Whenever Not On The Beeb sends out an appeal or petition, we always get a few emails back from disillusioned members wondering if the effort of fighting back by paper/petition/survey is worth it.
My take has always been that one of the foundational principles of a petition is letting the individual person signing, see how many other people believe and think the same thoughts. During lockdown, when they tried to stop us from meeting in groups and sharing our opinions that often were contrary to the media-reinforced government narrative, this was especially useful.
The appeal in last week's email was to sign the government's consultation on the UK's CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency.)
The push by many freedom groups in tandem (even though it was last minute) was effective enough to be written about in the Telegraph.
50,000 or more people made their voices heard.
THANK YOU!
Before reading the Telegraph's article on the public backlash, it is worth considering that when we watch 119 countries walking in hand-in-hand in tandem preparing for a CBCDs, just as we saw as countries adopting the same lockdown strategy under Covid, to question if we are witnessing something very far from a personal project of Sunak, as the Telegraph insinuates.
The mass move in Lockstep seems to indicate an overreaching power higher than the leaders of individual nations.
Sunak appears to be no more than a frontman to appease the British public on behalf of the masters of a larger more comprehensive global agenda.
This map shows the uptake of CBCDs across the globe.
MAP DATA HERE >>>> https://cbdctracker.org/
Adjusting the table, it is interesting to see which countries were the first to adopt the CBCD concept.
And then interesting to see which countries have cancelled their CBCD projects
The speech on CBDCs by the head of the Philipino central bank speech is entertaining.
I love his references of organising a country's finances to married life.
Echopomhg my previous email he states the basic result of CBDCs which many of us believe to be the actual agenda behind the CBDC attempted rollout.
QUOTE: "...the government will actually know more about you than your wife..."
He also points out that CBDCs would enable parking fines to b proportionate to earnings. I must admit I thought would be a good idea since I was student in the 80's and saw rich kids in Oxford using double yellows outside their favourite cafes as reserved private parking for the privileged who could afford the fines as a parking fee.
QUOTE: "...My own personal experience is that cash is faster [for certain transactions] because you have to take your phone out [with e-wallets]. Then, your GMaya has logged you out. So, you have to log in. If you put out cash, that is it. So, it is hard to beat cash.... (however) in one economy I know, your traffic ticket fine is higher if your income is higher. That is how good the data system is. The theory there is, of course, very simple: A rich person will be discouraged less by a 50-dollar fine for violating traffic than a poor person. So, if you make the traffic fines proportional to income, it will be more effective.
Can you imagine the data requirements to just issue the traffic tickets? In those countries, it is already happening..."
Many of us might momentarily have a knee-jerk reaction seeing this as a good use of data gathering, yet we must pause to think how else this data gathering would be used.
If a parking fine could be related to your perceived ability to pay it, what else will power-hungry civil servants dream up?
Medical care linked to our perceived diet or alcohol intake?
Would we get the equivalent of digital ASBOS for attending protests that would disable us from accessing the internet or buying tickets to radical speakers?
We have already seen moves to classify people such as myself for distributing the very information you are reading now as terrorists.
Will we have our ability to purchase limited as a basic step to limit our work without trial?
If researchers and filmmakers such as myself are successfully labelled terrorists, then the next step will be to label anyone reading or watching the material as terrorist sympathisers or a threat to national security.
If this seems far-fetched Nigel Farage has had his accounts closed.
Louise Cressfield from Save Our Rights has just had her Co Op close her bank accounts.
I have been cut off professionally and personally from all of Paypal services and had had three online payment providers and one mass mail-out service cease their services.
Why?
Mailert lite banned my mass email newsletter enabling account for the email headline 'Why are the BBC ignoring vaccine-injury?'
PayPal cited the closures were 'due to my activities with 'Not On The Beeb.'
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TO CBDC
Whilst many countries are pushing ahead. several have cancelled their projects,.
This is the enlightening Press release issued by the Kenyan Central Bank cancelling their CBDC, (I've highlighted a key section in bold)
PRESS RELEASE ISSUANCE OF DISCUSSION PAPER ON CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCY: COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC
In February 2022, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) issued a Discussion Paper on Central Bank Digital Currency and sought views from the public on the potential applicability of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in Kenya.
The objective was to inform policy decisions and public acceptance regarding the innovation. CBK has now compiled the comments and announces the issuance of Discussion Paper on Central Bank Digital Currency: Comments from the Public.
The paper summarizes the views that were received on the applicability of a CBDC in Kenya, in addition to providing an update on key CBDC developments since February 2022. An Annex in the paper also summarizes recent developments on crypto assets.
The Discussion Paper elicited over 100 responses from a diverse range of individuals, public institutions, commercial banks, Payment Service Providers (PSPs), technology providers, academia, the legal fraternity, and international development partners. The responses were from across 9 countries: Kenya, South Africa, United States of America, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and Japan. Respondents highlighted the following as the main potential benefits of CBDC: increased efficiency, transparency, and lower costs.
Conversely, respondents identified the following key risks: disintermediation of banks, high implementation costs, technology and cyber risks, and financial exclusion. Respondents also highlighted the need to consider Kenya’s highly developed digital payments ecosystem and the high level of financial inclusion. Further, while a CBDC may be useful for cross-border transactions, its risks should be carefully considered.
