He feared what exactly? That reporters were going to come to his house for a few days, and he was going to have to say he isn't the satoshi, and then they were going to have to be like "do you have proof?" and then he's going to have to be like "no" and then... yeah?
It may be hard to understand the fear of being "outed" like that for someone who is not overly concerned about privacy. However, I can understand those feelings and I believe they are very strong in Satoshi, and they are not only related to the NSA and CSI etc., even if that is a big part of it.
I believe he is a man that would rather just keep a low profile and communicate with people on his own terms. The possibility of being forced to answer questions and come under the spotlight might cause him huge stress. Think of Howard Hughes.
The real satoshi nakamoto is one of the hundreds of people who might be satoshi nakamoto.
Until today yes it could have been one of hundreds, but now the world knows (or at least believes) that this is
the Satoshi.
I don't see any of the other maybe-satoshi-nakamotos running around having such a terrible life
Because they aren't the
real Satoshi they were probably just flattered by the idea that they were considered a candidate.
Subpoenaed for what? Coding software? And then what, he comes to court "Hi, my name is Satoshi Nakamoto and I didn't code bitcoin". Then what? "But your name is Satoshi Nakamoto and you know how to code?" Seriously. There is more evidence that Max Keiser is the real Satoshi over this dude.
If that is the route things end up going, which I believe it will, then it won't be as easy as saying: "Nah, it's not me" any longer, because as tvbcof pointed out most likely the NSA may already have been aware that he is the Bitcoin creator. Lying and saying that he knows nothing about it in those circumstances will carry serious risk.
I'll bet that the NSA has known who Satoshi is even before the Wikilieaks thing, and certainly they did afterwards. And that Satoshi was fully aware of this.
Even in the event that they didn't already know, by now it will be easy for them to find out when they have a clear well defined target to research.
"Or risk a long prison sentence"
Once again, for what, and how exactly does one prove this?
For perjury.
Seriously what you're saying makes negative sense. Whether he is or is not Satoshi doesn't matter, because we won't know whether or not he's Satoshi, and if we dont, then nothing has changed.
I hope you are right, but I'm afraid that there will soon be some politician or government agency out on a "power trip" and they will subpoena him to some sort of hearing, and then he has nowhere to go. Satoshi knew that and that is one of reasons why he feared when this day would come.
