Hacker News Reader

Comment by dmm | Hacker News Reader

Money laundering is not unethical. It wasn't even illegal in the US until 1986. At the time the law was passed we were promised it would only be used against organized crime that couldn't be stopped any other way.

View on HN

Laws against anonymizing sources of income (Money laundering) are primarily enforced for tax evasion purposes. It's the catch all for even the most brilliant of enterprising "criminals".

How exactly is money laundering not unethical? What's so ethical about assisting someone in getting away with a crime?

I think you need to explain why money laundering is unethical. Because there are plenty of laws passed by various governments that many people feel would be unethical to follow.

To use an extreme example, was it unethical to hide jews from the Nazi's?

This conversation is officially over http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

Fuck off. So he used an extreme example, doesn't mean his point is invalid. Godwin's Law is not supposed to be used as an excuse to shut down uncomfortable conversations.

Godwin's law makes the money laundering law attractive in comparison.

Godwin's Law much?

Always replace Hitler with Stalin or Mao or you'll be swamped by the idiots quoting Godwin's Law.

Money laundering happens to avoid paying taxes

hiding Jews from the Nazis was to avoid them getting shipped off to death camps.

The question is thus do you think that taxes are unethical? I don't think so but a lot of bitcoin fans seem to think so.

It can be more complex than that. An extreme pacifist could have no problem with taxes per se but feel that paying taxes today implicates him in war crimes (drones strikes, etc.)

I'm guessing the intent is to say that anonymizing the source of money per se doesn't seem to do anyone any harm, much like accepting cash as a form of payment. The problem is when people use such channels to avoid detection of crimes by law enforcement. We have to decide as a society which conveniences or defenses of privacy (anonymizing the source of money being one) are worth sacrificing to enable better law enforcement.

Who says that everyone who wants privacy necessarily wants it for criminal purposes?

Just because something is illegal doesn't mean it is wrong. There are a lot of sociopath control freaks that want to dictate morality to the world, or to have power and control over others. There are many "crimes" that one might participate in that are perfectly valid business transactions such as consumption of controlled substances and prostitution. Right and wrong transcend words written on paper. One might argue that enabling the freedom to participate in these markets safely is extremely ethical and those attempting to restrict these markets are the criminals.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com