Chriky

They weren't appealing to authority though. An appeal to authority is "It's true because Snopes says so", they just linked to Snopes' reasoning as a shorthand for repeating the reasoning themselves.

If Snopes didn't provide their reasoning, it would be an appeal to authority.

The BBC is not government funded, and all television news in the UK, including Murdoch's Sky News is required by law to be unbiased.

If it's a choice between the BBC and the constant, blatant, society distorting lies you see in American "News", I'll take my Orwellian dystopia thanks.

> That's why the connection between organized crime and intelligence agencies has always been solid.

What do you mean by this?

> Can't find a link, but I swear I've watched it in a blockchain event in youtube.

This is a perfect example of "solution looking for a problem". You heard about the thing via Bitcoin channels, you only care about it because it's /Bitcoin/ solving a problem, not because the problem is solved, you can't actually find the thing now!

Normal people, people who haven't bought Bitcoin, don't really care /how/ their problems are solved. This is the fundamental reason Bitcoin hasn't gone mainstream. It doesn't solve any mainstream problems well.

That actually is often why they do it. Obviously, they are also sexually attracted to children and are evil. Those two are also requirements, but the third is the audience.

Consider this - how many people do you think make YouTube style vlogs then DON'T upload them to YouTube? Not many right - the audience is part of the inventive for making the video. Among paedophile communities first generation IIOC are highly prized.

Source: I am a criminal investigator who works exclusively on CSE

If possession is not illegal, why is distribution? You point makes no sense.

Consider your argument with respect to privacy and data issues - obviously possession of information can be in and of itself harmful because it can be something that other people have a right to restrict your access to.

It seems like one of the least problematic ways of generating suspects to me - what's the issue compared to, say, eye witness testimony?

The Laffer Curve makes a number of assumptions without evidence, most notably that tax revenue as function of tax rate is memoryless, when it obviously isn't.

This is ignoring the issue, even when accepting the Laffer curve as true, that the revenue maximising rate would surely be well above what would be morally acceptable to enforce (~75%)

I mean, IANAD but I would definitely get a professional diagnosis before acting on the assumption my child has a specific medical condition...?

The way a Rubix cube works, the center tiles never move.

Well, I mean you didn't provide /any/ examples, you stated something false.

My point was more that this "battle of wits" cops vs robbers narrative is just Hollywood nonsense.

Do you feel the same about MI6/GCHQ (organisations staffed to a large degree by Cambridge grads) vs ISIS (an organisation staffed mainly by idiots and conspiracy theorists)?

Clearly the two sides are not playing the same game, and any disparity in ability will be completely overwhelmed by structural differences in their respective challenges.

The uninformed opinion you're spreading is damaging because it implicitly implies that these crimes wouldn't happen if only our cops were a bit brighter.

If only they were as clever as those City boys! Too bad old chap, better luck next time, all's fair in love and war etc etc.

HFT at a bulge bracket bank

As another former investment banker, and current NCA Investigator, and - for what it's worth - Cambridge graduate, I can tell you your description of the relative competencies of the good guys and bad guys is just elitist crap.