Topic: Romney's tax returns - first Bitcoin extortion? - page 14. (Read 33960 times)
probably trying to pass a message but looks like gibberish. not sure if because more than 1 person is spamming small amounts (thus ruining any meaning) or simply by inability to transcode binary
If I were a pissed admin/mod I won't doubt in injecting the published address in the Pirate signspace as a typical donation address. Just for the lulz.
Romney cannot pay this. There will be easily another extortion again.
http://blockchain.info/address/1HeF89wMjC48bWNgWvVo7Wu3RaLW8XVsE8
Activity on the address.
Activity on the address.
perhaps this is pirate's endgame? 
Sounds like potential market turmoil in the making, in a number of scenarios, whether pirating or not
Sounds like potential market turmoil in the making, in a number of scenarios, whether pirating or not
Most likley scenario this is a planted manufactured media anti Bitcoin campaign.
How come?
There are plenty of reasons to try and hurry to get rid of a world currency that does not go down in value
and is out of their control so they cant print money.
A currency that does not spy on people and force people to give their money to banks and dont spy on them-
Before people get to understand how good it is.
If there really are hackers having the information.
There is not a single reason for them to go in public with having the information.
If they wanted money.
Not a single one.
They simply would not go to a newspaper, they would go to
where the money is.
If hackers wanted to get payed in Bitcoin.
They would not go public to a newspaper with that info.
Since it would mean the value of Bitcoin could be negatively affected.
If real hackers wanted to get payed.
They would not publish the adress in public in a newspaper.
Because now he cant pay.
Since its public it would be like showing everyone he is guilty.
Thus it becomes impossible to pay.
The fact that its in a newspaper.
It specifically mentions Bitcoins as the payment method.
The adress is published so everyone can look at it.
And even tells everyone what it is they should look at.
Its a joke.
The first rule of a true extortion, to NOT reveal the info you want to get payed for.
But there are plenty of nice reasons to create such a fake campaign.
1. Fool Obama team to send Bitcoins to the adress. WIN
Get journalist a reason to show everyone that he did pay his taxes.
Make Mitt Romney appear as a hero. Who have nothing to hide. WIN
Make Bitcoin look like a bad payment system. WIN.
Buy cheap Bitcoin and get it regulated. Value goes up. Tripple WIN.
Or get a public consensus created a reason to crack down on Bitcoin. Tripple WIN.
So no obviously absolutly no reason to go to a small newspaper if this was real.
Plenty of reason to go to a small newspaper and "plant the made up story" if this was fake.
Another reason if its a fake.
2. Mitt Romney really is guilty. Publish it as something "hackers" found out. Mitt Romney is stuck. He cant pay so the documents will be released. Win. Make Bitcoin look like a bad payment system Win.
Buy cheap Bitcoin and get it regulated. Value goes up. Tripple win.
Or a created a reason to crack down on Bitcoin. Tripple WIN.
Its simply a campaign to connect Bitcoin with something bad.
The selected the tax info papers, because noone would get harmed and they ofcourse know that he had nothing to hide.
They made the misstake to publish the Bitcoin adress, so people would think it was something real.
Oh look, it even has a adress, it must be real by those hackers.
What really gives it away is that.
They didnt think of the fact that if it was real.
The adress would never hade been published and a newspaper never contacted.
Since it means he absolutly can not pay
Ofcourse they are not going to buy a lot of Bitcoins and send to a adress.
They just cant do that.
In short it screams a manufactured media campaign written all over it.
They want people to think they what they need is money that spy on them.
Their family, friends, mothers and fathers, politicians, judges etc.
Your Credit Card Is Spying on You
http://www.newser.com/story/85372/your-credit-card-is-spying-on-you.html
How come?
There are plenty of reasons to try and hurry to get rid of a world currency that does not go down in value
and is out of their control so they cant print money.
A currency that does not spy on people and force people to give their money to banks and dont spy on them-
Before people get to understand how good it is.
If there really are hackers having the information.
There is not a single reason for them to go in public with having the information.
If they wanted money.
Not a single one.
They simply would not go to a newspaper, they would go to
where the money is.
If hackers wanted to get payed in Bitcoin.
They would not go public to a newspaper with that info.
Since it would mean the value of Bitcoin could be negatively affected.
If real hackers wanted to get payed.
They would not publish the adress in public in a newspaper.
Because now he cant pay.
Since its public it would be like showing everyone he is guilty.
Thus it becomes impossible to pay.
The fact that its in a newspaper.
It specifically mentions Bitcoins as the payment method.
The adress is published so everyone can look at it.
And even tells everyone what it is they should look at.
