Topic: If bitcoin becomes illegal? - page 2. (Read 10562 times)

Damn, so Atlas was right then... bitcoin is free speech

(thinking out loud here)

I always thought that simply because pgp signed messages are being passed, that the currency itself is not currency but merely free speech.  Any attack on running nodes or initiating transactions should be defended as a matter of free speech, like banning email, an attack on free speech.

There are several levels of "bitcoin becoming illegal".

1 - Developers banned from working on the satoshi client.
2 - Distribution of satoshi client banned outright.
3 - Owning copies of satoshi client banned outright.
4 - Owning and distributing of the Chancellor block chain banned.
5 - Owning and distributing of any block chain banned.
6 - The entire Bitcoin protocol becomes illegal.
7 - ALL crytocurrency and Bitcoin-like protocols become illegal (including Namecoin, Litecoin, etc.)
8 - ALL virtual currencies and currency-like systems not approved by government become illegal.

Level 1-6 laws would not put the genie back in the bottle. People would simply work on new clients, start new blockchains, or continue paying with Namecoins or Bitcoins v2.

Level 6-8 laws would need to be extremely overreaching in order to work, and would cause a big disruption for already existing industries.

Even the banning of an entire communications protocol would be unprecedented, let alone an entire family of protocol. 

If laws become too overreaching, people start to ignore them.



Most occidental countries guarantee Freedom of Speech in their constitution. Some European countries guarantee Secrecy of Correspondence. In principle, those two should make Bitcoin safe.  In practice, governments shamelessly ignore those protections.   

If "Bitcoin" once become illegal, we start dealing with "Bacon (Bcon)":
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.949677

By using it every day or talking about it with friends and family, it doesn't matter if they start calling you names. Bitcoin is sound money.

I don't know. I have a feeling that he will continue to grow at this pace and one day BANG he will suddenly spread around the globe, just as, for example, Android did.

I think you're probably right but bitcoin need to spread out faster than this. How to do so?

I think it's a race against the time. If bitcoin becomes accepted by millions of people, it will be hard to sue them all.

You guys do know the difference between illegal and unlawful, don't you?

We are not in a democracy. Central banks run the government from behind. Democracy is an hoax to hide this system.

If you live in a democracy where there's more people than bankers, why would it be voted illegal?

"Stop that! It's illegal."

No one will use it anymore, it'll be like marijuana. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine#Prohibition
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Narcotics_Tax_Act

History is interesting.

Stop the FUD...

There are plenty of pro-bitcoin lawyers accepts bitcoin for legal services and some have plenty of products available for sale for bitcoins.

Sweet! Good to hear

An interesting link - reminds me of the job I was doing during April/May where in the vast majority of cases (over 80%) people consulted non-lawyers about the full range of legal problems someone might encounter.  The most common source of legal advice - family and friends.  (Not sure if the report we produced is public.)

And, if bitcoin becomes illegal, then I'll have to pay for my BTC magazine with Neopoints or some MMORPG- thing gold (if I ever bothered).  And yes Mathew, I did get my magazine yesterday 26th June.

http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/6852/is-it-illegal-in-the-u-s-for-legal-professionals-to-answer-legal-questions-on-p

It's only illegal under some circumstances, but I think moreso than illegal it could ruin their career and get them debarred.

By which law?