Pages:
Author

Topic: Senator Charles Schumer Pushes to Shut Down Online Drug Marketplace - page 3. (Read 25500 times)

legendary
Activity: 3920
Merit: 2349
Eadem mutata resurgo
All the news talks about is money laundering..seriously wtf.

it probably doesn't help matters that there is a service called the Bitcoin Laundry listed on the "who accepts bitcoins" page

Although it should - because the fact that there is a service dedicated to laundering ought to indicate that bitcoin itself does not serve that function. But unfortunately, the old media doesn't think too good. Either that or they are really just as corrupt as the government on which they depend.

Bitcoin is not money so you can launder it as much as you like I think .... unless they are officially recognising it as money?

Jumbling up crypto tokens on a website for an on-line game is what exactly?
full member
Activity: 154
Merit: 100
I will to do what I can to help the police catch scammers and crooks who want to steal from people.  The police might use those same tools and techniques to help catch people who use bitcoin to pay for drugs; I can't stop them from doing that.

I'm just wondering does this include any sort of modification to the client especially such which would give the LEAs special privileges?

Not getting an answer to this question has me a little bit worried.

What is there to worry about? Audit the code yourself or use old trusted clients until the code has been well audited. I'm sure with the amount of people looking at everything Bitcoin with the intensity of a high powered microscope that should any such modification ever appear, it would be public knowledge before the client is even released.
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
Governments will interfere with Bitcoin whether we like that or not so keep this in mind we're here to profit from the last person to join while the fun ride is going on.
sr. member
Activity: 350
Merit: 250
Just to made it clear - any modification done, just to please US government, will immediately stop any activities with bitcoin chain of any other country citizens, and i am believe US citizens will also stop use that chain. We will watch closely sources, and matching hashes of compiled programs, builded from that sources.  I am confident that already opened sources can provide enough materials to start another chain.

That was a panic message - posted to made things clear on that matter.
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
Agorist
I will to do what I can to help the police catch scammers and crooks who want to steal from people.  The police might use those same tools and techniques to help catch people who use bitcoin to pay for drugs; I can't stop them from doing that.

I'm just wondering does this include any sort of modification to the client especially such which would give the LEAs special privileges?

Not getting an answer to this question has me a little bit worried.

Me too. That would be a good way to destroy bitcoin for me. The whole reason I like bitcoin vis a vis the dollar is the lack of special privileges given to anyone, let alone government officials.
legendary
Activity: 1078
Merit: 1003
I will to do what I can to help the police catch scammers and crooks who want to steal from people.  The police might use those same tools and techniques to help catch people who use bitcoin to pay for drugs; I can't stop them from doing that.

I'm just wondering does this include any sort of modification to the client especially such which would give the LEAs special privileges?

Not getting an answer to this question has me a little bit worried.
legendary
Activity: 1284
Merit: 1001
As an illegal good, bitcoin would be MUCH safer on a per-user basis than weed. Especially considering the fact that in order to enforce laws against it, they will have to spread themselves even thinner than they are, and that's so thin that they can't even keep heroin out of their own prisons as it is.
There are a ton of factors involved here. The utility of the goods for the user, availability of alternative legal ways to obtain a similar good, the chance of getting caught, the severity of the punishment... Most drug users will probably rate the utility fairly highly. There is no legal way to obtain something similar, the closest thing is probably alcohol. The chance of getting caught is very low, and if you do the punishment isn't all that severe.

Bitcoin users on the other hand could usually about as easily use paypal or credit cards. The chance of getting caught is unknown. However, seeing how RIAA and MPAA are allowed to just collect IPs and send bills for infringement I have no doubt governments could pass laws that make it illegal to connect to the bitcoin network altogether. Then they can just start collecting IPs and punish a collection of users severely, while letting everybody know how easily they found them. This would scare the average person back to paypal and CC, and make it that much easier to find and punish the remaining hardcore Bitcoin who actually has something to hide and can be bothered to use proxies and stuff like that.
legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1010
and that's so thin that they can't even keep heroin out of their own prisons.

Or cell phones.
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
Agorist
All the news talks about is money laundering..seriously wtf.

it probably doesn't help matters that there is a service called the Bitcoin Laundry listed on the "who accepts bitcoins" page

Although it should - because the fact that there is a service dedicated to laundering ought to indicate that bitcoin itself does not serve that function. But unfortunately, the old media doesn't think too good. Either that or they are really just as corrupt as the government on which they depend.
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
Agorist
You don't have to connect to a global open grid on the internet every time you want to use marijuana.
No, instead you have to have a face-to-face meeting with someone who could easily be a cop or an informant, or receive your product through the government-controlled mail service.

