Author

Topic: Scammer/thief identification pool (Read 1252 times)

donator
Activity: 213
Merit: 100
SEIZED by Gunthar
April 29, 2011, 11:15:18 PM
#6
People will backtrace it.

Consequences will never me the same.
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
April 29, 2011, 08:23:37 PM
#5
One of our community members recently lost over 1,000 BTC to a hacker.

That's a coincidence.

One of our community members just earned over 1000 BTC teaching a short online course called "wallet security".
sr. member
Activity: 294
Merit: 250
April 29, 2011, 05:34:14 PM
#4
Turtles all the way down!

SunAvatar, for what it's worth, I think it's a great idea. The private production of law and law enforcement, especially on the internet, is inevitable (in my opinion).
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1014
Strength in numbers
April 29, 2011, 05:18:46 PM
#3
Q. How do we prevent bad people from using the vigilante group to harass good people?

A. We can't.


I'm going to start a pool to expose people who misuse the vigilante group.  Roll Eyes
full member
Activity: 123
Merit: 100
April 29, 2011, 05:16:02 PM
#2
Q. How do we prevent bad people from using the vigilante group to harass good people?

A. We can't.


full member
Activity: 140
Merit: 100
April 29, 2011, 05:09:25 PM
#1
I'm interested in setting up a pool that will pay out bounties to those who find and publicly reveal the offline identities of scammers and thieves. One of our community members recently lost over 1,000 BTC to a hacker. Fortunately this person seems easy to track down, but what if they hadn't been? Since the legal status of bitcoins is still open in every jurisdiction in the world, it is entirely possible at the moment that you can have your life savings stolen with no recourse available. I'd like to do something to remedy that situation.

Contributing to this pool will be an act of charity, in the sense that bounties will be offered on behalf of victims regardless of whether they have contributed. But contributing will still be beneficial to you if you're interested in the growth of our small community. Making life difficult for thieves will keep many of them away altogether, as well as easing the minds of people nervous about trading in such an "unofficial" currency. Businesses will enter more readily, trade will be faster, and more people will be willing to invest. Your contributions can be seen as an investment in the security of the bitcoin-based economy.

There are two major questions I have. One is how to determine policies on things like how to set bounties, when to offer them, and when to pay them. I could just declare that I'll figure that out myself, but then I'm basically saying "Give me your money and I'll decide what to do with it." I think a better idea would be to create a tradeable entity on Nefario's exchange, with one share. (Not exactly a corporation, as it will have no fiduciary duty to shareholders and probably won't pay dividends.) Then we'll leave it to shareholders to elect folks for the actual work.

The other question is legality. Could this be construed as vigilantism? I'd assume it's okay as long as we require bounty hunters to provide some assurance that they haven't violated any laws to obtain their information, but this will probably vary by jurisdiction. (I should note that I actually do expect them to stay within the law---I don't want people breaking the systems of innocent third parties to invade their privacy, even if it's in a good cause.) We may need to hire a lawyer or twenty to make sure we're in the clear.

At the moment I'm not looking for donations, just statements of interest. If you feel you're interested in contributing to such a thing, whether by donating or buying stock or collecting bounties or helping me write a charter, please say so.
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