!) But I guarantee most of your friends, family, co-workers, neighbours and acquaintances are in the third category. And who can blame them? Financial mumbo jumbo is designed to be as eye-wateringly boring and unsexy as possible. But here's the rub: while the public focuses on distractions and entertainment, the global banking cabal is hard at work engineering a new form of money that will serve as the backbone of the most sophisticated system of financial surveillance and control the world has ever seen. It is not hyperbole to say that the very fate of the human species hangs in the balance. So, are you at a loss to explain to your normie friends why the coming central bank digital currency (CBDC) paradigm is so important and why it should be a primary concern for all of humanity? Well, then, today is your lucky day. This editorial is for you . . . and them! WHAT IS PROGRAMMABLE MONEY? Let's start today's exploration with a simple question: what is central bank digital currency? Here's the not-so-simple answer: central bank digital currency is an electronic token of a nation's official currency issued by that nation's monetary authority, often (but not exclusively) using distributed ledger technology. Still unclear? Don't worry, that's to be expected. Specialist language is often used to dissuade the public from becoming engaged in important topics, and the world of currency creation is certainly no exception to that rule. From the IMF's SDRs to SWIFT and CIPS, from DLTs to CBDCs, from the petroyuan to the digital yuan, those seeking a deeper understanding of monetary matters quickly find themselves drowning in a sea of impenetrable acronyms and complicated jargon. So let's get back to basics: what is money? Although it's a simple question, the answer to that question largely depends on whom you ask. If you ask a member of the Sound Money Defense League, you'll get an earful about the history of precious metals. If you ask John Titus, you'll get a half-hour presentation featuring coloured marbles and Kool Kats and Jolly Jesters. (Seriously, watch the video. It's good.) If you ask me, you'll get a documentary on the Federal Reserve or a radio program on monetary reform or an hour-long podcast on Survival Currency. But if you ask our friends (<-SARCASM!) over at the Bank for International Settlements, you'll get a Jackson Pollack-inspired work of visual diarrhoea that looks like this: (Seriously, whoever is making these infographics for the BIS and the WHO and the other members of the globalist alphabet mafia needs to be fired.) But, as ridiculous as this kaleidoscopic Venn diagram of nonsense may seem at first glance, the "money flower" does tell us something important about what we think of as "money" in the current economy: it can take many forms. From peer-to-peer, non-electronic money (e.g., local currency) to universally accessible, electronic, non-central-bank-issued money (e.g., bank deposits) to electronic, central bank-issued, non-peer-to-peer, non-universally accessible money (e.g., central bank reserves), "money" (or at least what most people think of as money in their day-to-day lives) comes in an assortment of flavours. And then there's CBDC. As you'll note, central bank-issued electronic "money" comes in different flavours—from "central bank digital currency" to "central bank-issued cryptocurrency (retail)" to "central bank-issued cryptocurrency (wholesale)"—and occupies multiple spots on the BIS' chart. Is CBDC universally accessible? Possibly. Is it peer-to-peer? It depends. Both universally accessible and peer-to-peer? Well, it could be. You see, CBDCs are not a singular, rigidly defined thing. From the underlying technology used to issue, track and record these digital tokens to the network upon which they flow to the protocol that network follows, every part of a central bank digital currency is customizable. On the surface, this might seem like a trivial point. After all, why should Joe Blow or Jane Soccermom care what type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) a CBDC operates on or even whether it uses DLT at all? You scan your device, you hear a beep, your account is debited by a certain amount and you walk out of the store with your newly purchased pack of gum. What's the big deal? The big deal, of course, is that CBDCs are not like cash or bank deposits or the other forms of payment that we use in our everyday transactions. Instead, they are programmable. Just like a piece of software running on your computer or an app on your stupidphone, CBDCs can be programmed to act in certain ways. Conditions can be set on their use. They can be created or deleted, frozen, devalued or inflated with the click of a button. And, like any piece of software, they can be updated—with or without your knowledge—to provide new functionality at any time. So here is the next question we must tackle in this exploration: What can CBDCs be programmed to do? HOW WILL THIS BE USED AGAINST US? Let's turn back to our Joe Blow example above. He goes to the store as usual, picks up a pack of gum, takes it to the register, scans his device and waits for the beep. But this