[2014-10-17] Bitcoin Magazine: Interview with Amir Taaki

[AaronVanW]

http://bitcoinmagazine.com/17005/bitcoin-technology-worth-nothing-interview-dark-wallet-front-man-amir-taaki/

[Mr Crabs]

Anonymity is important because the current financial system is rigged against us. Right now the state steals from people through taxes and inflation, which not only contributes massively to state power and war, but it enables them to control who gets to accumulate capital. Anonymity will help us to avoid paying taxes, enable us to launder money, and facilitate us to evade restrictions by the state on how to manage our resources. It will protect the small guy.

I guarantee you this guy will end up in jail sometime. Don't be surprised if you get stung when you kick the hornets nest.

[guybrushthreepwood]

Anonymity is important because the current financial system is rigged against us. Right now the state steals from people through taxes and inflation, which not only contributes massively to state power and war, but it enables them to control who gets to accumulate capital. Anonymity will help us to avoid paying taxes, enable us to launder money, and facilitate us to evade restrictions by the state on how to manage our resources. It will protect the small guy.

I guarantee you this guy will end up in jail sometime. Don't be surprised if you get stung when you kick the hornets nest.

 . I like and admire a lot of what Amir is about, but there's a lot I don't as well. I agree with you that he's likely to get himself in trouble eventually. If you stick it to the man they'll try stick you right back unfortunately.

[cr1776]

Anonymity is important because the current financial system is rigged against us. Right now the state steals from people through taxes and inflation, which not only contributes massively to state power and war, but it enables them to control who gets to accumulate capital. Anonymity will help us to avoid paying taxes, enable us to launder money, and facilitate us to evade restrictions by the state on how to manage our resources. It will protect the small guy.

I guarantee you this guy will end up in jail sometime. Don't be surprised if you get stung when you kick the hornets nest.

If Rosa Parks, the student in Tiananmen Square, Lech Walesa, Gandhi, G. Washington, T. Jefferson, and many others, countless thousands who are unknown had worried about this, the world would be a much worse place. People who fight for freedom keep the rest of us free.

Not saying he is any of the named people, but one of the countless thousands who have fought for freedom over the years.  Do I agree with him on everything?  No, but he has his views and sticks to them consistently.

[thms]

Written interviews are so 2000's

[AaronVanW]

Written interviews are so 2000's

So are message boards

[davidgdg]

It's an excellent interview. I don't agree with Amir on everything but he is indisputably a force for good.

[ArticMine]

He is dead wrong on the blocksize issue. There are enough people "living in squats" around the world to break the back of Bitcoin in no time if even a very small fraction of them were to use Bitcoin with the current max blocksize limit. If one then adds Dark Wallet to the mix the max blocksize issue becomes far worse since Dark Wallet will significantly increase transaction size.

[cbeast]

If a truly anonymous virtual cash is even possible, it will be the only thing to keep us slightly free from the surveillance industrial complex. With cameras and biometric analytics everywhere, nobody is free from predatorial opportunists.

[cbeast]

He is dead wrong on the blocksize issue. There are enough people "living in squats" around the world to break the back of Bitcoin in no time if even a very small fraction of them were to use Bitcoin with the current max blocksize limit. If one then adds Dark Wallet to the mix the max blocksize issue becomes far worse since Dark Wallet will significantly increase transaction size.

It's a compromise either way. It's a decision of whom to trust: large mining firms with high bandwidth or transaction clearance firms. The latter will probably offer more choices and room for development.

[M83]

If a truly anonymous virtual cash is even possible, it will be the only thing to keep us slightly free from the surveillance industrial complex. With cameras and biometric analytics everywhere, nobody is free from predatorial opportunists.

I can't see why it wouldn't be possible, but maybe this is one thing where bitcoin may fail as it is not really anonymous so are we wasting our time if this along with other things like the blocksize will become problems in the future?.

[cbeast]

If a truly anonymous virtual cash is even possible, it will be the only thing to keep us slightly free from the surveillance industrial complex. With cameras and biometric analytics everywhere, nobody is free from predatorial opportunists.

I can't see why it wouldn't be possible, but maybe this is one thing where bitcoin may fail as it is not really anonymous so are we wasting our time if this along with other things like the blocksize will become problems in the future?.

Bitcoin can be anonymous if you are an expert. It will take some work to make them so for laymen. That's what Amir Taaki is working on.

[ArticMine]

If a truly anonymous virtual cash is even possible, it will be the only thing to keep us slightly free from the surveillance industrial complex. With cameras and biometric analytics everywhere, nobody is free from predatorial opportunists.

I can't see why it wouldn't be possible, but maybe this is one thing where bitcoin may fail as it is not really anonymous so are we wasting our time if this along with other things like the blocksize will become problems in the future?.

Bitcoin can be anonymous if you are an expert. It will take some work to make them so for laymen. That's what Amir Taaki is working on.

Yes but without an increase in the blocksize, Dark Wallet will make things worse. If one has to choose between between large mining firms and large transaction clearing firms the choice of large mining firms is clear. Large transaction firms are nothing but a bank, credit card processor or payment service such as PayPal by another name. They can, are and will be easily regulated. Bitcoin mining on the other hand is very hard to regulate if at all. Furthermore the critical part, hashing is actually far more decentralized. Let us keep in mind that obsolete Bitcoin mining equipment can make an excellent space heater in the winter, and no centralized mega Bitcoin mine can compete with that!

Amir Taaki is doing a great disservice by advocating that anyone but the very rich should be using a centralized "off chain solution", when using Bitcoin, by opposing an increase in the blocksize limit.

[ntolentantonec]

Written interviews are so 2000's

In other news, literacy rates fall to a 10 year low.