Agreed about cash - that brings up how much privacy should someone be allowed? It's genuinely anonymous unless one surrenders personal data at the point of a purchase. Goods are controlled by law so why should anyone be interested in what one buys? But (sigh) the authorities and their data mining? The ordinary individual sleepwalks into danger. The platitude "I've done nothing wrong so I've nothing to worry about," is facile. Let a malign government take over and what one doesn't worry about today might be a serious worry tomorrow (as 6 million Germans found out between 1925 and 1945).

But it's true about the blockchain ledger. The article does have a point. I still believe it's difficult to trace a transaction back to a physical person. My several purchases were directed to different addresses so it would take some mining to pinpoint me as a buyer. Merchants who accept cryptos are in a different position as they have to publish an address which (so far) will relate to a site. The association would be immediate and an examination of their records would reveal a buyer's address where tangible goods are delivered unless to a dropbox.

In a way I look on it as I do the current wave of spirituality. It'll go on unhindered until it upsets the establishment whereon it will be stamped upon. My parents saw that in the 1960s with the alternative culture. It was pushed underground so what was once open and free became clouded with caution, perhaps even fear. Inevitable, as governments close in on personal freedom.

Politics and life are getting dangerous. Enough dissent and a totalitarian might take over to get things under control. I see it on the horizon. There are lots of examples in history. :(

♥