time the beep doesn't come. "What's going on here? I have enough funds in my account to buy a pack of gum!" "I'm sorry, sir, but it says here that you participated in the Freedom Protest last Sunday. The central bank has deemed you a domestic terrorist and frozen access to your wallet. You'll have to report to the nearest Re-education Centre for a full indoctrination course before you can make purchases again." Just a few years ago this scenario might have seemed like far-fetched science fiction. But, given what we've experienced in recent months—from Canada's crackdown on the Freedom Convoy supporters to the latest PayPal censorship scandal—who can deny we're on the cusp of this scenario becoming a daily occurrence in the dawning digital dystopia? This is the danger of programmable money. I'm glad more and more people have seen the now-infamous clip of Agustin Carstens—the rotund general manager of the Bank for International Settlements—explaining the appeal of CBDCs to his banking cabal buddies. There, smack dab in the middle of an IMF livestream on cross-border payments, Carstens admits plain as day that CBDCs will enable the creation of a financial surveillance and control grid that dictators of the past could only dream of: We don't know who's using a $100 bill today and we don't know who's using a 1,000 peso bill today. The key difference with the CBDC is the central bank will have absolute control on the rules and regulations that will determine the use of that expression of central bank liability, and also we will have the technology to enforce that. As I've noted a number of times now, the entire CBDC agenda is laid bare by Carstens in those two chilling sentences. It is not just about the complete surveillance of all transactions that CBDCs will enable—knowing "who's using a $100 bill today"—it's about the banks' ability to "determine the use of that expression of central bank liability" and "the technology to enforce that." "Determine the use of that expression of central bank liability"? This is more financial gobbledygook designed to hide the true horror of a chilling proposal. What does that actually mean in plain English? It means that CBDCs could be programmed so that they are only spendable if the holder of those funds meets certain requirements. Do you remember that parking ticket you forgot to pay last month? Well, your central bank-issued CBDC wallet remembers, and it will just subtract those funds (plus a late-payment fee) from your account when you're not looking. Got caught supporting the wrong fundraiser or the wrong political cause? Don't worry, in a world of CBDC transactions, you wouldn't have been allowed to donate to that cause in the first place, because your wallet wouldn't let you! Following this line of thought, programmable money could also be used to perfect a system of carbon credits and individualized ESG scores. In today's world, it would be incredibly difficult for the government to implement a scheme where every store has to check your carbon allowance before allowing your next purchase. Sure, EBT cards can be programmed to disallow purchases from liquor stores, casinos or other naughty businesses, but stopping people from spending their own bank deposits (or cash) is much trickier. In the CBDC world of the future, however, such restrictions could be programmed into the ledger itself. If your carbon credit or your ESG score is below a certain amount, no soup for you! (. . . Unless you're going to throw that soup on a painting to protest climate change, of course. That'll be allowed.) These concerns are not merely theoretical, nor are they the ravings of wide-eyed conspiraloonies. A director of the Bank of England came out last year to highlight these very features of digital currency, declaring that there could be "some socially beneficial outcomes" to stopping people from buying what they want, such as "preventing activity which is seen to be socially harmful in some way." What's more, we know that the idea of a social credit system being used to allow or disallow purchases is not just some Black Mirror-esque sci-fi fantasy but a lived reality in China. It requires absolutely no imagination whatsoever to understand how programmable money could be used to restrict our purchases based on our social credit ratings, carbon allowances, ESG scores, allegiance to political causes or absolutely any other arbitrary criteria. And we haven't even gotten to the economic ramifications of programmable money. The infinite malleability of CBDCs is a wet dream to the technocratic tyrants who wish to manipulate the financial system to their benefit. Consider this: CBDCs are not fungible. Each digital token in your CBDC wallet is individually identifiable, sequesterable and programmable. So let's imagine the central banksters, in their infinite wisdom, decide that people aren't spending enough. They could build demurrage into the network protocols; the longer a CBDC sits unspent in your wallet, the less it's worth. Again, this is no hypothetical concern or flight of fancy. Even the UK government committee that made headlines for "condemning" the plan to create a new UK digital currency as a "solution in search of a problem" listed the fact that "a digital pound could be set to be spent by a deadline or on particular products or services" as one of the potential advantages of a Bank of England-issued CBDC. Or take the problem of bank runs. If and when digital currency becomes predominant, the threat of bank runs becomes non-existent. If CBDCs are designed—as they certainly could be—so that they are not interchangeable with bank deposits or cash or other forms of central bank liability, then there's no withdrawing them from the bank and stuffing them under your mattress. Bank bail-ins? Negative interest rates? Hyperinflation? Whatever happens, you're in for the ride. Yes, even a moment's thought reveals that as bad as things are right now—with governments freezing the bank accounts of protesters and payment processors threatening to fine users for spreading "disinformation" and banks cutting off business with those who commit wrongthink—it will be much, much worse in a world of programmable money. WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? As I stressed above, CBDCs are not a singular thing. They can take different forms, they can be rolled out in different ways, and there is no international standard for their implementation among the various national central banks (yet). Indeed, it's even possible that any given country might reject the use of CBDCs altogether. Given this state of affairs, it's tempting to think that a respite from the CBDC nightmare will be found in this or that corner of the globe. Maybe this country won't implement the social credit control grid. Maybe that country is too undeveloped to roll out a proper digital surveillance grid. Maybe some freedom-respecting, sovereignty-loving nation will stand up to the globalists and reject digital currencies altogether! It's a nice thought, but—as my regular readers know by now—CBDCs are already being used, trialed or studied in almost every nation on earth. In fact, far from technological backwardness shielding populations from the digital currency agenda, CBDCs seem to be rolling out fastest in some of the lesser-developed nations. And as for freedom-respecting nations resisting the push for programmable money, the very BRICS members that some still (falsely) believe to be standing up to the globalist mafia are not just embracing the digital currency agenda, they are—in the case of the explicitly globalist, Agenda 2030-promoting Chinese and Russian governments—leading the race to implement CBDCs of their own. No, the hope of avoiding this CBDC calamity does not lie in the hands of some mythical group of crusading white hats on the global(ist) stage, as the hopium addicts contest. There is no cabal of ruling oligarchs anywhere on the planet who would reject a technology that could help them to better control the cattle that populate their tax plantation. On the contrary. Like so many other aspects of the globalist agenda, we soon discover that the power to end this madness is ours and ours alone. The key to the digital prison is right here in our hands. The future depends on us. It depends on us finding others who understand the gravity of the situation and building community with them. It depends on us developing survival currencies to see us through the coming storm. It depends on us finding and supporting our local producers. It depends on us boycotting the bad and buycotting the good. It depends on us embracing Cash Fridays and Black Market Friday and then realizing that these things don't have to happen only on Friday. It depends on us doing the million things that we can do to beat the banksters at their own game and win the war on cash. Of course, it won't be easy. It's not supposed to be. The path of convenience leads to the world of total surveillance and control. If we want to avoid that path, we're going to have to get used to taking the path less travelled. But in the end, it's our choice to make. For the time being, we decide who we transact with and in what form. We decide whether we buy this item or that item. We decide whether we buy from this business or that business. We decide whether we shop at the supermarket or the farmer's market. We decide whether we pay with cash or credit or Apple Pay or seashells or playing cards or anything else. We decide whether we pay over the table or under the table, whether we barter or trade or provide service in kind or whether we just walk away and buy nothing at all. The choice is ours to make, and we're making it thousands of times each and every day, whether we know it or not. No, the headlong rush toward CBDCs and digital control will not be stopped just because we join hands and sing kumbaya. Every country around the world will try pushing digital currency on their populations at some point in the coming years. But it's not set in stone that this push will succeed. Programmable "money" is only money if we submit to using it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN October 25, 2022 EXCERPTS Imagine a company that knows everything about everyone. A company that is equally at ease helping banks identify fraud as it is helping intelligence agencies track down enemies of the state. A company that can combine pictures of you with your cell phone location data, emails you've written, your health records and credit card purchases and thousands of other pieces of electronic data to paint an intimate portrait of your life—a portrait that any would-be investigator can pull up with a few keystrokes. A company that can target you anywhere in the world at any time. Now stop imagining that company, because it already exists. It's called Palantir Technologies. Founded by billionaire PayPal co-founder and Facebook early investor Peter Thiel, this plucky little Silicon Valley startup has long been the darling of the US military and the intelligence community, and it's increasingly the darling of the corporate world. https://corbettreport.substack.com/p/how-palantir-conquered-the-world https://www.corbettreport.com/how-palantir-conquered-the-world/ How Palantir Conquered the World The Corbett Report Oct 23 by James Corbettcorbettreport.com October 22, 2022 Imagine a company that knows everything about everyone. A company that is equally at ease helping banks identify fraud as it is helping intelligence agencies track down enemies of the state. A company that can combine pictures of you with your cell phone location data, emails you've written, your health records and credit card purchases and thousands of other pieces of electronic data to paint an intimate portrait of your life—a portrait that any would-be investigator can pull up with a few keystrokes. A company that can target you anywhere in the world at any time. Now stop imagining that company, because it already exists. It's called Palantir Technologies. Founded by billionaire PayPal co-founder and Facebook early investor Peter Thiel, this plucky little Silicon Valley startup has long been the darling of the US military and the intelligence community, and it's increasingly the darling of the corporate world. And—given Palantir's ability to surveil, track and, ultimately, control every aspect of your daily life—it isn't hard to see why. Even so, few in the general public have ever heard of Palantir, and those who have know little beyond the fact that it's a bad company that does creepy things. But this is The Corbett Report. We can do better than that. Today, let's explore the roots of this threat to humanity, expose the extent to which it has already laid your life bare to the all-seeing eye of the would-be world controllers, and peer into the magical seeing stone to see what the future holds for Palantir Technologies. WHAT IS PALANTIR? So, what is Palantir, exactly? As it turns out, that question is surprisingly easy to answer. Palantir is a front company for a once-secret military and intelligence project to collect and data mine every available piece of information about you. The hard part is extracting that simple answer from the mass of lies, obfuscation, untruths, half-truths and contextless facts that are presented in the lamestream media's coverage of the company. You see, the official story of this Silicon Valley surveillance specialist outfit—repeated in any number of mainstream puff pieces—is that Peter Thiel founded Palantir Technologies in 2004 as a vehicle for turning PayPal's fraud detection software into a marketable product. His dream was for Palantir to assist the growing national security leviathan in creating a system for analyzing financial activity for signs of terrorist activity. But, according to the "libertarian" Thiel (who works with and profits from the national security state, promotes warmongering politicians, writes paeans to Leo Strauss and Carl Schmitt, and, oh by the way, just happens to be a member of Bilderberg's steering committee), Palantir's software is not about constructing the most intrusive system of electronic surveillance ever devised. No, of course not! It's all about protecting civil liberties! From its inception, Palantir was conceived as "a mission-oriented company," Thiel told Forbes in a 2013 profile of the company and its founders. "I defined the problem as needing to reduce terrorism while preserving civil liberties." This is such a bald-faced and easily debunkable lie that it could only be regurgitated by the mockingbird repeaters of the dinosaur media. But it's easy to see why the dutiful stenographers of the lapdog press would repeat it. After all, when it comes to Palantir, there are always more interesting things to report on than how it came to be founded or what it actually does. Just take the name of the company: Palantir. It is a reference to the magical seeing stones that the wizards of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythical The Lord of the Rings universe use to see through space and time. This whimsical naming convention carries over into what one reporter has labeled a "casual, nerdy culture" that permeates the company: Its offices are named after locations in the Tolkien fable. Thus, Palantir's Palo Alto headquarters is The Shire, its office in McLean, Virginia (located just six miles from the CIA), is Rivendell; its Washington, D.C., branch is