In Europe, some retards (a minority) are even talking about forcing internet users to use solely their real name on the internet (Forums etc.)
What?! Is this official or just a thing you hear around? I'd be interested to read more.
In fact, the patriot act encourages crime against individuals by exposing their privacy.
All that under the name of "fighting terrorism". Every time. It honestly just feels like they have been lately only using the names of "racism", "terrorism", "drugs" etc to push a privacy-shrinking agenda. Without these names, we wouldn't be the only worried ones.
Same goes for the
Russian Orwell school face recognition system. Most people go for the
"it's fine as long as it's used for our good" opinion but they never question if they are ever really used for us and not against us..
Look at all the famous crypto whales: Roger ver, Vitalik, Winklevoss twins, Charlie Lee, etc. Do you see anything happening to any of these guys? Nope. stop being so paranoid.
I doubt Charlie Lee, Rorger and any other big name in the crypto industry live their life completely normally. If I was a big name in this domain, I'd be paranoid as hell but it probably wouldn't be too evident.
Even larger company owners are usually paranoid - it's their (and their families') life at stake. That's why you used to see bigger names carrying around Blackberries and guns years ago. Some big names out there probably even wear bulletproof vests under their clothing when going in public.
If Lee was to be taken hostage for his crypto holdings, it would've hit the news and a massive investigation would've taken place. The same thing happening to a not so well known guy would probably only have a small article over the web talking about it.
As a criminal, it's quite stupid to go for big targets. We're more vulnerable than they are.