Its a joke.
The first rule of a true extortion, to NOT reveal the info you want to get payed for.
But there are plenty of nice reasons to create such a fake campaign.
1. Fool Obama team to send Bitcoins to the adress. WIN
Get journalist a reason to show everyone that he did pay his taxes.
Make Mitt Romney appear as a hero. Who have nothing to hide. WIN
Make Bitcoin look like a bad payment system. WIN.
Buy cheap Bitcoin and get it regulated. Value goes up. Tripple WIN.
Or get a public consensus created a reason to crack down on Bitcoin. Tripple WIN.
So no obviously absolutly no reason to go to a small newspaper if this was real.
Plenty of reason to go to a small newspaper and "plant the made up story" if this was fake.
Another reason if its a fake.
2. Mitt Romney really is guilty. Publish it as something "hackers" found out. Mitt Romney is stuck. He cant pay so the documents will be released. Win. Make Bitcoin look like a bad payment system Win.
Buy cheap Bitcoin and get it regulated. Value goes up. Tripple win.
Or a created a reason to crack down on Bitcoin. Tripple WIN.
Its simply a campaign to connect Bitcoin with something bad.
The selected the tax info papers, because noone would get harmed and they ofcourse know that he had nothing to hide.
They made the misstake to publish the Bitcoin adress, so people would think it was something real.
Oh look, it even has a adress, it must be real by those hackers.
What really gives it away is that.
They didnt think of the fact that if it was real.
The adress would never hade been published and a newspaper never contacted.
Since it means he absolutly can not pay
Ofcourse they are not going to buy a lot of Bitcoins and send to a adress.
They just cant do that.
In short it screams a manufactured media campaign written all over it.
They want people to think they what they need is money that spy on them.
Their family, friends, mothers and fathers, politicians, judges etc.
Your Credit Card Is Spying on You
http://www.newser.com/story/85372/your-credit-card-is-spying-on-you.html
If this person was really serious about getting paid he would ask for 50 or 100K, But they would only pay if he released a teaser like page 65-100 on year 2008 to prove that he has something of value.
how about a screenshot of the http://romneygirl.org/ video at 1'18 ? that would be a proof!
Taking this a little further: The thieve's carefullness about explaining the 1M USD denomination on the 25'th shows that they anticipate the price plummeting as a consequence. So maybe it is us who are being extorted? Are they hoping for a community donation of 1.000.000 USD on the 25'th to take the heat off Bitcoin?
If that is the case, the stupidest thing to do would be to make such a fund; dropping prices could make this very expensive in bitcoins on the 25'th. A better thing to do, if people are compelled to part with some money to put this to rest and Romney in office, would be to fund a reward for revealing their identity. You guys found Pirate in 72 hours. How hard can this be?
If that is the case, the stupidest thing to do would be to make such a fund; dropping prices could make this very expensive in bitcoins on the 25'th. A better thing to do, if people are compelled to part with some money to put this to rest and Romney in office, would be to fund a reward for revealing their identity. You guys found Pirate in 72 hours. How hard can this be?
Bitcoin is still in its infancy. It would not survive a shutdown of USD-facing exchanges. It's too vulnerable.
Many thought bitcoin wouldn't survive when it crashed last year. The value may drop as a result of your scenario, but it wouldn't be enough to kill the protocol. It has too much utility.
The Bitcoin economy can be damaged (even severely damaged), but it's not going away.
Exactly. It is pretty fascinating to see the resilience of the censorship resistant Bitcoin economy.
If bitcoins are the blood (like USD, Euros, etc.) and Bitcoin the protocol is the veins (like banks, credit cards, etc.) then the Bitcoin economy is like a super-charged regenerating muscle system.
The Bitcoin economy has taken major damage many times (MyBitcoin, MtGox hack, Bitcoinica, Pirate, etc.) but then repairs itself and grows larger and stronger in the process.
However, unlike physical muscles in traditional organisms it seems that as the Bitcoin economy grows larger and stronger the recuperation period to recover from damage actually decreases instead of increases.
Someone sent .01 BTC to the address to stop the release! http://blockchain.info/tx/f94763d9ab91535a4d2cd2d241b3a5ab09132dd34839218ec858c4729002eb21/f94763d9ab91535a4d2cd2d241b3a5ab09132dd34839218ec858c4729002eb21
Relayed by ip 46.4.121.100 (whois)
Relayed by ip 46.4.121.100 (whois)
Could take quite a while to reach $ 1 million at this rate.
Hmm. Can't seem to get blockchain.info at the moment. Is it overloaded by too many people checking... and a new term was born... hashdotted (instead of slashdotted).