dubbed Minas Tirith, etc. It has a hotline called the Batphone that allows engineers to anonymously report to company officials any customer requests that they consider to be unethical. Two of its core analytic software programs, Gotham and Metropolis, are named after cities in the DC Comics universe. One of the conference rooms in The Shire has been converted into a children's ball pit. Oh, how delightfully quirky! Surely no Silicon Valley startup with such an eclectic working environment could be involved in anything evil, could they? To be fair, a number of the company profiles in the corporate press—a 2012 corporate profile from The Washingtonian, for example, or a 2013 profile of the company's eclectic philosophy grad CEO in Forbes, or a 2020 New York Times Magazine piece on "Does Palantir See Too Much?"—do gesture to the creepier facets of Palantir. Why does Palantir's CEO, Alex Karp, insist on two-way mirrors for his office windows? Why does the company use acoustic transducers to vibrate the glass of their office windows, creating white noise to disrupt possible electronic eavesdroppers? Was Palantir's Prism program related to the NSA's PRISM program? (SPOILER: It sure wasn't! Nothing to see here, folks!) But still, one is left feeling that something is wanting after reading these MSM articles. It's as if they have the pieces of a puzzle sitting in front of them but they still haven't actually put those pieces together. In order to complete that puzzle, you need to turn to an independent researcher like Whitney Webb. As Webb points out in her new, must-read, two-volume tour de force, One Nation Under Blackmail, Palantir was not founded in 2004—as the corporate presstitutes continually assert—but in May 2003. (The professional journos probably missed this small detail because they'd have to actually read through SEC filings to discover that Thiel's origin story of Palantir is a demonstrable lie, and what dinosaur media "reporter" has time to do that?) Now, whether the company was founded in 2003 or 2004 may seem like a small detail at first glance. But, upon closer inspection, this data discrepancy—and the fact that Thiel has so often lied about the true founding of the company—provides a clue to Palantir's actual origin. You see, it just so happens that May 2003 was the exact time when the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) began officially backing away from its proposed the Total Information Awareness (TIA) program, renaming it Terrorism Information Awareness before Congress defunded the program altogether. Never heard of the Total Information Awareness program? Well you probably remember the friendly little logo of the Information Awareness Office (IAO), the DARPA department under which it operated: Lest that image leave any doubt, the IAO and its TIA program were indeed committed to collecting, storing and analyzing every piece of data on as many people as possible—from personal e-mails to social networks, credit card records, phone calls, medical records and numerous other sources—without so much as a warrant. The program's goal was to "develop data-mining or knowledge discovery tools that would sort through the massive amounts of information to find patterns and associations," and it even included funding for "the development of biometric technology to enable the identification and tracking of individuals." It's a testament to just how incredibly creepy and over-the-line the TIA program was that, even then, in 2003—at the absolute pinnacle of War of Terror hysteria—it was immediately denounced by almost everyone in the public as the most draconian system of surveillance ever proposed. This bipartisan, widespread public backlash led to the second downfall of the IAO's director, John Poindexter (who had previously been convicted for his role in the Iran-Contra affair), and to the defunding of the TIA program. Thus, once we discover that Palantir was in fact incorporated in May 2003, not in 2004, which nearly every account of the company falsely asserts, we encounter a remarkable "coincidence." We discover that at the exact same moment as the TIA was being dismantled (and transferred deeper into the bowels of Uncle Sam's bureaucracy), Peter Thiel decided to create a company that could do exactly what the TIA had been attempting to achieve. That alone would make it the most remarkable coincidence in the world since Facebook was launched on the very same day that DARPA's LifeLog program was scrapped. But, amazingly, it gets even more coincidental. Do you want to guess who it was that Thiel and co. turned to when they were looking to find their first customer for their new TIA-like company? You guessed it: One day not long after Palantir was launched in 2004 [sic], Poindexter received a call from his friend Richard Perle, ex-chair of the Defense Policy Board, asking if he’d come to Perle’s house for a meeting with two entrepreneurs he knew from Palo Alto—Alex Karp, Palantir’s CEO, and his fellow cofounder Peter Thiel, a billionaire venture capitalist who’d helped start PayPal and was an early investor in Facebook. That's right, Thiel and Karp—an eccentric