Ha!  someone should update that link.  Us old guys can't keep up with all these Bitcoin scams!

It is actually about 15th.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=83794.msg923918#msg923918

Learn  your Bitcoin history son.

+1

You could even create a dual boot box and conduct you bitcoin activity on the Linux install
(a security expert would have to verify that this would protect you if you also had windows installed on the same machine)

I am not a lawyer but it has to do with "facts and circumstances"

Also at what point does this activity become a "business"

then you are beholding to the Know Your Customer requirements, the Anti-Money Laundering requirements, the Suspicious Activity Requirements, and the Currency Transaction requirements.

Unfortunately there are no clear answers and it will take legislation or a precedent setting court case to bring more clarity.

For now consult a very smart lawyer who deals with Money Services Businesses.

We are having a civil conversation here.  Please avoid personal attacks. It's not very productive and basically discredits any legitimate argument you may be trying to make.

If only that were true.

Individuals are conducting illegal activity with bitcoin. 

The lesson being that Bitcoin is not magical anonymous internet money.  If you use it to conduct illegal activity you may get caught and prosecuted.

pretty simple.

Not really in the case of bitcoin.

I don't want to read about any more arrests or illicit uses.

We need a virtual currency project that provides financial inclusion to inner cities.  

We need a virtual currency solution that reduces costs and friction of the hundreds of millions of individuals remitting billions of dollars to their home countries.

We need a virtual currency project that provided transparency and accountability to non-profits that allows them to more fully realize their missions.

Everyone sees bitcoin as a great big money grap but the impact to greatly benefit society is profoundly significant.  That is just not sexy enough to get repeated in the press every day.

True,

That Peter Vesness, Mark Kapreles and Charlie Shrem are all involved in civil and/or criminal cases involving their virtual currency activities does not inspire me with confidence.  (Though Patrick Murck has been doing great work.)

Also, I understand that most of the resent hacks where a result of this coinbase phishing attack.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=438261.msg4815551#msg4815551

It essentially tricked users into clicking on the google lnk that took you to a fake coinbase site.  Once you logged in you gave the hackers access to your account which they would use to log into your account and transfer you coins.

THIS ATTACK DID NOT WORK FOR THOSE ACCOUNTS WITH 2FA.  

All the 2FA users had to do when he realized it was a fraudulent site was to log into the real coinbase account with his 2fa and change his password.

[however the phishing attack could have also down loaded a key logger - which I believe this attack did not].

Again, most hackers prey on low-hanging fruit.  Which means if you do not understand the security implications of virtual currency you should not be moving or storing large amounts of funds until you do understand it.

My understanding was that most of these "Hacks" happened as a result of coinbase clients who had activiated an API key to access their coinbase accounts AND had their personal computers compromised.

Coinbase has recently added more granular control for their API keys and explain it here.

http://blog.coinbase.com/post/75936737678/more-security-and-granular-control-with-the-new-api

If you are using API access you should read this.  And if you don't understand it you should delete API access for your account until you do.

Also ALWAYS use 2-factor authentication like Google auth.  I've never heard of an hack or compromise, in bitcoin, that has defeated 2FA.

Makes them complicit in the illegal activity of "money laundering."

They may get "time served" and released.

I believe that happened to Doug Jackson in the e-gold case and they guys arrested in the Liberty Dollar case.  

Yes, the interviewer admitted to being a skeptic but the conversation was cordial and informative.  And I'm sure they had cocktails or dinner after with additional questions and conversation.  And the skeptics walk away thinking, here is a smart, articulate family man who obviously believes in this.  Maybe I better take a deeper look.  And it is fear and lack of knowledge for the protocol that is what causes most of the FUD.  You can event witness this in the NYS DFS bitlicense hearings.  Lawsky started off all fire and brim stone comparing Charlie Shrem, by association, with Terrorists, financial criminals and other illicit actors, and with a clear indication that he felt bitcoin was bad. He even invoked the memory of 9/11 stating we are only 100 yards from the WTC where 1000's lost their lives because of terrorists ability to move massive amounts of money illegally (no true actually - they moved most of it legally!).  

But by the second day you could see that he and his colleagues were asking really thoughtful and probing question as they began to understand the value and the potential of the technology.

I only mention this to counter the stance of the crypto-anarchist libertarians who like to say "Fuck the Fed" and other inciting opposition stances.  

My argument is that we make much greater progress in advancing our position by thoughtful and reasonable discourse.

 

Faiella on the other hand is probably going to serve some time.

Yea, we are all armchair lawyers!

What we need is a case in court to start setting some precedents.

The DPR case goes to trial in November.  Now that will be interesting.

I'd love to know what is going on with the BTCST case in Texas.  That may also set precedents.

Then The Shrem Case in New York.  He may plea and give up others, or go to trial and fight it.  He's young and got a life ahead of him, so it would make no sense to fight it as he would face 20 years in prison.  With a plea he may see at a fine a probation, but potentially no jail time. So I would not expect a trial in this case.

I have heard this reported on more then a few occasions.  Just goes to show you how much education we have left to do.  Unfortunately anyone born before 1964 is not going to GET it unless they want to understand.  They have the capability, most just don't have these desire.  And that is who we find in power currently.  

It will take another generation to come into power before we will be able to fully realize the full potential of this technology.

I'd say 10 years at the soonest and more likely 20 year for full integration.

How could that be entrapment.  These guys were advertising on a public website to buy and sell bitcoins. Nothing illegal about that.  However if these guys would have said, wait, if you want to buy $30K i have to take your name and dob and ss# and address and telephone and I have to file a Currency Transaction Report with FinCEN, then there would have been no problem.  

Instead Law Enforcement threw in the fact that they were involved with illicit activity to show that these guys had no interest in obeying any existing law.

Pretty simple.

I'm not condoning or condemning the behavior.    I'm just stating facts.


 

I highly doubt it.  Krebs is a pretty smart and connected guy. He said a press release was issued.

However the Miami State Attorneys' office has not yet published that press release.

http://news.miamisao.com/

Call them and ask for a copy of the press release. I'd like to read it too.  They only unseal portions of indictments if and when they will not interfere with the ongoing investigation so it may be a while before we see the legal documents.

EDIT: which means more arrests could be pending...

People need to understand that the government is not prosecuting BITCOIN use but illegal activity that just happens to be using Bitcoin.  Unfortunately bitcoin is under an intense spotlight so of course we'll see more of these type of actions.

It is not the content (anyone in bitcoin knows and understand that) as much as the humble diplomacy with which Gavin explains to the establishment how this technology just makes sense.  And it it not fire and brimstone.  His best answers are the entirely truthful:  "I don't know" because as we all know the potential of this technology is limitless.

Worth a watch if only for an example of how to engage skeptics  - not with fierce opposition and argument but with subtle and engaging charm.