Thou shalt not steal. Right? Right!

If you steal you will be punished. Right? Wrong!! Sometimes it’s OK!!!

If someone breaks into my house and steals ANYTHING that rightfully belongs to me he is breaking the law and should be punished. If someone, knowingly uses that property that belongs to me, he is breaking the law and should be punished.

If someone breaks (hacks) into a government computer and doesn’t use that information he has gained for any purpose at all, he is punished, because at some time later on he MIGHT!

If someone breaks (hacks) into a private computer and gives that information to a third party e,g, the media, and that third party knows that person has illegally obtained that information by copying it, this third party is seemingly not carrying out any offence at all, by publishing it.

WikiLeaks is the most well known source where persons can leak classified information to instead of leaking directly to the press, and fearing exposure and retribution. Whistleblowers used this source first who were employees of the company they were exposing. Mostly exposing fraudulent activities.

Next came computer hacks by third parties. These were more often given to journalists direct to publish who knew this information was illegally gained. The journalists did not fear prosecution under US Law because of First Amendment protections for the press. Several Supreme Court cases (e.g. Bartnicki v. Vopper) have established previously that the American Constitution protects the re-publication of illegally gained information provided the publishers did not themselves violate any laws in acquiring it.

Now comes along the the International Consortium of Independent Journalists (ICIJ). First we had The Panama Papers and now we have The Paradise Papers.

Once again the information gained was illegal. And the vast majority of the information gained and published was not to expose illegal activities at all. It was to expose the “filthy” rich and the huge companies who are using offshore companies (read Cayman Islands) to avoid paying the taxes the vast majority of the public have to pay.

We have our elected members in the various countries, eg. UK and USA, getting indignant, and the press going on a tirade because it helps their readership and therefore attracts more advertising dollars for their media houses.

The target, of course, is the so called tax havens in Paradise eg. Caribbean, Latin America.

We have the UK’s Labour Leader, Jeremy Corbyn, claiming if he is ever elected he will close down all these ‘notorious’ tax havens that operate under the British Overseas Territories. Corbyn doesn’t seem to understand the difference between leaks at Appleby (who was targeted the most) and ILLEGAL hacking of their computers.

I wonder is he would be pleased if all his sensitive information was hacked from his computer and exposed by the press. Would he call that a home leak of his computer?

And now he says HM Queen Elizabeth should apologise for doing nothing wrong at all! See iNews Cayman story today “Paradise Papers: Jeremy Corbyn [UK Labour Leader] suggests Queen should apologise if offshore funds were to avoid tax”.

And do these journalist friends of mine really believe they are on a Crusade for the betterment of their readers? Do they, and Parliamentary Members really think that by closing down these offshore companies is going to reap rewards by the rich and mega companies complying and paying billions of dollars in taxes?

They will move away with their companies to operate their business in more tax friendly countries. Factories and offices will close down, unemployment figures will rise, and the millions of taxes these rich and mega companies are paying now will also be lost. Increased social benefit payments will have to be paid by even less employed people.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see this. It’s history. Either my journalist friends who attack offshore jurisdictions and elected parliamentary members who also do the same are born with a pea sized brain or have other ulterior motives.

Jude Scott from Cayman Finance says it a lot better than I can, ““From investors like Her Majesty to pensioners and university students, a very wide range of people benefit from investments in Cayman. Individuals as well as institutions such as government and state pension plans, regular pension funds and university endowments invest together in Cayman funds to access investment opportunities from around the world in a neutral location. We are home to funds advised by some of the most talented investment professionals in the world who help those investors increase their returns, which benefit retirees, students, communities and businesses – and on which they pay all relevant taxes in their own jurisdictions.  Anyone who is in any doubt as to why such investors use Cayman should read the following summary from AIMA.  These legal investments are no different than those that exist in places like London, New York, Frankfurt, Dublin, Luxembourg and Paris and are just as transparently reported to tax authorities.”

Hacking computers is OK to steal. So why don’t we all get into the act? Then see the “nice mess you’ve gotten me into”.

PS: See also iNews Cayman story published today “Cayman Islands Tony Travers says journalists who leaked the Paradise Papers should “be in prison”

And so say I.