Bitcoin Forum

If you followed Wikileaks in the news the past year, you'll know how easy it was for them to lose service from centralized tx services like Paypal Mastercard, as well as losing server space from Amazon.  In the case of Amazon, however, the damage was mitigated by the still (somewhat) decentralized nature of the web-- within days of Amazon dropping the site, there were hundreds of mirrors all around the world.  That mirroring was probably the greatest example yet of the power of the net to route around censorship (to reference John Gilmore).

It would be great to see something similar happen with BTC donations routing around the damage that centralized tx services have caused to Wikileaks.  If you've followed global events at all in the past year you'll know the importance of their releases.  At present 100000 BTC would cover their operating expenses for a little over a year.

If you read my other posts you'll see that I have serious doubts about the future of Bitcoin.  Nevertheless, there's no arguing that BTC are extremely valuable at the moment.  So if you do believe in them, what better way to advertise them than to have a very big, public example of exactly what is wrong with centralized payment services, and, therefore, what is right about Bitcoin?

You can get Wikileaks' public BTC address by going to their website and clicking the "Donate" link.  You can also request an undisclosed address from them (though that won't be as strong a statement as everyone donating to the same address).

Ok, that's my two cents... (literally, check Bitcoin Explorer!)

EDIT:

On this thread, there exists:

1) A king.
2) Subjects (i.e., former kings).
3) Wind (trolls).

If you want to take over the castle, you must:
1) post an amount greater than that of the current king's army.  (Use all 8 decimal places to make it unlikely that anyone else can claim to be making the same donation.)
2) after you have posted to this thread, send the amount you posted to the Wikileaks address mentioned above.
3) Once your transaction appears on Bitcoin Explorer, post again to lay claim to your new kingdom.

Once you lay claim, all former kings become your new subjects and are constrained to the following choices: a) lavish praise upon you, b) answer your queries and provide guidance, or b) be silent.  Any subject who defies the king will be tossed out of the castle into the wind.

Caveats: Hearing the sound of the wind is natural.  Talking back to it is not, and if kings are caught talking directly to the wind, they are automatically declared insane, and the kingdom reverts back to the previous king.  Also, kings can't accumulate armies from past donations.

Yeah, great initiative.  But 100000 is not that amount which community could send as donation ...

100,000 BTC is a lot, with the amount of greed these days, i don't really see the community donating that much just to keep them running for a year

It doesn't have to be one single transaction of 100000, though that would be nice.  You have to start somewhere.

Maybe we can do this auction style.  For example, I started with 0.02 from address 175x6g9ZS1Weo9cHDbj8eeCeF1hnh9XAMk, so that makes me King Shit of this thread.  If you can give more than 0.02, then you can take that title from me.

I suppose there should be a rule that you post your address here before donating to confirm.  (Though I screwed that up myself.)

lol i applaud you for starting the first donation, but with only 0.02 BTC, it's gonna take quite a long while for 100k

The sounds of the whispering wind bring an intriguing puzzle to my brain: How can one applaud, if one does not exist?

At 0.02 it seems this kingdom is not big enough to accommodate applauding trolls; for there is room only for a king.  A dangerous situation for sure, as I could easily be dethroned and made a subject by an invading army as small as 0.03...

Hm...

Here is Wikileaks' bitcoin address: 1HB5XMLmzFVj8ALj6mfBsbifRoD4miY36v.

Their Twitter announcement is here (http://twitter.com/#!/wikileaks/status/80774521350668288).

And here is the Block Explorer record of their donations to this address: http://blockexplorer.com/address/1HB5XMLmzFVj8ALj6mfBsbifRoD4miY36v

That's not possible with the current bitcoin client.

There is no way it cost's over $1,000,000 to run that website for a year.  I'm calling BS.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTdGZ4aJI-w

WHO ARE YOU? KATE MIDDLETON - JULIAN ASSANGE - ROTHSCHILD SOS AGENTS

Now, why would we want to fund the same people who operate against us in the banking cartel?

Well, shoot.  I suppose people can just post the amount before they send.  Since they can pick any amount they want over the previous one, that should work ok.

oh crap OP, you just got owned. there's people that already sent over 150 BTC to that address. you're no king, you're not even good enough to be a peasant (no offense) lol. i doubt you can come close to that kind of donation

I donated a few bit cents

still disappointing to me that the entire community has only been able to manage like 400BTC worth of donations (at least to a public address)

I support Wikileaks fully, but what do they need $1.4 million for? Their traffic is probably 10% of what it was a few months ago.

Server hosting that is reasonably safe from government interference is VERY expensive.

why is this? it's not like they have to pay the gov hush money or to leave them alone...

On this thread, there exists:

1) A king.
2) Subjects (i.e., former kings).
3) Wind (trolls).

Currently I am the king of a castle supported by an army valued at 0.02 BTC.

If you want to take over the castle, you must:
1) post an amount greater than that of the king's army.  (Use all 8 decimal places to make it unlikely that anyone else can claim to be making the same donation.)
2) after you have posted to this thread, send the amount you posted to the Wikileaks address mentioned above.
3) Once your transaction appears on Bitcoin Explorer, post again to lay claim to your new kingdom.

Once you lay claim, all former kings become your new subjects and are constrained to the following choices: a) lavish praise upon you, b) answer your queries and provide guidance, or b) be silent.  Any subject who defies the king will be tossed out of the castle into the wind.

Caveats: Hearing the sound of the wind is natural.  Talking back to it is not, and if kings are caught talking directly to the wind, they are automatically declared insane, and the kingdom reverts back to the previous king.  Also, kings can't accumulate armies from past donations.

I'll do some example posts below...

I attack with an army of:

0.03004195 BTC

I lay claim to this kingdom:

http://blockexplorer.com/address/1HB5XMLmzFVj8ALj6mfBsbifRoD4miY36v

My army is 0.03004195 Bitcoins strong.

Well, I invaded my own kingdom so I didn't really gain anything yet, but you get the idea. :)

Sent 0.05btc, but keep your crown. I prefer to be the power behind the Throne.

All hail Sir Idemnified!  You have defeated my army, and I am forever in your debt for allowing me to keep my crown.

Now I guess I should go wave to people, and play polo or something.

Current army strength: 0.05 BTC

umm all the info about wikileaks is already presented, but this kings and his slaves game is kinda lame lol

I accept BTC too!

Jancsika, this is a neat general idea, although the king and castle and armies theme might limit its attractiveness...   I don't think this particular cause will raise what you hope, but others may.  You should consider creating a website for bitcoin donations based on something like this!   :)