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Comment by cookie_monsta | Hacker News Reader

Strangely under-reported is that the same hacker is offering up to 100k to others who perform similar acts of hacktivism:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/vb5agy/phineas-fisher-off...

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So this activist has somehow profited from his “hacktivism” and he wants to spread his wealth to other activists?

Or possibly someone who became wealthy in the software/opsec industry who believes what they do is for the good of humanity. To a person with a net worth of 100MM+ 100k would not be significant.

The funds didn't necessarily come from the hacktivism.

Edit: Given the bounty is paid in bitcoin, somewhat more likely the funds are donations/fees from hacking. Not likely it came from funds deposited to an exchange (traceable account). Could also be someone who was mining in 2009 (and not from the hacking itself).

Or he bought bitcoin / etherum early on.

On a side note: hope the identity of him stays a secret. Publishing stuff like that gets you killed..

Also there's likely a lot of bitcoin that's known to be connected with illegal activities, say drug business and ransomware. I suppose there's ways to launder them, but it's not necessarily cheap or easy. That sort of bitcoin might be easier to give away anonymously.

Or possibly the payment is offered in bitcoin because that's how anyone "performing similar acts of hacktivism" would want to be paid?

Yes. That's what the edit (from a few minutes after the original post) says.

I think that's one possible reading of it. They talk about how they already donated the money from this hack to various resistance movements, so I guess the bounty is being funded from something else.

The bounty works on a sliding scale, according to the manifesto, depending on "the public interest and impact of the material, and the labor required in the hacking."

They go on to say that "I am not trying to enrich anyone. I just want to provide enough funds so that hackers can earn a decent living doing a good job."

In the text file he uploaded, he said he was only able to extract a few hundred thousand[1]. I did use Google translate though.

> In Myself case, this was the first bank that hacked, and at that time I only had a few few and mediocre accounts prepared to withdraw cash (known as bank drops), so it was only a few hundred thousand who I was able to withdraw in total, when it is normal to get millions.

[1] https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?u=https:...

Her

Probably a nation state actor

How would you know?

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