As an illegal good, bitcoin would be MUCH safer on a per-user basis than weed. Especially considering the fact that in order to enforce laws against it, state agencies will have to spread themselves even thinner than they are, and that's so thin that they can't even keep heroin out of their own prisons as it is.
newbie
Activity: 24
Merit: 0
All the news talks about is money laundering..seriously wtf.

it probably doesn't help matters that there is a service called the Bitcoin Laundry listed on the "who accepts bitcoins" page
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
etcetera
You should try leading the last sentence in the text he quoted.
Sites like Silk Road are going to make governments stop Bitcoin from getting widespread use, so you have to choose between having sites like this and the success of Bitcoin. It's a simple cause and affect, and saying that he would prefer the success of Bitcoin over the availability of such sites doesn't mean he likes it. In fact he's just said he doesn't like it. You are shooting the messenger.

The nature of bitcoin itself means the choice of who gets to use it is no longer anybodies to make.
legendary
Activity: 1284
Merit: 1001
Sort of like how they have made government stop marijuana from having widespread use. Right?
Why do you think that comparison makes any sense at all? You don't have to connect to a global open grid on the internet every time you want to use marijuana. If you did it would be ridiculously much easier to scare away the individual users.
legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1010
The conversation was brief and politic, but my overall impression was a positive one.

Yeah, the co-ops that they put on the phones are particularly good at giving that impression regardless of their true thoughts.
member
Activity: 98
Merit: 13
I got off of the phone with Senator Jim DeMint's(R SC) DC office, a short while ago.

While I didn't speak to the Senator, I talked to a member of his staff that was: already aware of Bitcoin and how it works, has visited this forum, and was aware of Gavin's coming trip to the CIA. He agreed that this is an interesting technology with market potential.

The conversation was brief and politic, but my overall impression was a positive one.

Good stuff.  We need more proactive, positive conversations like this.

newbie
Activity: 58
Merit: 0
I got off of the phone with Senator Jim DeMint's(R SC) DC office, a short while ago.

While I didn't speak to the Senator, I talked to a member of his staff that was: already aware of Bitcoin and how it works, has visited this forum, and was aware of Gavin's coming trip to the CIA. He agreed that this is an interesting technology with market potential.

The conversation was brief and politic, but my overall impression was a positive one.
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
Agorist
You should try leading the last sentence in the text he quoted.
Sites like Silk Road are going to make governments stop Bitcoin from getting widespread use
Sort of like how they have made government stop marijuana from having widespread use. Right?
legendary
Activity: 1284
Merit: 1001
You should try leading the last sentence in the text he quoted.
Sites like Silk Road are going to make governments stop Bitcoin from getting widespread use, so you have to choose between having sites like this and the success of Bitcoin. It's a simple cause and affect, and saying that he would prefer the success of Bitcoin over the availability of such sites doesn't mean he likes it. In fact he's just said he doesn't like it. You are shooting the messenger.
full member
Activity: 126
Merit: 100
I actually agree that drugs should be legal and one should be allowed to ingest anything they please. But what should and shouldn't be has little to do with what IS and ISN'T. Drug trafficking IS illegal in the united states. This rich and powerful man now sees drugs and bitcoins as indivisible and mining and trading bitcoins as a criminal offense. He is actively trying to convince his rich and powerful friends of the same directly because of silk road. Silk road is a thread to the bitcoin network and I personally want to see it exterminated.


I know there are forum rules, but at what point can I say mean things about this guy?

Sounds like "buddha" can't remove his tongue from the bottom of the government's boot heel, and quite frankly, sounds a lot like them with his twisted morality.

mjsbuddha, understand that you have ZERO say in what I, or anyone else chooses to put in their own bodies. The fact that you feel you somehow have a right or duty to impose your ideals of behavior on others is really sickening to me. You want to shut down a website cause you don't like it?!?! Why don't you work on yourself first?
Read the first sentence in the text you quoted a few times. If you still think your reply is relevant you should probably just stop posting.

You should try leading the last sentence in the text he quoted.
legendary
Activity: 1284
Merit: 1001
I actually agree that drugs should be legal and one should be allowed to ingest anything they please. But what should and shouldn't be has little to do with what IS and ISN'T. Drug trafficking IS illegal in the united states. This rich and powerful man now sees drugs and bitcoins as indivisible and mining and trading bitcoins as a criminal offense. He is actively trying to convince his rich and powerful friends of the same directly because of silk road. Silk road is a thread to the bitcoin network and I personally want to see it exterminated.


I know there are forum rules, but at what point can I say mean things about this guy?

Sounds like "buddha" can't remove his tongue from the bottom of the government's boot heel, and quite frankly, sounds a lot like them with his twisted morality.

mjsbuddha, understand that you have ZERO say in what I, or anyone else chooses to put in their own bodies. The fact that you feel you somehow have a right or duty to impose your ideals of behavior on others is really sickening to me. You want to shut down a website cause you don't like it?!?! Why don't you work on yourself first?
Read the first sentence in the text you quoted a few times. If you still think your reply is relevant you should probably just stop posting.
Pages:
Jump to: