Topic: Law Enforcement Attending Bitcoin Meetups Undercover? - page 2. (Read 6341 times)
There may be a silver lining to the FBI reading these forums. From reading the DPR indictment, I felt that they were careful to differentiate between the illegitimacy of silk road vs. the legitimacy of bitcoin. I suspect that some of these FBI guys may secretly have bitcoin fever just like us. This could (hopefully) undermine any full scale attack by the U.S. government against bitcoin.
i wish it was that simple. unfortunately EVERYONE is a felon. the average normal neighbor joe commits 3 felonies a day. you cant just "not break the law". not even a law professor knows how to do that.
Much true, unfortunately.I've been around long enough to remember a sting operation in Europe where a seller of bitcoins was arrested after selling bitcoins to undercover agents.
Lol "in Europe". Where and when, exactly? 
Who cares. Don't break laws when using bitcoin. You should be fine.
i wish it was that simple. unfortunately EVERYONE is a felon. the average normal neighbor joe commits 3 felonies a day. you cant just "not break the law". not even a law professor knows how to do that.
The paranoia is strong with this one.
Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
- Joseph Heller
Seriously though...., don't dismiss this as a risk. If in a couple years Bitcoin rises 50x from its current value, just like it did in that past couple years, the response by the State will likely be to round up those responsible. And the surveillance they do now just helps them justify their case. Did a trade on LocalBitcoins? That might be enough to hold a person for a few weeks on suspicion of operating as a money transmitter without a license. How would "they" prove it"? Well, LocalBitcoins sends confirmation of each trade, in clear text, to your e-mail. Hinted that you might like to light up? Well, even if ten thousand people just like you in your part of town do the same thing what if you happened to be the one that got the knock on the door? Coincidence? Nope!
We know the the tools necessary (Tor, GPG, mixers, shared send, etc.) but we (or most of us, myself included) don't use them.
We are doing nothing to prepare for the day they go on the offensive with regard to Bitcoin.
As everyone knows law enforcement is all over these forums. They sure keep quite. Maybe because they dont't want to taint evidence with forum posts which could be used against them in the court of law.
Anyways, it dawned on me that law enforcement is attending bitcoin meetups undercover. The FBI, state of NY, etc have tons of money to run such an operation.
It just feels weird to have people pretend they know bitcoin and then try to be friends with you even when you know you have not broken any laws. Makes me paranoid to mentally play, "Spot the fed", while at a bitcoin meetup. It also feels like an invasion of privacy.
Thoughts? Am I paranoid? Should everyone be? Maybe I have been watching too much breaking bad.
Anyways, it dawned on me that law enforcement is attending bitcoin meetups undercover. The FBI, state of NY, etc have tons of money to run such an operation.
It just feels weird to have people pretend they know bitcoin and then try to be friends with you even when you know you have not broken any laws. Makes me paranoid to mentally play, "Spot the fed", while at a bitcoin meetup. It also feels like an invasion of privacy.
Thoughts? Am I paranoid? Should everyone be? Maybe I have been watching too much breaking bad.
Ever occur to you that a law enforcement officer there not in uniform might be there out of personal interest? or do you only get to use bitcoin with certain careers now?
I'll be on the lookout. Authorities are banned from my events 
Anyways, it dawned on me that law enforcement is attending bitcoin meetups undercover. The FBI, state of NY, etc have tons of money to run such an operation.
It just feels weird to have people pretend they know bitcoin and then try to be friends with you even when you know you have not broken any laws. Makes me paranoid to mentally play, "Spot the fed", while at a bitcoin meetup. It also feels like an invasion of privacy.
Thoughts? Am I paranoid? Should everyone be? Maybe I have been watching too much breaking bad.
I'm pretty there are agents of various kinds attending meetups, and acting as both buyers and sellers on LocalBitcoins.It just feels weird to have people pretend they know bitcoin and then try to be friends with you even when you know you have not broken any laws. Makes me paranoid to mentally play, "Spot the fed", while at a bitcoin meetup. It also feels like an invasion of privacy.
Thoughts? Am I paranoid? Should everyone be? Maybe I have been watching too much breaking bad.
I was at a public park on Tuesday and ended up in what I thought was just a random conversation with a stranger, but after thinking about the kinds of questions he was asking I'm not sure how random it really was.
Government spies are everywhere,
They're in our food and in our hair,
Lurking in their secret lair,
Counting dollars!
Thank you Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers(tm)!
Oh, Damn, I just probably went on a list somewhere, for reading subversive comics...
I'd assume there LE who are genuinely interested in it
Why would 'law Enforcement" have to go undercover in the first place?
As long as you aren't running another SR or dodging taxes...then you have nothing to worry about.
~BCX~
Oh, didn't you know ?
Everybody here is running their own version of Silkroad. Havent you heard ? That's what Bitcoin is all about !!!!!!!!1111111111oneoneoneevelen
[/NSA/FBI/CIA/ECHELON/PRISM Trolling mode OFF]
We ALL work for the NSA. **Budupcha**
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There is no question that police officers are allowed to directly mislead and/or deceive others about their identity, their law enforcement status, their history, and just about anything else, without breaking the law or compromising their case.
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For instance, law enforcement officers directly engaged in the enforcement of controlled substance laws are exempt from laws surrounding the purchase, possession, sales or use of illegal substances.
https://www.erowid.org/freedom/police/police_info6.shtmlParanoia in 5, 4, 3, 2...
Ente
The only thing I'm even remotely upset about is that the ladies of negotiable affection went away too.
there is much win in this one"It's not who votes that counts, it's who counts the votes." When the worst of all possible evils always wins where it counts, you realize Stalin's thesis thoroughly haunts American elections.
+1From my understanding, undercovers are limited in their ability to have direct, long term relationships with people on forums and such. So the undercover's probably spend alot more itme reading than trolling.
Also if you ask them they have to tell you they're a cop. This is how that works, yes it is.
So any law enforcement officers please post in the thread below this post. Thank you.
Lol is that before or after they snort your cocaine to validate its good stuff?
You should know the answer to that, Mr. Law Enforcement officer. Is it ok if I call you "Law"?
From my understanding, undercovers are limited in their ability to have direct, long term relationships with people on forums and such. So the undercover's probably spend alot more itme reading than trolling.
Also if you ask them they have to tell you they're a cop. This is how that works, yes it is.
So any law enforcement officers please post in the thread below this post. Thank you.
Lol is that before or after they snort your cocaine to validate its good stuff?
From my understanding, undercovers are limited in their ability to have direct, long term relationships with people on forums and such. So the undercover's probably spend alot more itme reading than trolling.
Also if you ask them they have to tell you they're a cop. This is how that works, yes it is.
So any law enforcement officers please post in the thread below this post. Thank you.
From my understanding, undercovers are limited in their ability to have direct, long term relationships with people on forums and such. So the undercover's probably spend alot more itme reading than trolling.
I was going to invite the fuzz down to my next meet up, to give their side of the story.
If you are Oakland it would probably go something like "I thought it was my taser, not my gun."
I was going to invite the fuzz down to my next meet up, to give their side of the story.
Good. I hope there are many law enforcement people in every BTC meetup, so that they see there's nothing wrong about it. BTC's got to move from its drug & gambling image.
You realize that Bitcoin's future has absolutely nothing to do with what law enforcement thinks about it, right?getting drugs out of the focus and into the "noise" (like they are with fiat) is a good first step.
Good. I hope there are many law enforcement people in every BTC meetup, so that they see there's nothing wrong about it. BTC's got to move from its drug & gambling image.
You realize that Bitcoin's future has absolutely nothing to do with what law enforcement thinks about it, right? Jump to: