This is how you sleepwalk into a surveillance state. It does not arrive overnight. It is chipped away, one ‘reasonable’ measure at a time, until proving who you are becomes a condition of participating in everyday life. @Free Cities Foundation

Big Brother Watch

Big Brother Watch on UK Government's plans to enforce passport ID checks on social media — Big Brother Watch

Commenting on the UK government’s plans to enforce passport ID checks on social media Big Brother Watch’s Maya Thomas said: “Chi...

Last year Chris was using the heat from Bitcoin mining heat to make beef bits @BTCHEL 25.-26. SEPTEMBER. This year he’s using the heat to warm a chicken coop, dry and smoke grain and now he wants to build a fermentation silo for beer, kombucha and whisky. In this demo in Helsinki, Chris explains how he’s using a Bitcoin miner to make whisky. Anything that needs stable heat is a mining use case!

Bitcoin is being regulated in Europe and the UK before policymakers have really understood what Bitcoin is. At @BTCHEL 25.-26. SEPTEMBER, the first panel set out three approaches: - Protect sovereignty and self custody - Work within MiCA and regulated rails - Push back when state power goes too far The second panel asked who is writing Bitcoin policy across Europe. Brussels, national regulators, courts, governments and parliaments each write a piece, but banks still decide whether you get an account or can send a payment. You can have a law that looks open but you can still be shut out in practice. Lawful Bitcoin payments are already being blocked, accounts restricted, and customers made to jump through hoops that have nothing to do with the statute. In the UK the FCA, Treasury and Bank of England are already writing the rulebook, while Parliament is still debating what an overarching digital asset strategy should look like. By 2030, Europe will have written more law around Bitcoin. If it is still being treated as just another cryptoasset, the rules may never properly account for what makes Bitcoin different. We still have a long way to go, but thank you to my fellow panellists for all their work.

If we don’t have freedom money, we don't have freedom. Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023 was my first Bitcoin conference, and sitting on the Livedesk while Edward Snowden came up on the screen was completely surreal. One part of his talk has stayed with me ever since. He said: “Acting in secret is not freedom. It’s not the goal. Contorting yourself to be able to fit, to pass through the keyholes of the tyranny that is surrounding us - that’s not the solution.” Almost three years later I still think this is one of the most important talks I’ve heard on Bitcoin, because it wasn’t about price or markets... it was about what Bitcoin is actually for. Block No. 811,847, approx. 12:14 UTC on 12 October 2023.

Bitcoin Policy UK is coming out of consolidation and I am resuming my role as CEO. Dr Cristina Llamas-Rey is returning as COO. Getting here has not been easy. I have never taken a salary from BPUK, and the organisation is still run by a small team of volunteers giving their time around jobs, families and other commitments. In January, I reached the point where I could not justify taking recurring donations when we did not have the resources to operate properly. Scaling back was the responsible thing to do. The aim was to keep BPUK going while we cut costs and rebuilt around what we could actually sustain. That is what we have done. Throughout consolidation, the work continued and we sent our 2026 Manifesto to all 650 MPs. We also responded to Government, FCA, HMRC and Bank of England consultations, worked on banking access, Digital ID and privacy, and continued publishing articles and practical resources. The way we work has been simplified, with a stricter line on what BPUK can realistically take on. We are still unfunded and our resources remain limited, so coming out of consolidation does not mean we suddenly have the capacity to do everything people would like BPUK to do. There are a lot of worthwhile projects and great people doing important work, but we have to guard our time carefully and focus on where BPUK can have the most impact. A huge thank you to everyone who helped keep BPUK going through this period. The people who continued giving their time, expertise and support made it possible for us to keep moving while we worked through everything behind the scenes. I am very grateful. I would like BPUK to have a paid team and do far more. If you can help with funding, please email contact@bitcoinpolicy.uk. Press release below. @Bitcoin Policy UK