philosophy grad and fellow Stanford Law School alum whom Thiel appointed Palantir's CEO despite his having no corporate experience—just so happened to secure a meeting with the recently ousted chief of the TIA program. And it just so happened that Poindexter was so impressed by the duo's presentation—they had "elegantly accomplished what the TIA had set out to do," as one popular account put it—that he referred them to In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital arm. The CIA ended up pumping the first $2 million of outside money into Palantir and, more importantly, helped the company get its foot in the door of many other government clients, from intelligence agencies and military departments to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Centers for Disease Control and the IRS (among others). And the rest, as they say, is history. . . . . . . History written by the winners, that is. After all, "intrepid" lamestream "reporters" now have a ready-made narrative to spew for their profiles of the company: these weird, scruffily-dressed Silicon Valley outsiders arrived on the CIA's doorstep like a band of invading barbarians to tear down the protocols of stuffy bureaucracy. Heck, they even sued the US Army over its procurement practices and ended up winning Army contracts! Lost amid the gee-whizzery of this story are the niggling little details connecting Palantir to its TIA predecessor. But that leads us to the next question in today's exploration . . . WHAT DOES PALANTIR DO? OK, so Palantir is some kind of surveillance system thing-y? What does it actually do? How does it actually work? Good questions. Glad you asked. As noted above, the original impetus behind the founding of Palantir was the idea of turning PayPal's fraud detection software into a data mining product that could be sold to national security clients to help them find "terrorists" (broadly defined). Although the PayPal system worked specifically on data surrounding financial transactions, the Palantir idea quickly expanded to include all sorts of data. From the content of your emails to the subject of your phone calls to the details of your credit card transactions to your social media ramblings to your cell phone GPS logs, if it can be digitized, Palantir aims to feed it into a database and data mine it to discover relations and connections that are not immediately obvious to the average analyst. Palantir's operating system then presents that data in a visually intuitive way and makes it easily searchable even by the non-tech inclined. Well, that's the idea, anyway. How it works in reality depends on who you ask. Some give glowing reports of the incredible results it can achieve. Others contend it's all smoke and mirrors and the products' success comes from good old-fashioned manpower. If the company sends teams of software developers to essentially embed themselves in clients' companies and fine tune the generic Palantir software to those companies' specific needs, is it really a magical "AI-driven" all-seeing-eye-in-a-box after all? We in the general public might never know. Exactly how the software functions and what it looks like for its intelligence community clients—let alone how those clients actually use the software—is, needless to say, hidden behind layers of secrecy and classification. Palantir, of course, uses this secrecy to its advantage. In his account of the killing of Bin Laden, journalist Mark Bowden asserted that Osama bin Laden was caught less by the torture-and-courier Hollywood theatrics of Zero Dark Thirty and more by "an unfathomably rich database." Bowden then goes on in the same passage to recount the founding of Palantir. For years thereafter, every feature article or company profile in the mainstream press implied that Palantir had been used to find bin Laden. Eventually, the lamestream repeaters realized they were engaged in a game of telephone, repeating a story that started as a baseless implication that was never even asserted as fact, let alone properly reported. But the story still looms large in the mythos of Palantir and most "deep dives" on the company in the dinosaur press will include a repetition of the rumour that Palantir killed bin Laden. When questioned about it, Karp simply insists that he can't comment, adding even further to the Palantir mystique. Here's what we do know: since its founding, Palantir has developed a range of products to serve its various clients, including: Palantir Gotham — The original software developed by Palantir for the intelligence community, Gotham is billed as a "commercially-available, AI-ready operating system that improves and accelerates decisions for operators across roles and all domains;" and Palantir Foundry — Palantir's latest product, Foundry, is focused on the company's corporate clients and is sold as an operating system that "leverages an open architecture to inform closed-loop operations—connecting data, analytics, and business teams to a common foundation," which only sounds innocuous if you don't know about what Ptech did on 9/11. How precisely the company's products are used is, again, a combination of classified