Bitcoin Forum

Citation from the last conference material (http://shadowlife.cc/files/btcotc.pdf (slide #18)):


What should we do then?

I am in the process of setting up a bitcoin based PMC for conflict resolution.

What does PMC stand for?

Private Military Company

Call it the NSS (Not Sure if Serious)

Operating globally ? Do you need a Partner ?

I was thinking more along the lines of BitForce Gamma (BFG)



We will certainly entertain applications from all nations, races or religions (except vegetarians).

Fixed: We should not try to get legality for Bitcoin, because using bitcoins is already legal.

In any civilized country it is legal to trade using any tools suitable for it (barter is also legal in about every country, if you pay taxes).

I can see why people hoarding lots of bitcoins do not want to check the exact status of what they own. If, for example, bitcoins are deemed worthless by a US judge, those persons have a lot to lose if they are not able to sell their "fortune" before the panic starts. This is precisely why even people who lost a lot of money with pirateat40 still haven't sued him.

However, small bitcoin owners and newcomers have a real interest in having the status of bitcoins tested and clarified before they buy more bitcoins. But since those people also have lost nothing or not much in the various scams, because they had less to invest to begin with, they are unlikely to press charges.

Having the status of bitcoins clarified in a major country could seal the destiny, good or bad, of bitcoin as a currency. However, it looks like people with large bitcoin wallets are not confident enough that the outcome would be pleasant :)

Interesting, after the megacorporations, the private military companies. International companies, not bound by the limits of nations and governments

This quote finally becomes true:

If you disagree, consider ignoring it.  When someone comes along and invents decentralized justice, we can be early adopters.  I believe that enforcement of property rights is a legitimate function of government.  If you want a quick example of an environment do-it-yourself justice is the rule, head to your nearest blighted gang-infested neighborhood - one where the police don't go unless they absolutely have to.

I think there will be some judges who, once they understand Bitcoin, think it is a great idea in the best interest of civilization, and might not punish litigants for using it as though its use is a prima facie attempt to launder money or establish some sort of anarchy.  I don't believe in their mind that they all desire the expansion of government and its tyrannical control of the citizens nor do they use their discretion in conscious support of it.  They are just another kind of person doing their job.

This is BTW very common misconception in the libertarian discussions I have spotted: that state has its "own interests". State consists of many different organizations and parts, which also consists of humans, which have their own interests. State is not a single-interest/single-mission organization.

I will prove this by getting state funding for my bitcoin startup :D

I expected to get an almost complete plan. But I see only vague speculations.  :(

Develop as many trust-free services as possible so that disputes don't arise in the first place.

Distributed peer reviewed arbitration with evidence material made public and arbitrators anonymity jealously guarded.  All participants in the community are potential arbitrators in the same manner as jurors (in the US) and a ratings system similar to e-bay's allows perspective counter-parties the ability to assess the counter's history, ratings, judgments, etc to choose whether to undertake a transaction or not.

Although I believe it to be completely my own I claim no rights to the idea.  But it's near the top of my list for ideas to develop if/when I feel in the mood.

<Jaw drops>

Anybody want to point to a particular statute, in any Western country, that demonstrates open source software that can transfer and store random numbers securely is illegal?

Bitcoin is NOT illegal ... and I'll be very surprised if any legislature anywhere can come up with a statute that can make bitcoin illegal without destroying the common law framework civilised, liberal, property-right respecting societies are founded upon.

Lol

A lot of trojans and viruses considered to be open-source software (u can get sources) and look like random numbers (polymorphism trick). But u'll be punished if u try to send them to someone else.

U can't pretend that bitcoins r just random numbers. It's like pretending that dollar banknotes r just sheets of paper.

But they are just sheets of paper, wait for hyperinflation to happens and they will be good for heating  :D

Actually it's a sheet of cotton weave. At least in Europe.

What are you arguing here? Bitcoin is malware?

Edit : want to link to a github repo of "trojans and viruses"? It is completely voluntary you want to run it on your computer or not.

Edit : bitcoin addresses and keys pretty much are random numbers ... that's math.

U look at bitcoin as chunks of raw data. But it's information (interpreted data = information). If the state decides that Bitcoin is illegal u can't say it's "destroying the common law framework". If it was so then prohibiting to store child porno would be considered as "destroying the common law framework" as well.

It is.

Do what free men have always done. Fight for what is right. There are two forms of government:

• You can think and be responsible for your own actions.
  
  
• You can allow others to to think and be responsible for your actions.

Which do you choose?

It can be black and white. It depends on the personality and training.

I've no doubt that brain structure plays a big role in one's propensity to view things as 'black/white' or 'infinite shades.'  I've observed it first hand in my own family even, and it is deeper than simple native intelligence.

But 'black/white' is a much more simple strategy and handy if one wishes to (or needs to by necessity of lower cognitive ability) avoid considering the nearly infinite tangential factors which shape most aspects of our world.  Thus, it is a well represented mode of thought at such 'training' institutions as your average seminary, madrassa, Misses Institute, etc.

back-handed passive agressive ... why don't you show some spine and just come out and say you have hang-ups with Austrian economics?

Black/white boundaries are what is needed in the engineering world to make all your shiny toys work ... shades of grey are pretty to think about but do not put food on the table, or gas in your tank, if you know what I mean.

Relativism is a lovely fantasy world ... until you get poor.

How about Grey Water?


Seriously though, I think what is needed is along your lines, but for most members of the community to form trade/consumer/advocacy organizations that form contracts with each other to insure their members in case their members do something "illegal" under the contract that they agreed to.  The groups would also tell its members who to and not to do business with.  If someone opened an investment company but would not join one of the trade groups, then the investor consumer group would tell its members not to do business with that person as if they are defrauded there would be no repercussions if they are the victims of fraud.