The understanding of CBDC issues is deepening with the ongoing work internationally. For instance, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and other central banks continue to do research and/or implement CBDC projects. Nevertheless, on the global stage, the allure of CBDCs is fading. Further, central banks that were first to roll out CBDCs have recently faced challenges that have hampered implementation.
Additionally, recent instability in the global crypto assets market has amplified concerns and the need for a careful review of the innovation and technology risks. Against this backdrop, implementation of a CBDC in Kenya may not be a compelling priority in the short to medium term. Significantly, Kenya’s pain points in payments could potentially continue to be addressed by other innovative solutions around the existing ecosystem.
This would be consistent with CBK’s vision for a payments system that is secure, fast, efficient, accessible to and works for Kenyans. Nevertheless, CBK will continue to monitor developments in CBDCs to inform future assessments of the need for CBDC in Kenya.
Major global central banks have deferred the decision on the adoption of CBDCs.
This measured approach is consistent with the approach that CBK is taking. CBK has also been collaborating with other central banks that have developed proof of concepts for CBDCs, to benefit from their experience.
Additionally, CBK is working with central banks who have implemented CBDCs to understand if the expected benefits have been realized.
CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
June 2, 2023
TELEGRAPH ARTICLE (UK)
Sunak’s Britcoin ambitions hit by huge public backlash
More than 50,000 responses sent to Bank of England after digital currency consultation.
Rishi Sunak’s ambition to turn the UK into a digital currency hub has been dealt a blow following a public backlash over plans to introduce a virtual alternative to cash dubbed “Britcoin”.
It is understood that Threadneedle Street has received more than 50,000 responses to a joint consultation with the Treasury on the introduction of a central bank digital currency by the end of the decade.
The project, which was launched in 2021 by then-Chancellor Mr Sunak as part of efforts to digitise the economy, has been met with widespread public concern about privacy as well as anger over the possible consequences for cash.
Civil liberties groups such as Big Brother Watch have encouraged the public to write to the Bank outlining their privacy concerns, while the response from the industry has also been mixed.
Banking lobbyists have raised the alarm over plans to allow Britons to hold large amounts of digital pounds, in a move that the Bank has acknowledged raises the risk of faster bank runs as it would be easier for customers to move their money elsewhere.
Andrew Bailey and Jeremy Hunt have thrown their weight behind the project, with the Bank Governor and Chancellor both suggesting it is likely a digital currency will be needed by the end of the decade as cash use wanes.
The Prime Minister, who has stated his ambition to make the UK a global hub for crypto asset technology, was earlier this year forced to drop plans to make a non-fungible token (NFT) for sale through the Royal Mint, less than 12 months after the project was first announced. UK Finance, which represents more than 300 financial services businesses across the country, warned in a submission that Britcoin was “likely to trigger concerns about privacy and state interference” if widely adopted, including for salary payments.
It described initial limits by the Bank of between £10,000 to £20,000 as excessive, adding the proposed figures would “introduce significantly more risks to financial stability than benefits”, particularly in times of crisis.
While digital currencies could pose a threat to the traditional funding sources of high street lenders, UK Finance argues that a lower limit of between £3,000 and £5,000 better reflects consumer spending habits, highlighting that the average person spent just £89 per month in cash in 2021 and £1,053 on debit cards.
A lower limit would comfortably cover average monthly expenditure while reducing financial stability risks, UK Finance said.
However, others believe that a digital pound should be as flexible and usable as cash. The Payments Services Regulator (PSR), which oversees all the main systems in the UK including those used for salaries payments, cheques, Mastercard and Visa, said Britcoin should act as an asset of last resort enabling people to shift money into digital pounds quickly in the event of a financial crisis.
Lord Bridges, chairman of the House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, said that while the Bank and Treasury were “absolutely right” to look into the impact of introducing a digital pound, risks such as the threat to financial stability, privacy and hacking should all be properly scrutinised.
He also questioned how much the project would cost the taxpayer, regardless of whether any digital currency is introduced.
The Bank’s latest annual report shows millions of pounds have already been spent researching the economic benefits of a CBDC, although this was primarily funded by withholding interest paid on commercial bank money deposited with the Bank.
Privacy concerns were widely raised in responses, with any digital pound unlikely to offer total anonymity to its user in order to prevent fraud and crime.
UK Finance also questioned whether the public would be satisfied with Bank reassurances that it would not know the identity of users, even as it controls the total amount of currency in circulation.
This is a “key point to overcome doubts and fears in civil society about the central surveillance capabilities of the digital pound infrastructure,” the lobby group said.
The Bank has entered the second phase of the design process for Britcoin before officials make a decision on whether to proceed with the currency by the middle of this decade. Mr Hunt said in May that any launch of a digital pound will need to be approved by Parliament.
Mr Hunt has also insisted that “cash is here to stay”, with the Government legislating last week to protect its use as long as the demand for physical banknotes remains.
Central bank digital currencies (CBDC) have also drawn the ire of a former Bank governor. Lord King has branded them a “solution without a problem” that have “risks but no obvious benefits”. He cautioned against creating something the public didn’t need just because it had the “sexy name of a digital currency”. A Bank spokesman said it was considering responses and will respond in due course.
