BLUF: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed an amicus brief arguing that the U.S. Treasury’s decision to put Tornado Cash, an open-source project, on its Sanctions List has violated First Amendment protections for code development.
OSINT: The amicus brief filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Van Loon v Department of Treasury highlights how the government has not tailor-made its prohibition on Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, to avoid causing fear, confusion, and censorship of scientific development and academic exchanges. Government actions must be properly tailored to avoid encroaching on fundamental freedoms enshrined in the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
RIGHT: The Constitution does not give the government the power to restrict or interfere with the free expression of coding, which it considers a form of speech. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is right to warn of the dangers inherent in the government putting an open-source project on the Sanctions List. Arbitrary action by the government stifles innovation and creativity, two principles that are essential for progress and prosperity.
LEFT: The government has the responsibility to protect against the use of technology for nefarious purposes. As such, it is right for the Treasury Department to put Tornado Cash on its Sanctions List since it potentially facilitated North Korean hacking. The Electronic Frontier Foundation wrongly characterizes the listing of Tornado Cash as an unconstitutional violation of the First Amendment without adequately addressing the security implications of allowing projects that facilitate illegal activities.
INTEL: The government’s approach violates the principles of transparency and accountability that are crucial to building trust in public institutions. A clearer explanation of the grounds on which open-source projects can be put on the Sanctions List would help the public understand why such actions have been taken and how they can be challenged if they are not justified. AI ethics and governance frameworks need to be developed and implemented to help safeguard against arbitrary government actions that restrict the free expression of ideas that could benefit society.