World’s Bitcoin Exchanges Track and Report Customer Activity

QuestionAuthority

legendary

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You lead and I'll watch you walk away.

Quote from: achow101 on June 07, 2015, 11:28:38 AM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 07, 2015, 11:19:01 AM

I'll do this one more time since you all don't read posted links.

Quote

"Bitcoin transaction privacy is really complicated," Gaven Andresen, chief scientist with the Bitcoin Foundation, previously told Wired.com. "If you want to be sure that your transactions are going to be private, then you probably need to hire a cryptography PhD to analyse your system."

Source even though you won't click into it: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/11/bitcoin-prism

There are many Gift Cards that act like Debit cards online that do not require a SSN, address or any identification to purchase. I buy them at my local grocery store all the time. Fully anonymous cards. Cash is fully anonymous if you're dealing with someone in person. You can take cash and hand it to anyone without them knowing anything about you.

I clicked on that link and read about it. In order to find out who is behind what addresses, a significant amount of time and effort is required to go through several months of passive analysis to find patterns to identify a person. Gift Cards on the other hand, although they can be bought anonymously, in order to use them online like Bitcoin, must have a name, address, and sometimes phone number associated with them. You must include the Billing Address in a Gift Card transaction in order to use it. It is much easier to ask a store and ask for their database of transactions and search for a name or address or gift card number than it is to sift through months of data to identify patterns that may not even exist.

I've used gift cards to buy "questionable" items completely anonymously. I give a fake name and used a university open address department mail drop. I have a friend thats working on his doctorate in Political Science and distributes the mail. I just have him set aside any packages that come for Tom Jones. That's only one way to do it. In my neighborhood, the postman sits packages that are to big for the multi-box on your doorstep. I just ship it to my neighbors house and watch the daily mail delivery. Everyone is at work and I'm retired so I just walk over and pick it up.

achow101

staff

Activity: 3458

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Just writing some code

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 07, 2015, 11:19:01 AM

I'll do this one more time since you all don't read posted links.

Quote

"Bitcoin transaction privacy is really complicated," Gaven Andresen, chief scientist with the Bitcoin Foundation, previously told Wired.com. "If you want to be sure that your transactions are going to be private, then you probably need to hire a cryptography PhD to analyse your system."

Source even though you won't click into it: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/11/bitcoin-prism

There are many Gift Cards that act like Debit cards online that do not require a SSN, address or any identification to purchase. I buy them at my local grocery store all the time. Fully anonymous cards. Cash is fully anonymous if you're dealing with someone in person. You can take cash and hand it to anyone without them knowing anything about you.

I clicked on that link and read about it. In order to find out who is behind what addresses, a significant amount of time and effort is required to go through several months of passive analysis to find patterns to identify a person. Gift Cards on the other hand, although they can be bought anonymously, in order to use them online like Bitcoin, must have a name, address, and sometimes phone number associated with them. You must include the Billing Address in a Gift Card transaction in order to use it. It is much easier to ask a store and ask for their database of transactions and search for a name or address or gift card number than it is to sift through months of data to identify patterns that may not even exist.

QuestionAuthority

legendary

Activity: 2156

Merit: 1393

You lead and I'll watch you walk away.

I'll do this one more time since you all don't read posted links.

Quote

"Bitcoin transaction privacy is really complicated," Gaven Andresen, chief scientist with the Bitcoin Foundation, previously told Wired.com. "If you want to be sure that your transactions are going to be private, then you probably need to hire a cryptography PhD to analyse your system."

Source even though you won't click into it: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/11/bitcoin-prism

There are many Gift Cards that act like Debit cards online that do not require a SSN, address or any identification to purchase. I buy them at my local grocery store all the time. Fully anonymous cards. Cash is fully anonymous if you're dealing with someone in person. You can take cash and hand it to anyone without them knowing anything about you.

Habeler876

hero member

Activity: 624

Merit: 500

All of this was to be expected. Bitcoin isn't really anonymous. And centralized exchanges are, well, centralized. And yeah, they will work with governments.

Lauda

legendary

Activity: 2674

Merit: 2965

Terminated.

Quote from: BillyBobZorton on June 05, 2015, 01:40:31 PM

It's quite funny, because I remember saying an article like this back in 2012, where BTC got linked to paedos, drug dealers and other criminals, which made me totally ignore it as something not good.
Thanks to that FUD article, I lost the chance of being a millionaire a year later, but thanks to that article, im here today ahead of a lot of other people, with a couple BTC under my belt, ready for the revolution to take over the world in the next decade.

