Comment on He Built a Privacy Tool. Now He’s Going to Prison.
qwerty@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months agoHow is that clickbait, that’s exactly what happened?
The title is click bait because it falsely implies that the privacy part of the tool is why the creator is being penalised, rather than the money laundering part.
It’s a bit like writing a headline about a drunk driver killing a family of four and making the headline “He bought a red car. Now he’s going to jail”
He is being penalized because of the privacy part, the prosecution argued that the sole purpose of and the intent behind the samurai wallet was money laundering (which he’s not actually being charged for nor was he ever. He was charged with a conspiracy to commit money laundering until that particular charge was dropped as a part of a plea deal) because he knew that it can be used by criminals. So he’s essentially being prosecuted for writing code that other people allegedly used to commit crimes, an equivalent of tor devs and relay operators being charged with a conspiracy to distribute CSAM and facilitate trade of illegal substances. He never held or controlled any funds yet he’s been charged for running an unlicensed money transmitting business despite finCEN explicitly stating that what he was doing did not qualify as transmitting money.
I can’t explain this nearly as well as the video does so please just watch if you have the time, it’s really interesting and there’s a lot of crazy, outrageous legal fuckery that the prosecution pulled. It’s worth a watch.
What clickbait title did you read to believe he took part in any money laundering?
assertnull@programming.dev 2 months ago
The title could have given more context. I’m not saying there is anything false or misleading, but as written the title is clickbait since you have to click through to get the key facts such as “Privacy app author convicted of facilitating money laundering for Samouri Wallet”
hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
That’s just an excuse, no different from “encryption enables pedophilia”
assertnull@programming.dev 2 months ago
Totally agree. And a short summary would go a long way towards making up for the clickbait title
qwerty@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
I wouldn’t say that not going with an overlay descriptive title classifies a bait. You can always add more context but that’s what the actual article/video is for, a title is just a brief general description to catch the readers attention. Something like “Interview with Keonne Rodriguez, the founder of Samurai Wallet - a privacy focused bitcoin wallet who’s going to prison after being compelled to pleading guilty to running an unlicenced money transmitting business.” is very descriptive but doesn’t make a great title IMO. It’s like saying that “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” is a readbait because calling it “A Wizard Orphan and a Magic Rock” would give more context.
Ulrich@feddit.org 2 months ago
They’re deliberately withholding basic details of the story so that you have to click the video to get them. That’s clickbait.
qwerty@discuss.tchncs.de 2 months ago
What details are being withheld? His name, the tool’s name, the crime, the sentence? What title would be more informative?
PiraHxCx@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
I agree that OP could have post a summary with the video, but clickbait would be “He built a privacy tool, and you won’t believe what happened next” or something that doesn’t inform of the content of the video. Here it’s pretty clear, he built a privacy tool and was arrested for it, all the info is contained in the title.
Devial@discuss.online 2 months ago
Click bait is anything that is designed to bait people into clicking a link. Virtually every headline and content title on the internet is click bait to some level.
Malicious click bait is when headlines either outright lie, or imply things that aren’t accurate to the content.
The phrasing of this title implies that the creation of a privacy tool is what the creator got arrested for, which is in fact inaccurate to the content, as the reason wasn’t creating the tool, the reason was using the tool for money laundering.
So imo it’s 100% fair to call this title malicious clickbait
PiraHxCx@lemmy.ml 2 months ago
That’s LITERALLY what happened.
No he, wasn’t accused of using it for money laundering at all, he was actually accused of “conspiracy” to money laundering, claiming that his tool facilitates it, HOWEVER, the prosecution itself knew their charges had absolute no legal basis and kept it a secret, and when defense made a motion to dismiss it was denied by the judged without even being heard and the judge gave no reason for it. In front of an openly hostile judge and a trial that has no intention of following laws, he made a deal for 5 years in prison instead of 25 that they were going to give him.
Again, he wasn’t even charged with money laundering, he was arrested for creating a tool that can be used for that. The title is telling the truth - therefore, it’s not malicious.