Most of the anonymity talk I see around Bitcoin seems to be oriented around the assumption that the attackers will be governments who will be forced to accumulate proof beyond a reasonable doubt in order to get a conviction in court.

I think we need to be talking as though the attackers will be criminal thugs who need just a whiff of suspicion, and who don't mind killing a lot of innocent people as long as they get the one they're after as well.

Because if Bitcoin, or some other untraceable, uninflatable, and non-centrally-controllable currency gains critical-mass popularity and takes off, that's what governments will become.

Guaranteed.

For them, it'll be a life-or-death case of us or them.