OP has started sharing these articles for the sake of spreading fear. This won't benefit anyone, not Bitcoin or his beloved Goldcoin. He should stop.

What did people think was happening? Banks suddenly getting incoming transactions valued at thousands and even millions of dollars and that nobody was going to ask where it came from?
Let's get back to reality.

Quote from: bryant.coleman on June 07, 2015, 03:33:46 AM

How can cash be anonymous, and Bitcoin not so? If I am using a proxy server or a VPN or other anonymization services such as the I2P browser, how can someone find out my real IP address? And if I am using a one-time Bitcoin address, created just for a single Bitcoin transaction, I don't think anyone will be able to trace me using it.

That's the main thing here. If you pick the wrong proxy/VPN and you do something illegal you're done for. We've had several reports of VPN's giving data to governments in the past.
Finding a VPN that is secure (strong encryption), reliable and one that keeps no logs isn't as easy as it seems.

Amph

legendary

Activity: 3248

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Quote from: bryant.coleman on June 07, 2015, 03:33:46 AM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 06, 2015, 06:47:45 PM

Cash is the only truly anonymous method of payment. Bitcoin has a ledger that will be around forever. Eventually computer forensics will be able to use that ledger to peg transactions to IP addresses or possibly trace it straight to the user with the help of ISPs. If you really want to be anonymous when you buy online I suggest Simon Gift Cards and Debit Cards. https://www.simon.com/giftcard/

How can cash be anonymous, and Bitcoin not so? If I am using a proxy server or a VPN or other anonymization services such as the I2P browser, how can someone find out my real IP address? And if I am using a one-time Bitcoin address, created just for a single Bitcoin transaction, I don't think anyone will be able to trace me using it.

perfectly in agreement, everyone always say that bitcoin isn't anon, and it is easy to track you back, yet the story of all hackers that were successful at scamming big exchanges begs to differ

It is very easy to disguise yourself with bitcoin, there are plenty of different tools available

bryant.coleman

legendary

Activity: 3766

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Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 06, 2015, 06:47:45 PM

Cash is the only truly anonymous method of payment. Bitcoin has a ledger that will be around forever. Eventually computer forensics will be able to use that ledger to peg transactions to IP addresses or possibly trace it straight to the user with the help of ISPs. If you really want to be anonymous when you buy online I suggest Simon Gift Cards and Debit Cards. https://www.simon.com/giftcard/

How can cash be anonymous, and Bitcoin not so? If I am using a proxy server or a VPN or other anonymization services such as the I2P browser, how can someone find out my real IP address? And if I am using a one-time Bitcoin address, created just for a single Bitcoin transaction, I don't think anyone will be able to trace me using it.

Amph

legendary

Activity: 3248

Merit: 1070

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 06, 2015, 06:47:45 PM

Cash is the only truly anonymous method of payment. Bitcoin has a ledger that will be around forever. Eventually computer forensics will be able to use that ledger to peg transactions to IP addresses or possibly trace it straight to the user with the help of ISPs. If you really want to be anonymous when you buy online I suggest Simon Gift Cards and Debit Cards. https://www.simon.com/giftcard/

something like monero, begs to differ, cash is more prone to be falsified, but it is not the best anon option available

yeah you need to buy monero at first, but you can always mine it if you have a powerful rig, and good cheap electricity

QuestionAuthority

legendary

Activity: 2156

Merit: 1393

You lead and I'll watch you walk away.

Quote from: lemipawa on June 06, 2015, 09:01:28 PM

Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 06, 2015, 06:47:45 PM

Cash is the only truly anonymous method of payment. Bitcoin has a ledger that will be around forever. Eventually computer forensics will be able to use that ledger to peg transactions to IP addresses or possibly trace it straight to the user with the help of ISPs. If you really want to be anonymous when you buy online I suggest Simon Gift Cards and Debit Cards. https://www.simon.com/giftcard/

Do you understand how the blockchain works? It never records the IP address from which the transaction was sent. How would Gift Cards or Debit cards be more anonymous? Those are linked to a name and address, whereas Bitcoin addresses are only linked to a 30-some character string of random numbers and letters?