The Lords voted 194-138 to require the Treasury to prepare, publish and consult on a digital assets strategy covering cryptoassets, stablecoins, CBDCs, tokenisation and access to banking and payment services. The FCA authorisation gateway opens on 30 September, with the new cryptoasset regime due 25 October 2027. Firms are already preparing for a detailed rulebook while what the UK is trying to build is still being argued. @Bitcoin Policy UK has been working across many of these same issues, including FCA regulation, stablecoins, digital identity, CBDCs and banking access. If the Lords amendment survives the Commons, Treasury would have 12 months to produce an overarching strategy. Regulation is already advancing but does the UK have a joined up strategy? The bill is here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4129 The amendment is here: https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/4129/stages/21082/amendments/10037304

KYC is framed as protection, but when identity data is required to use a service, the information collected for safety can later be used for extortion. One of the points I made, quoted in Cointelegraph was: “We need to stop treating identity verification and surrendering your identity as though they are the same thing.” Revolut released identity files after requests were sent from a legitimate Italian law enforcement address. The piece looks at: - what went wrong - why collecting documents is not the same as proving a fact - how we can verify without storing so much personal data Efrat Fenigson of You're The Voice warns: “When regulators keep mandating a model that guarantees this outcome, while the technology to verify without storing already exists, it raises a red flag.” Lyudmyla Kozlovska of the Open Dialogue Foundation highlights another weakness: “EU AML law imposes no verification duty on the bank and provides no meaningful mechanism to check who is really behind an authenticated state request.” Evin McMullen of Billions Network sums up the wider problem: “This is a governance and standards problem wearing a technology costume. You cannot lose what you never held.” This is a really important piece from Christina Comben, bringing together the risks around how identity data is collected, stored and shared and the possible alternatives that already exist. Read the full article here:

Cointelegraph

Revolut ID Thefts Highlight KYC’s Dangers: Here’s How To Fix It

The technology to verify identity without storing sensitive documents already exists. So why does KYC still depend on massive databases of personal...

@Efrat Fenigson @Lyudmyla Kozlovska @Bitcoin Policy UK

The government said national digital ID was cancelled in July. The work around GOV.UK Wallet, digital driving licences and One Login carried on. GOV.UK Wallet is still live, the Veteran Card is already digital and the driving licence is next. The government’s own technical documentation was updated again on 1 and 3 September, including work on issuing and revoking test digital driving licences. One Login is still growing as the gateway into government services, with more than 23 million users. This week, licensed premises in England and Wales can also accept certified digital proof of age for alcohol sales. What was taken off the table was the politically visible product. The systems for issuing, storing and checking digital credentials kept developing. Some of the government’s data incidents: - Electoral Commission: around 40 million people affected by a cyber breach. - MoD: data linked to more than 18,500 Afghan applicants exposed. - PSNI: details of 9,483 officers and staff published online. - HMRC: stolen identity data used to reach about 100,000 online tax accounts. If more of our official documents and identity credentials are going into reusable digital systems, I want to know: - who can request them? - what is recorded? - when they are used? - how is it stored? - who has access? - how long that information is kept? - whether people who refuse the digital route will still have an equivalent way to access the service? The public was told “digital ID cancelled”. The government’s own development record shows the digital identity work carried on. The technical documents for GOV.UK Wallet, including the September updates on digital driving licences, are here:

Wallet technical documentation

GOV.UK Wallet technical documentation

Today England and Wales put digital ID on the bar. Licensed premises can now accept certified digital proof of age for alcohol, allowing someone to confirm they are over 18 through an app rather than handing over a passport or driving licence. The government says the venue does not need to see details such as your name or address, with services including Yoti and Post Office EasyID operating under the UK digital verification trust framework. This is separate from the digital driving licence and GOV.UK Wallet. That sounds privacy friendly at the point of sale because the pub only sees the proof. The identity provider behind the app is still responsible for verifying and handling the underlying data, which is where the privacy and security questions sit. Digital identity becomes normal when it gets built into everyday life, one convenience at a time. The more we rely on that infrastructure, the harder it becomes to question how far it should go. That debate needs to happen before convenience becomes dependency. Press release:

GOV.UK

New rules pave the way for businesses to adopt digital proof of age for alcohol sales

Licensed premises across England and Wales will now have the option to accept digital proof of age when selling alcohol.

BBC article:

BBC News

Pubs in England and Wales to allow digital ID apps to prove age

New rules introduced on Tuesday mean establishments will be able to accept digital ID apps alongside physical documents.