Someone sent .01 BTC to the address to stop the release! http://blockchain.info/tx/f94763d9ab91535a4d2cd2d241b3a5ab09132dd34839218ec858c4729002eb21/f94763d9ab91535a4d2cd2d241b3a5ab09132dd34839218ec858c4729002eb21
Relayed by ip 46.4.121.100 (whois)
Relayed by ip 46.4.121.100 (whois)
Bitcoin is still in its infancy. It would not survive a shutdown of USD-facing exchanges. It's too vulnerable.
Many thought bitcoin wouldn't survive when it crashed last year. The value may drop as a result of your scenario, but it wouldn't be enough to kill the protocol. It has too much utility.
80% of BTC exchanges are for USD. Source.
Bitcoin is still in its infancy. It would not survive a shutdown of USD-facing exchanges. It's too vulnerable.
How many Americans still play online poker? It can be done using VPNs, a foreign bank account and foreign mailing address, but nobody bothers because of the hassle.
Bitcoin could certainly survive a shutdown of USD facing exchanges. It can always be exchanged over the counter. Shutting down the USD based exchanges would certainly cause chaos in the pricing mechanism, but where there is chaos there is opportunity for clandestine arbitrage. Basically, pockets of price differences for BTC would create opportunities for arbitrage, which would once again provide a price mechanism. The Bitcoin economy can be damaged (even severely damaged), but it's not going away.
I wouldn't get so overconfident. They control the banking system. If they shut off funds transfers to Mt. Gox, which would be trivially easy to do, your bitcoin holdings will become worthless overnight.
There are exchanges in other parts of the world that would pick up the slack, using alternative means of funding. It would drive up the cost of acquiring and trading btc, which would probably drive up the value.
Governments banning commodities in demand have a history of increasing value.
80% of BTC exchanges are for USD. Source.
Bitcoin is still in its infancy. It would not survive a shutdown of USD-facing exchanges. It's too vulnerable.
How many Americans still play online poker? It can be done using VPNs, a foreign bank account and foreign mailing address, but nobody bothers because of the hassle.
Someone please publish the the thieves payment address and be ready to track it when it goes on-line.
They already published the addresses in their announcement.
I thought of sending a couple bitcents just to see if they get picked up, but I have no interest in the Secret Service tracking me down to "just ask me a couple questions."
I wouldn't get so overconfident. They control the banking system. If they shut off funds transfers to Mt. Gox, which would be trivially easy to do, your bitcoin holdings will become worthless overnight.
There are exchanges in other parts of the world that would pick up the slack, using alternative means of funding. It would drive up the cost of acquiring and trading btc, which would probably drive up the value.
Governments banning commodities in demand have a history of increasing value.
Think how it looks if they throw all their resources at it and still cant get it shut down
They can't even shutdown bit torrent. Bitcoin is a much harder fight.
I wouldn't get so overconfident. They control the banking system. If they shut off funds transfers to Mt. Gox, which would be trivially easy to do, your bitcoin holdings will become worthless overnight.
As the story is already out, there is not point in paying the thieves. The fact that incriminating tax returns exist, paying the ransom would be as devastating politically, as having them published. The thieves know that and therefore the fact that they will never get paid. Further influencing politics through threats is an act of terrorism
so take it for what it is; a hoax some crazy kind of political attack designed to bring a crab load of hell to the Bitcoin community (if this is market manipulation it's really stupid). Someone please publish the the thieves payment address and be ready to track it when it goes on-line. further make some press statements to underline the seriousness of the situation. Write an open letter to the FBI offering cooperation in in tracking them and giving them technical support, Write befriended congressmen This is serious!!
so take it for what it is; a hoax some crazy kind of political attack designed to bring a crab load of hell to the Bitcoin community (if this is market manipulation it's really stupid). Someone please publish the the thieves payment address and be ready to track it when it goes on-line. further make some press statements to underline the seriousness of the situation. Write an open letter to the FBI offering cooperation in in tracking them and giving them technical support, Write befriended congressmen This is serious!!
It could just be a ploy to get more attention for Bitcoin.
I consider this the most likely scenario. It's clear that whoever posted the pastebin doesn't care about whether the information they supposedly went to great trouble to obtain is released or not (why even explain how you supposedly obtained the information, if that's the case), but there's a chance that a story about Romney being "blackmailed" over his tax records will get mainstream media attention - something Bitcoin hasn't managed to achieve yet (the technology sections of newspapers don't really count). If you wanted Bitcoin to get mentioned in the 6pm news bulletin of major TV networks or the political section of major newspapers, this might be one way to make that happen - for better or worse.
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