from Hacker News

Official Response: Request to Freeze Canadian Edge Users’ Accounts

by steelstraw on 2/20/22, 5:02 PM with 95 comments

• by superfunny on 2/20/22, 5:50 PM

  Kudos to Edge. This is a ridiculous request.

• by kennywinker on 2/20/22, 6:00 PM

  I’m very very anti “freedom convoy” but even I thinks seizing assets and freezing accounts is a bridge too far

• by Waterluvian on 2/20/22, 5:58 PM

  Not sure what Edge is but clearly it’s a deeply unserious organization that uses memes to respond to serious (and absolutely worthy of debate) requests.

• by kache_ on 2/20/22, 5:58 PM

  Move your coins to your own wallet. Use Monero. Exchanges should be simply used as fiat onramps and offramps.

  It's only a matter of time

• by ohCh6zos on 2/20/22, 6:08 PM

  I'm very anti-crypto, but if governments are going all tyrannical they do have a point about seizure resistance.

• by basisword on 2/20/22, 5:53 PM

  What a childish response and a great way to invite future regulation. I’m not an Edge customer but if I was I wouldn’t be anymore. Why would I entrust my money with a company that ignores the law and responds in memes?

• by tpoacher on 2/20/22, 6:19 PM

  Serious question: how does content get flagged in HN?

  I'm assuming it's a case of "if enough users flag a topic", but is there a moderator involved at all?

  Can a topic get 'unflagged' once flagged?

  Could this system be abused by planted shills who coordinate 'flagging' when something is posted that is detrimental to a company?

  I read the post, I see people's point here that responding with a meme is perhaps not appropriate for some audiences on a serious matter, but I personally didn't find it in bad taste, and would never consider this as grounds for 'flagging'.

  Especially since 'flagging' in this particular case effectively means "censorship" / "shadowbanning" (in that it causes the topic to be removed from the list of topics, but does not kill the link itself).

  Reminds me of that quote: "The best way to keep people obedient is to severely limit the scope of conversation, but allow very vivid conversation within that scope"

  Seems like the few people who spotted this topic before it was removed from the list are allowed to discuss this topic as passionately as they like, while the moderator sleeps quietly at night knowing nobody will ever discover this passionate conversation.

  What a weird world we live in.

• by margalabargala on 2/20/22, 5:54 PM

  When this protest started, people were complaining that the government was approaching the protest with relative tolerance compared to things like pipeline protests.

  Well, now protestors are being arrested and their accounts being frozen. They're no longer being treated nicely compared to environmental protestors.

  While I don't agree with their stance, I do think that "we should not have a vaccine mandate" is a valid political opinion, and I support people being able to protest in support of their opinion.

  Yes, it's legal to freeze the funds. The list of net-negative-for-society things perpetrated that have been legal in the jurisdictions in which they occurred is long.

  I would rather these protestors, environmental/pipeline protestors, and generally all other protestors be treated gently rather than quashing protest.

  Canada's laws protecting protestors are much more limited than those in the USA. If the Canadians have decided that this is how they would like their country to operate, that is their right, but I would hope that this sort of thing never happens in the US regardless of the cause.

• by aaomidi on 2/20/22, 6:07 PM

  Am I the only one who thinks responding with a meme is actually perfect? Stupid requests get stupid answers.

• by yashg on 2/20/22, 6:23 PM

  This childish response reminds me of Piratebay mocking legal notices and posting them on their website in the early days. Regardless of the legitimacy of the government's demand, such a response makes me feel it's being run by amateurs who don't realize the seriousness, power and reach of a sovereign government.

• by DethNinja on 2/20/22, 6:11 PM

  This is nowhere near edgy enough as the nunchuk's response: https://twitter.com/nunchuk_io/status/1494885897577271299

• by BossingAround on 2/20/22, 6:02 PM

  Response itself? Good.

  But responding with a meme? An institution that presumably holds my money? Oof.

• by stevens37 on 2/20/22, 6:05 PM

  I've never heard about them but like this.

• by hirundo on 2/20/22, 6:00 PM

  As a boomer I had to do a visual search to translate the meme. Apparently it is a magic conch shell on SpongeBob and my cultural literacy is deteriorating.

• by mdoms on 2/20/22, 6:27 PM

  I tried to share this link with a group chat on Facebook Messenger and it was blocked.

• by SSilver2k2 on 2/20/22, 5:45 PM

  Oof. Not a good look for edge.

  I'll be the first to admit I think this protest is about a bunch of idiots with a victim complex. They should just get the vaccine like 90% of the rest of their profession have done. It's safe and is what anyone should do to help their fellow humans.

  The Emergencies Act is law. If Edge wants to do business in Canada they have to follow it. I don't see this ending well for them.

  Maybe I'm an old curmudgeon, but I also don't want to see ANY financial company using memes in an official press release.

• by stefan_ on 2/20/22, 5:58 PM

  When nobody has even requested anything of you but you find it's a great opportunity to make your mark among the various bag holders.

  (If only these people would actually use the decentralized tools they can't stop talking about, they wouldn't need some exchange posting memes to reassure them)