Maybe you should read up on that first before you sound so sure.

http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-06/11/bitcoin-prism

http://www.wired.com/2015/01/prosecutors-trace-13-4-million-bitcoins-silk-road-ulbrichts-laptop/

http://www.theprivacyguy.com/anonymous-credit-debit-cards/

lemipawa

legendary

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Quote from: QuestionAuthority on June 06, 2015, 06:47:45 PM

Cash is the only truly anonymous method of payment. Bitcoin has a ledger that will be around forever. Eventually computer forensics will be able to use that ledger to peg transactions to IP addresses or possibly trace it straight to the user with the help of ISPs. If you really want to be anonymous when you buy online I suggest Simon Gift Cards and Debit Cards. https://www.simon.com/giftcard/

Do you understand how the blockchain works? It never records the IP address from which the transaction was sent. How would Gift Cards or Debit cards be more anonymous? Those are linked to a name and address, whereas Bitcoin addresses are only linked to a 30-some character string of random numbers and letters?

QuestionAuthority

legendary

Activity: 2156

Merit: 1393

You lead and I'll watch you walk away.

Cash is the only truly anonymous method of payment. Bitcoin has a ledger that will be around forever. Eventually computer forensics will be able to use that ledger to peg transactions to IP addresses or possibly trace it straight to the user with the help of ISPs. If you really want to be anonymous when you buy online I suggest Simon Gift Cards and Debit Cards. https://www.simon.com/giftcard/

anderson00673

sr. member

Activity: 308

Merit: 250

Quote from: bryant.coleman on June 06, 2015, 01:27:17 PM

Quote from: anderson00673 on June 06, 2015, 12:50:39 PM

I have used btc-e before and had no problems, but only once. People here talk a lot of smack about them, but never really give any specifics. One guy said that you shouldn't use and Chinese exchange because of Chinese culture. WTF is that supposed to mean? I pretty much disregard this stuff unless specific evidence is brought to support the accusations.

Some people say that we shouldn't trust BTC-e because the identity of the owners are not known. They are only known as "Alexei" and "Alexander", and it is known that they are Russian citizens from the city of Moscow. Earlier they were based in Kiev (Ukraine), but later shifted their operations to Sofia (Bulgaria).

IMO, why we should bother about the real ID of the BTC-e owners? The identity of the Mt Gox owner was known to everyone. Did that prevented him from running away with $600 million worth of coins and cash?

Thanks! That seems like a pretty flimsy reason to not use btc-e. What do I care who runs it? What I care is if the business is legit, provides a good service, and won't go out of business or somehow run off with my coins. The have a good presence in bitcoins so it seems silly to me that they would somehow scam users. They stand to make FAR more as a legitimate exchange then as a one timer scam site. I could be wrong I guess.

bryant.coleman

legendary

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Quote from: anderson00673 on June 06, 2015, 12:50:39 PM

I have used btc-e before and had no problems, but only once. People here talk a lot of smack about them, but never really give any specifics. One guy said that you shouldn't use and Chinese exchange because of Chinese culture. WTF is that supposed to mean? I pretty much disregard this stuff unless specific evidence is brought to support the accusations.

Some people say that we shouldn't trust BTC-e because the identity of the owners are not known. They are only known as "Alexei" and "Alexander", and it is known that they are Russian citizens from the city of Moscow. Earlier they were based in Kiev (Ukraine), but later shifted their operations to Sofia (Bulgaria).

IMO, why we should bother about the real ID of the BTC-e owners? The identity of the Mt Gox owner was known to everyone. Did that prevented him from running away with $600 million worth of coins and cash?

anderson00673

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Quote from: bryant.coleman on June 06, 2015, 12:15:09 PM

Quote from: Slark on June 06, 2015, 10:01:35 AM

Yes you are right. Unfortunately exchanges are gathering every bit of information about their users. Not just high profile large scale traders. Everything is within theirs databases.
We can be sure that these info will be shared with government as previously US government admitted that they received personal information of every MtGox user and probably will be using this info to point bitcoin users and tax them in the future.

That's why I have always supported exchanges such as BTC-e, which respects the privacy of their users. But as usual, whenever I post something supporting them, people here argue that these sites are not safe, and sites where anonymity is not permitted are much more risk-free. And what happened in the end? No one lost their money in BCT-e. On the other hand, their main rivals (Mt Gox) made a lot of Bitcoiners bankrupt.

