My dude. It is not illegal to seek privacy on the internet, privacy is not a crime.
Matrix, Tor, PGP, these are all beneficial tools for the world, used by people that are not criminals. These are also widely known as tools used by criminals.
Matrix, Tor, PGP, these are all beneficial tools for the world, used by people that are not criminals. These are also widely known as tools used by criminals.
Banning Tor as a whole is stupid, because it's not meant to be only used for that, and is a protocol. However, putting anyone who regularly posts on overthrowthegovernment.onion on a watch list is reasonable (even if they only posted pictures of kittens), as well as is closing the website, as much as possible, since it causes a net harm on society as a whole.
Banning E2EE as a whole is stupid, because it's not meant to be only used for that, and is a protocol. However, raiding the office of the man that hosts the "Bring The 4th Reich" chatroom is reasonable, as well as closing it and keeping a close eye on anyone who participated is also reasonable (even if they only posted pictures of kittens), since it causes a net harm on society as a whole
Banning cryptocurrencies as a whole is stupid, because it's not meant to be only used for that, and is a (bunch of) protocol(s). However, sanctioning the service that is mostly used to launder money (which comes from criminal activities) named tornado.cash is reasonable, as well as keeping an eye on everyone that participated (even if they only wanted to hide their transactions) since it causes a net harm on society as a whole.
Welcome to the real world, where going to the seedy place where at least 1/5th of the people in there are engaging in criminal activities might get you in trouble. Feel free to look for a mixer that does a little bit of research on the source of the funds before taking them in. You are not entitled to privacy if your actions may cause harm or contribute to causing harm on society.
If it was only being used for money laundering, it wouldn't actually be laundering. To launder money you need to mix up your illegal funds with a larger pool of legal funds to give some plausible deniability to whether your funds are legal or not.
Still money laundering, just not with clean money on the other side.
In practical terms it might not matter, the funds would just be frozen. But it is still a form of money laundering that obscures the true source of the funds.
When lack of privacy becomes the default, everybody with a sense of privacy becomes suspicious.