I'm not an expert about any of this but today I saw a document posted that I have seen posted many times on SN by @DarthCoin and others that lists people that supposedly work for IN-Q-TEL. I only say supposedly because I do not know if the document is accurate. The document mentions a person named "Lisabeth Poulos" as the IN-Q-TEL Chief of Staff. But that isn't her name. Her name is actually spelled "Lisbeth Poulos".
Background
For those that are not familiar according to Wikipedia IN-Q-TEL is
an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability.
It is basically a "private" corporation controlled by the CIA and it really doesn't try to hide that. Poulos did work for IN-Q-TEL as chief of staff from 2002-2022. IN-Q-TEL is very obviously operated by the CIA and is connected with other government agencies. Looking at the companies connected to IN-Q-TEL is an interesting rabbit hole to go down. For those that still believe we live in a free country I don't think I can help you.
Anyway, what I have heard said elsewhere and posted on SN is that MicroStrategy is ran by the CIA. The only "evidence" I have seen is this document.
The evidence for this is weak to say the least. Honestly, I don't think overstating the case really accomplishes much except shock value. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that the CIA does not control many companies or at least influence their direction and decisions. I highly recommend those interested in this topic read Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. It is not a conspiracy based book. It is all based on interviews with people that worked for or with the CIA and government. Its all on the record. Not based in theories. The stories told in this book are pretty wild and often sound like something you'd hear said by some nut case.
Back to MicroStrategy and Lisabeth Poulos. On her Crunchbase profile it lists MicroStrategy as well as BAE Systems. According to Crunchbase she also worked for CIA and NSA. She's at least a former spook but I have yet to see evidence that MicroStrategy is operated by the CIA. According to her LinkedIn she is now self employed. It is possible that MicroStrategy is ran by or influenced by the CIA but I've never seen hard evidence of this. This doc having her name misspelled doesn't strengthen the case. Logically it very possible that her skill set is also valuable and a business intelligence company. That's what MicroStrategy does. She worked in government intelligence after all.
Does it matter?
The broader question is why does this matter? When I start looking organizations like IN-Q-TEL, CFR, and others they have connections all over the Fortune 500. The US government and its agencies have connections in most companies. Its starts getting really dumb fast with the guilt by association. But, I have to admit this woman wasn't so low level person at IN-Q-TEL, it raises my curiosity for sure. I'm just not ready to say, case closed. Saylor is a spook. Why? Because my brain will not let me say that. It bugs me when people will on the one hand see how the system works and not just take what their rulers say at face value. But then will take loosely related facts built up into a definitive statement as fact. If you can't think of a conspiracy theory that you do not believe you might just be gullible. I have a deep distrust for government based on facts and experience. Its not based in theories.
This whole MicroStrategy & CIA thing reminds me of the story that the CIA created Bitcoin. I'm pretty sure it didn't but if it had... so what. It doesn't matter. Same is true here. If the CIA runs MicroStrategy it doesn't matter to me. They are buying a lot of bitcoin. Many other groups and people we may not like will buy bitcoin. Who cares. Its money not an exclusive club.
The Threat
The only threat I see is that of influence. I've said it before. Don't create heroes. Saylor is a dude. He could be a bad dude. It doesn't really matter to me and it shouldn't to true bitcoiners. The only threat I see from Saylor is his influence over weak minded bitcoiners. Some act like everything he says is coming from the mouth of god. That's a problem, but not one we can fix. People like that will have many hard lessons to learn. There will always be fools.
I'm not saying you should go out and buy MSTR stock. I'm not saying you should trust Saylor or his company. I don't trust people from the government or suits. Just thought I would share what I found and a few of my thoughts for what they are worth.
I love reading the air gap transmission stuff all the time, but something the casual viewer probably won't pick up on, is that both devices have to already have a virus on it.
This does not gain you the initial foothold in the hacker methodology.
This is useful for the post exploitation phase.
Imo, multi-sig setups will likely be the standard for enterprises, institutions, large merchants, etc which are using either L1/L2, because they have a need for increased security and also to segregate duties so there's not too much power in the hands of one individual.
Whether or not multi-sig becomes widespread among individuals I think really depends on the UX that can be built around it. Right now, multi-sig for L1 is daunting for many users, especially the less tech-savvy. If the difficulty can be abstracted away easily, without sacrificing too much in security or becoming too expensive, I could see it catching on more widely.
omg this is so amazing, thanks yall!!
Your title is incorrect. The OpenTimestamps grant was entirely separate and unrelated; I do not think OpenTimestamps is very relevant to Nostr's scalability.
I need to work harder on new memes.
I want to post them on SN Meme Monday contest, not because I would want the prize, but because I don't want the shitcoiners (copying memes) to earn the prize.
Only genuine and spontaneous memes with PoW should win.
I've seen SN accounts used only for that meme contest, they never post anything useful on SN...
Shitcoiners MUST PAY.
It might confuse the bartender. I'll see.
https://i.postimg.cc/6Q29PN5p/IMG-20231010-175430-689.jpg
The older one of us have been using such phones in the beginning of the mobile phone era (between 2000-2010). They could literally outlive you and I clearly remember their batteries lasted more than a week. Here are just some of the companies behind them - Siemens, Nokia, Sony, Ericsson, Sony-Ericsson etc
Health
Seems like stacker news has encompassed most of the bitcoin sub culture besides a lot of the carnivory/health stuff. Could be a good way to get people that otherwise would never use sn
I wouldn't use it for a personal node, it's better to self host if you can. At The Bitcoin Company we use voltage for our lightning node and it has been great, highly recommend it for enterprise services