Edward Snowden revealed as key participant in mysterious ceremony creating zcash | Hacker News Reader

Edward Snowden revealed as key participant in mysterious ceremony creating zcash

forbes.com

55 pointsdanso46 comments

At first thought this might be a sign of life, but apparently it's a prerecorded video for a documentary shared with the media (with no indication it came immediately from Snowden.)

Is there any public contact with Snowden since his last tweet 2/27? I can find not specific reference to a student event around the same week, and something off Twitter specifically 2/26, but since then nothing I can find reference to.

He's not dead or detained, he's just laying low because there's no dissent tolerated in Russia right now and definitely not from someone in his situation.

We just don't know. Could be anything.

The whole reason he is there is due to one of the greatest acts of dissent in American history.

Yeah, but no requirement that he spend his life repeating it.

Especially since his act of dissent in 2013 was something few others could or would do. His opposing the invasion of Ukraine would have a small impact compared to the leaking of NSA docs.

Not the least bit surprising to hear this considering his overt advertising on Twitter for Zcash.

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1462532222368591884

Peter Todd (Bitcoin developer) was another participant in the Zcash creation ceremony. He wrote a post about it and cast doubts about the process.

https://petertodd.org/2016/cypherpunk-desert-bus-zcash-trust...

A “scientist” on the Zcash team, Matthew Green, spoke of backdooring Zcash once upon a time.

https://twitter.com/notgrubles/status/1011830929004875777

I’m not saying there’s a conspiracy at play here, but more so putting a spotlight on Snowden’s untrustworthiness.

https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/913557610858778625

Here is Snowden (un)subtly favoring Zcash over Monero, another privacy coin. Not suspicious at all given his secret ties and financial incentive to Zcash and its curious, sketchy history.

This isn’t to mention the “Founders Reward” that cut 10-20% of mined coins to the creator’s wallets (“ The remaining 20% of the reward was split among various parties including 9.85% to ECC founders, 2.2% to the Zcash Foundation, 5.75% to ECC itself and 2.2% to ECC employee compensation.”)

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2020/11/18/zcash-undergoes-fir...

Or the fact that Zcash is opt-in privacy, meaning 99% of transactions are transparent and 1% of users opt for privacy (not suspicious at all for those users, wouldn’t one think?)

Not a single mention, not even in passing, about how Snowden is silent since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, after claiming that Russia would never invade.

Umm, he did address this on his Twitter.

> I'm not suspended from the ceiling above a barrel of acid by a rope that burns a little faster every time I tweet, you concern-trolling ghouls. I've just lost any confidence I had that sharing my thinking on this particular topic continues to be useful, because I called it wrong.

He admitted that he was wrong, and did the responsible thing which is not speculating anymore about things he does not understand.

no offense but that's exactly what I would write as well if Russian officials told me that one bad tweet is going to get me on a plane to the US in exchange for some spies, which I guarantee you is exactly the situation he is in.

Given that he's stopped tweeting altogether after the start of the war despite usually posting daily I'm supposed to think he doesn't have opinions on anything any more out of his own volition? Odd coincidence

...he posted that 3 days after the invasion, 6 days after his previous tweet, and hasn't posted (including likes or RTs) since though he was posting multiple tweets a day on a wide variety of topics up until stopping 3 days before the invasion.

I mean, unless he had a much broader epiphany and you mean literally everything when you say “things he does not understand”, the tweet you reference, and your (reasonable) characterization of it's overt message read in isolation, doesn't really explain his actual behavior change.

EDIT: It's also worth noting that his next to last tweet, on the last day he tweeted before the six-day pause, was a vague (generally taken as negative) post apparently about Putin’s speech the same day: https://twitter.com/Snowden/status/1495848959335706630?t=QSI...

Here is the speech which has been censored from Youtube. https://rumble.com/vw0nzv-vladimir-putins-speech-on-ukraine-...

Isn't Twitter banned and blocked in Russia currently?

Yeah, Edward Snowden was foiled by the Russian state firewall.

I think it's likely he had the epiphany that he'd be a pointed lesson in not mouthing off about Putin while you're exiled in Russia, especially with his wife and kid there.

This is, of course, exactly what somebody who IS suspended from the ceiling above a barrel of acid by a rope that burns a little faster every time they tweet would write, so it's difficult to tell what his actual situation is.

Not a single mention in your comment that afterwards, Snowden apologized and said he would refrain from making statements on topics he didn't understand which could be considered misinformation.

He doesn't need to apologize - everyone realizes that almost nobody knows the answer to such things and that it'd be a de facto estimation or opinion.

Otherwise, he has to keep his trap shut or face being sent to Siberia.

Putin isn't tolerating anything at the moment.

None of his followers seem to care much about it either

People care. What can they do?

He's in Russia where they invent laughable fake evidence against anyone disagreeing with the state about anything.

Protesters were arrested for holding up literally blank placards.

At this point, anyone inside Russia isn't saying jack about jack, for very obvious reasons.

Also for holding up copies of War and Peace, signs with just asterisks, and even quotes from speeches made by Putin himself. Still, better than what's happened to a few Gazprombank executives and their families recently.

It's not the message, it's the action.

The medium is the message

Yep, which is why he’s definitely in a damned if you do damned if you don’t situation. I still think the article should have mentioned at least the current predicament he’s in, because to me that’s relevant in shaping his opinions and decisions.

How is that relevant at all? Also why would Snowden claim about Russia not invading Ukraine be worth paying attention to in the first place? It's not like he's the first person to have an uninformed opinion.