information and trade secrets, but we do know that Palantir has: Helped the NSA build the software to facilitate and augment the use of XKEYSCORE, the NSA's "widest reaching" program, which captures “nearly everything a typical user does on the internet”; Helped tech security firm HBGary formulate plans for attacking Wikileaks and its supporters, including exposing the identities of those trying to leak to the organization and smearing journalists who defend the site; Helped New Orleans implement a "predictive policing" program, giving Palantir access to millions of searchable public records, court filings, licenses, addresses, phone numbers, and social media data without the knowledge or approval of the city council; Partnered with the Centers for Disease Creation on its Data Collation and Integration for Public Health Event Response (DCIPHER) program, a partnership that has expanded in the COVID era to include "supporting the U.S. fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, from vaccine distribution to new areas such as improving supply chain resiliency and the distribution of life-saving therapeutics"; and Expanded its biosecurity business to other countries, including overseeing the processing of sensitive medical records in a new partnership with Britain's National Health Service. But simply listing Palantir's contracts or noting the lowlights of the creepy surveillance and database projects it has been involved in over the years is not enough. Palantir is not just a database. It is not simply software. It is a weapon. As should be plainly evident by now, the power to see into every nook and cranny of someone's life is the ultimate power. To know where someone lives, where they work, who they talk to, what they talk about, what they buy, what they eat and drink, where they travel and what they do online is to have total control over them. Sauron himself couldn't ask for anything more. As CEO Karp has bluntly stated: "our product is used on occasion to kill people." So, that only leaves one question . . . WHERE IS PALANTIR GOING FROM HERE? There are signs that cracks are showing in the Palantir facade. As soon as Trump was out of office, CDC officials were lobbying for the new Puppet-in-Chief to stop using Palantir's software, telling Biden's transition team that Palantir's COVID tracking system "had problems from the very beginning" and it "never functioned in the way we thought it was going to." Some have even come out to claim that Palantir is all hype and little substance. A 2017 Buzzfeed article on Palantir's connections with the intelligence community, for instance, contends that its relationship with the NSA has been more fraught with tension than is commonly reported. Later, a 2020 report from New York Magazine's Intelligencer questioned whether Palantir is all smoke and mirrors, pointing out that the software's "magical" ability to tease out useful leads from reams of data is in fact made possible by the company's army of software engineers, who have to laboriously tailor the program to each clients' needs. More worrying for investors in the company, Palantir's stock price has plummeted this year, from a years-long trading range around the $25 mark to $8.29 today, a point actually lower than its initial trading price when the stock went public in 2020. But reports of Palantir's demise (or its fall into irrelevance) may be premature. Just this past week the company inked a multi-year deal with Hertz to use the Palantir Foundry operating system to manage its 500,000 vehicle fleet and announced it will be opening a second UK office, this one near Britain's National Health Service’s digital headquarters. But this hand-wringing about the future of the company completely misses the point. Palantir Technologies did not start the drive to collect, analyze and act on every possible scrap of digital information in the world. It isn't Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, or any of the other characters inhabiting the offices of The Shire who are the masterminds of this global surveillance grid. They are simply presenting a product to their customer, the deep state. Palantir does not write the checks, it cashes them. It has served its role well for decades now, providing a convenient third-party cutout for the intelligence agencies to continue their work constructing the digital panopticon. Make no mistake: as soon as Palantir no longer serves that role to their paymasters' liking—as soon as the company becomes too burdened by the baggage of scandal or just too creepy to effectively perform its role as a front company for the deep state surveillance agenda—the "Shire" will be scoured just as thoroughly as Tolkein's mythical village was. And, like Main Core, PROMIS, Ptech and the Information Awareness Office before it, Palantir will be relegated to a trivia question for conspiracy nerds. Meanwhile, all of Palantir's capabilities will be rebuilt elsewhere under different corporate offices, operated under a different name and run by a different crew of willing dupes who will be only too eager to do their paymasters' bidding. Yes, regardless of whether or not Palantir's fortunes are rising or falling, we can be sure of one thing: the idea behind Palantir—the dream of capturing, storing, analyzing and weaponizing data from every possible data source in order to better control the population—will not be going away anytime soon. In the final analysis, the true threat is not Palantir itself but the deep state that has given rise to it. Our one saving grace is that the technocrats' wet dream is in fact a pipe dream. Technocracy is, after all, insane and anti-Human and it will fail, but not without a hell of a fight. In the meantime, there are things we can do to stop the construction of Our Digital Gulag. We can salt our data, for one. More fundamentally, we can begin taking the steps to unplug from the matrix and reject the electronic currency that is increasingly being used to track, trace and control our lives. But, in the end, the Palantir nightmare isn't going to end until the deep state that created it is removed from power. https://www.corbettreport.com/ [NOTE: PayPal has confiscated the funds of some of the alternative media platforms.] Of course, the MainStream Media does not report this. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tom Nolan + 2,441 TN November 15, 2022 https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/here-come-programmable-dollars-new-york-fed-and-12-banking-giants-launch-digital-dollar Here Come "Programmable Dollars": New York Fed And 12 Banking Giants Launch Digital Dollar Test by Tyler Durden Tuesday, Nov 15, 2022 - 11:30 AM Never let a crisis go to waste. Or a market crash for that matter. With equity and bond markets stuck in brutal bear markets and providing a sufficient distraction to what is happening behind the scenes, the Fed and a group of banks have been quietly preparing for the next stage in the "organized crash" pipeline: the rollout of CBSC. According to a statement by the New York Fed, global banking giants are starting a 12-week digital dollar pilot with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the participants announced on Tuesday. Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, Mastercard and Wells Fargo are among the financial companies participating in the experiment alongside the New York Fed, which will provide a "public contribution to the body of knowledge on the application of new technology to the regulated financial system." Bank of New York Mellon, the money-laundering bank of the world, HSBC Holdings, PNC Financial Services, Toronto-Dominion Bank, Truist Financial and U.S. Bancorp are also participating in the test, along with payments network Mastercard. The project, which is called the "regulated liability network", will allow banks to simulate issuing digital money representing their customers’ own funds before settling through central bank reserves on a distributed ledger, the New York Fed said. The pilot will test how banks using digital dollar tokens in a common database can help speed up payments. “Programmable US dollars may be necessary to support new business models and provide a foundation to much-needed innovations in financial settlements and infrastructure,” Tony McLaughlin, managing director for emerging payments and business development at Citigroup’s treasury and trade solutions division, said in a statement Tuesday. “Projects like this, that focus on the digitization of central bank money and individual bank deposits, could be expanded to take a broader view of the opportunity.” Earlier this month, Michelle Neal, head of the New York Fed's market's group, said it sees promise in using a central bank digital dollar (CBDC) to speed up settlement time in currency markets. For years, Wall Street’s biggest banks have explored the use of blockchain in their businesses for everything from interbank payments to mortgages and cross-border trades. Still, this week’s move comes amid a rout in cryptocurrency markets following the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s digital-asset empire last week. In addition to weighing central bank digital currencies and compliant stablecoins, “there should be the option of leveraging the scale and economic value of bank deposits,” Raj Dhamodharan, Mastercard’s head of crypto and blockchain, said in the statement. The regulated liability network “is an innovative proof of concept led by the industry that could help shape how consumers and businesses view the credibility of token-based payments.” The new network is meant to follow existing laws and regulations for deposit-based payments processing, including anti-money-laundering requirements. After the 12-week test, the banks will publicize the results, they said in a statement, though lenders “are not committed to any future phases of work” once the test is complete. While the initial work will focus on simulating digital money issued by regulated institutions in US dollars, the concept could be extended to multicurrency operations and stablecoins, which are typically backed one-to-one by another asset such as the dollar or euro. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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