I have used btc-e before and had no problems, but only once. People here talk a lot of smack about them, but never really give any specifics. One guy said that you shouldn't use and Chinese exchange because of Chinese culture. WTF is that supposed to mean? I pretty much disregard this stuff unless specific evidence is brought to support the accusations.

bryant.coleman

legendary

Activity: 3766

Merit: 1217

Quote from: Slark on June 06, 2015, 10:01:35 AM

Yes you are right. Unfortunately exchanges are gathering every bit of information about their users. Not just high profile large scale traders. Everything is within theirs databases.
We can be sure that these info will be shared with government as previously US government admitted that they received personal information of every MtGox user and probably will be using this info to point bitcoin users and tax them in the future.

That's why I have always supported exchanges such as BTC-e, which respects the privacy of their users. But as usual, whenever I post something supporting them, people here argue that these sites are not safe, and sites where anonymity is not permitted are much more risk-free. And what happened in the end? No one lost their money in BCT-e. On the other hand, their main rivals (Mt Gox) made a lot of Bitcoiners bankrupt.

rayhan

sr. member

Activity: 378

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be your self

Quote from: BillyBobZorton on June 05, 2015, 01:40:31 PM

It's quite funny, because I remember saying an article like this back in 2012, where BTC got linked to paedos, drug dealers and other criminals, which made me totally ignore it as something not good.
Thanks to that FUD article, I lost the chance of being a millionaire a year later, but thanks to that article, im here today ahead of a lot of other people, with a couple BTC under my belt, ready for the revolution to take over the world in the next decade.

Block Chain Technology can be used for a lot of things and well, anonymity can be used for various purposes and this is one of those evils good tech offers.
The next decade indeed will be an interesting time for crypto currency.

Slark

legendary

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Quote from: bryant.coleman on June 06, 2015, 08:06:03 AM

I don't have a problem with Bitcoin exchanges helping the government in nabbing the pedophiles. But at the same time, some of the exchanges (such as Bitstamp and Localbitcoins) have helped the government agencies to bring money laundering charges against innocent users. Their only crime was that they had traded more than $10,000 worth of coins in these exchanges, without a license.

Yes you are right. Unfortunately exchanges are gathering every bit of information about their users. Not just high profile large scale traders. Everything is within theirs databases.
We can be sure that these info will be shared with government as previously US government admitted that they received personal information of every MtGox user and probably will be using this info to point bitcoin users and tax them in the future.

elusive1

sr. member

Activity: 315

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"It cites IWF research that found 22 sites exclusively taking bitcoin in exchange for child abuse material in 2014, and 37 accepting it overall. "

The problem is reporters don't do their jobs and fact check whats spoon fed to them, whether it be government or politicians, or special interest groups.. Could that statement be true, perhaps. The group making the claim is far from impartial. When you see an environmental groups TV ad stating how many million acres are deforested a day, or a public service announcement stating that 68% of American kids go to bed hungry, be suspicious of the claims. I saw on TV that when an NGO was pressed on the amount of American kids going to bed hungry, he stated what mean bu hungry is to go to bed with "food insecurities".

Just like the United States authorities going after Craigslist and Backpage for facilitating prostitution, they claim to be saving children but its really just a bunch of people with their own agendas, whether it be stomping out prostitution or not allowing private financial transactions.

Extraordinary claims take extraordinary proof.

bryant.coleman

legendary

Activity: 3766

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I don't have a problem with Bitcoin exchanges helping the government in nabbing the pedophiles. But at the same time, some of the exchanges (such as Bitstamp and Localbitcoins) have helped the government agencies to bring money laundering charges against innocent users. Their only crime was that they had traded more than $10,000 worth of coins in these exchanges, without a license.

anderson00673

sr. member

Activity: 308

Merit: 250

Quote from: AlgoSwan on June 05, 2015, 04:39:39 PM

Another reason for filing tax information to the governments!

Be a nice guy.

Yeah. Someone has to pay for the expense of blowing up all those brown people. Sometimes it makes me sick what my taxes go to.

And wtf, why put them in jail just burn all the pedos at the steak. Fing evil bastards.

Quote from: knightdk

It's hard to track and trace Bitcoin transactions to a single person. However, transactions to and from addresses can be traced, but it is hard to know who owns what addresses. It can be very anonymous when done correctly.

Care to share a link? Grin

Topic: World’s Bitcoin Exchanges Track and Report Customer Activity (Read 1507 times)