Because he’s an activist for freedom of speech and lives in a country that suppresses it? Don’t y’all get me wrong, i think he’s in a very complicated position and I still think he’s a reasonable and important figure. Unfortunately some of his choices and the choices of people who made him who he is (namely Glenn Greenwald) have deeply affected his relevance and the power of his voice.

Learn the entire story before you condemn someone's "choices"; he had chosen a different destination, and was forced elsewhere by the timing of when his passport was revoked.

What do you expect from him? Get sent to Gulag? Or end up in a ditch by pissing on the only country on planet where he could probably remain alive? And for what? A country that elected Trump? Or a western world for whom Ukraine carnage is crisis but pulling the trigger too many times to obliterate a suspected bad guy along with dozens of confirmed innocents civilian adults and children and call it calculated decision “in the interest of citizens of a white nation”?

He could take bold actions against the nation that he lives in and then flee for safety.

What do you mean by “flee for safety”? Do you think he’s in Russia by choice? It’s not the case, he cannot leave the country.

He is free to leave Russia any time he likes.

Which of the following would you put money on: 1) that if he goes to the airport and there'll be FSB/police that will refuse him boarding and arrest him; or 2) that he'll be free to board and fly?

If you pick 2), which would you put money on: 3) that he'll be free to walk out of the airport at the destination country; or 4) that he'll be met by Interpol agents that'll arrest him and start the process of delivering him to USA?

I bet they'd send marines to recover him and his family if he asked. They'd get disappeared to a US black site and lost to history, but barring that, he's pretty much fenced in. The fog of war and chaos might provide him an opportunity to escape to Europe, and from there to Africa and maybe South America. Whatever regime replaces Putin might end up being friendly to the US and give up Snowden as a gesture. I don't envy Snowden's choices.

It could be his last opportunity to escape to someplace where he can raise his kid in peace.

> I bet they'd send marines to recover him and his family if he asked. They'd get disappeared to a US black site and lost to history, but barring that, he's pretty much fenced in.

Unnecessary hyperbole. There have been several in the US intelligence community’s history who committed much more grave offenses than Snowden. They went to trial and are serving time in a federal prison.

2) that he'll be free to board and fly? - thus he is free to leave Russia whenever he likes.

Freedom to do something does not mean that there will be no consequences to doing that thing.

Interpol isnt what you think it is: there are no Interpol agents out there carrying guns, breaking down doors, and arresting suspects, nor does it operate in every country of the world. Nevertheless, depending upon the country he travels to, around 70% of the world, he would be detained. However, as the holder of a shiny new Russian passport there are quite a few destinations he could travel to with no problems.

> 2) that he'll be free to board and fly? - thus he is free to leave Russia whenever he likes.

Well, OK, in my books you can get a medal for naivety. Obviously it's your speculation against mine, but I speculate he's sort of a "soft hostage" of Putin's, because Putin could give him up to the US government to trade for something worthwhile. And if Snowden's not always being monitored by FSB/police, then the Putin regime really is incompetent.

What is the 'value' of Snowden to the US? In order to exchange him and trade for something worthwhile he would need to have a value. I suggest that the value of Snowden to the US is negative. Not even 0, but massively massively negative.

Putin would love Snowden to get on a plane, land on US soil and be met with the full SWAT squad and cuffed face down on the tarmac infront of the worlds media. They could even have the helicopters following the car down the motorway; cue logo, theme tune and hours back in America clock for the 24 hour rolling news coverage. We can then have a sham show trial and be sentenced to 1000 years or the death penalty for treason.

Every document being dragged through the courts, or even better a super secret trial would be one of the biggest propaganda wins for the anti-US part of the world, including but not limited to Russia, in the entire history of mankind.

The US doesn't want Snowden back, the whole saga is long forgotten and rehashing it is nothing but bad news. No President with a brain wants the problem, Snowden is literally a third rail, instant death to America.

I expect Snowden is well looked after by the FSB and kept safe, but not too comfortable in Russia.

> The US doesn't want Snowden back, the whole saga is long forgotten and rehashing it is nothing but bad news. No President with a brain wants the problem, Snowden is literally a third rail, instant death to America.

Every single US president since Obama have been clear they want both Snowden and Assange to be back to the US. They have done a lot of efforts over the years to get them back to their territory. They absolutely seem to care about it, way more than the PR backlash.

“I would like to return to the United States,” Snowden told CBS. “That is the ultimate goal. But if I’m gonna spend the rest of my life in prison, the one bottom line demand that we have to agree to is that at least I get a fair trial. And that is the one thing the government has refused to guarantee because they won’t provide access to what’s called a public interest defense.” [0]

They absolutely seem to care about it yet all they have to do is guarantee to uphold the law of the land and give a fair trial. Its really not a very big ask, if the position today is the result of lots of effort they are not sending their best people to put in the work.

[0] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-is-what-edward-snowde...

"He is free to leave Russia any time he likes."

That's not true is it? I thought the state department cancelled his passport?

He could just use his russian passport.

And go where? How many countries do you think will not turn him over to the US?

Start with all the countries that sanctioned Russian billionaires are flying in and out of on their private jets for a list to start with.

So he's incarcerated either way, and his current jail just has better recreational facilities?

Why do you think that is relevant to this article about an unrelated topic?

Read his wikipedia page if you want a discography

Do you really think that anything Snowden says or does is relevant if detached from the actions that made him who he is and from the fact he could only find shelter in an enemy State?

yes, it is very easy for many of us to compartmentalize these things

the original state and its allies blanket the globe, the original state operates in a system of flawed checks and balances while simultaneously promoting the public interest

the "enemy state" is competition that allows for things to reach the public interest of the original state but only from within enemy state. it operates under a different system which was not being compared at all and cannot be compared while relying on its border, these are the limitations on this globe.

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