Senator Charles Schumer Pushes to Shut Down Online Drug Marketplace

[Anonymous]

...bitcoins themselves to fall under government regulation of some sort.

Impossible. For it to be successfully regulated is for it to be completed bastardized in concept and utility.

[kokjo]

Reading this, and thinking about what this kind of rhetorical will set into motion, makes me wonder if the only way for bitcoin to survive and be exchanged in America, is for bitcoins themselves to fall under government regulation of some sort.

Agrees with Atlas:

[shady financier]

I propose we make a donation to the Senator. He's really gone all out to put bitcoin on the map to make sure that both law-ignorers and law-observers alike become more aware of bitcoin and it's simply not fair that such effort go unrewarded.

He stressed bitcoins qualities, it's strengths and security, its untraceability (although to be fair he should have stressed that you have to put some effort in for that). It's a good thing he done.

Senator Schumer Donation Address Here:

1G8AUgSTAw8hfatNnDHuYEqBAUzC3qvAAL

[kokjo]

I propose we make a donation to the Senator. He's really gone all out to put bitcoin on the map to make sure law-ignorers become aware of bitcoin and it's simply not fair that such effort go unrewarded.

Senator Schumer Donation Address Here:

1G8AUgSTAw8hfatNnDHuYEqBAUzC3qvAAL

smelling scam here! its better to make a respected member take care of a donation.

[Timo Y]

I know it dismays a lot of hardcore crypto-anarchists on this forum, but I am a happy, law abiding, tax paying US citizen  And I think bitcoin's best path to success will be to work within existing government regulations.

The same way that air travel's path to success was to work within existing regulations? (before manned flight was invented, people owned all airspace above their land).

No, regulations will need to adapt to new technologies. Not the other way around.

[liberty]

No, regulations will need to adapt to new technologies. Not the other way around.

It's inevitable.

[cloud9]

Can't even paypal be used for laundering?  If Sam buys socks for John, and John buys drugs for Sam at Silk Road by paying Silk Road's Skype account, haven't they just been laundering paypal credit?  Should paypal be banned if it enables people to buy drugs anonymously?  Or should paypal credit laundering be banned?

[vragnaroda]

You guys are blowing this out of all proportion. Chuck Schumer is the biggest blowhard in the U.S. Senate. No one takes him seriously and he doesn't stay focused on much long. Bitcoin is not Four Loko, which had a major pressure point he could push on and he doesn't have the attention span to keep pressure on anything for very long. If you keep him focused on it, he will make a much bigger deal out of it and more of your tax dollars will be wasted (and not just U.S. taxes, b/c other governments will cooperate on this).

tl;dr Just ignore him and he'll go away (unless he keeps getting drawn back by more Gawker bullshit).

[Dobrodav]

Ia am somehow surprised. Did it really needed that some senator show of, to fight  narcotics store ?
Thats usual business off corresponded departments.
No, i am think that something wrong, and his target is exactly bitcoin by itself.
Why he did not bothered with opiates farms in Afghanistan, that is under US control (if US did not lie about it, lol)  ?

[vragnaroda]

.
Why he did not bothered with opiates farms in Afghanistan, that is under US control (if US did not lie about it, lol)  ?

Because he can't admit to such a thing while Chocolate Jesus is president.

[cloud9]

Can't even paypal be used for laundering?  If Sam buys socks for John, and John buys drugs for Sam at Silk Road by paying Silk Road's Skype account, haven't they just been laundering paypal credit?  Should paypal be banned if it enables people to buy drugs anonymously?  Or should paypal credit laundering be banned?

How is there a connection between Sam and John on paypal?  If Sam paid socks - and it's proxy delivered to John how does paypal know about the connection between Sam and John?  If John pays for a Skype number's credit and hand the password to Silk Road and Silk Road delivers drugs to Sam, how does paypal know about the connection between Silk Road and Sam?

Isn't the problem with laundering bitcoins, and not with bitcoins?

[Ivanish]

http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/contactchuck.cfm

[shady financier]

.
Why he did not bothered with opiates farms in Afghanistan, that is under US control (if US did not lie about it, lol)  ?

Because he can't admit to such a thing while Chocolate Jesus is president.

Is it your intention to be racially offensive or what?

[BitcoinStars.com]

   
senator charles schumer suck on a log

[cloud9]

If you are biased and you generalize by attributing to a group, a subgroup or individual's actions:

Are you racist if you are biased based on race?
Are you sexist if you are biased based on gender?
.
.
.
.
etc., etc.,

What will you be if you generalize by saying bitcoiners are launderers, when only a subgroup of bitcoiners are laundering bitcoins?  Could you be dubbed a bitcoinist?

Will each of the possible roughly estimated 600,000 world wide bitcoiners ( http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=12574.msg174344#msg174344 ) appreciate a statement like that?

[vragnaroda]

Is it your intention to be racially offensive or what?

What? Have you missed every bit of media coverage of him since 2004?

[mewantsbitcoins]

You are all mad cause I'm black

[marcus_of_augustus]

urthermore, I don't think any of us would mind helping law enforcement or in fact anyone to help and find real criminals behind real crimes. Bitcoin is not anonymous - you have to go to great lengths to make it such.

Exactly right. I will to do what I can to help the police catch scammers and crooks who want to steal from people.  The police might use those same tools and techniques to help catch people who use bitcoin to pay for drugs; I can't stop them from doing that.

I personally don't think drugs or gambling should be illegal, because I believe you should be free to do whatever you like with your own body and your own money. But I also believe those are separate issues from bitcoin, and if I felt really strongly about it (it isn't one of my own personal hot-button issues) I would be donating money to, or volunteering to work for LEAP and NORML, not mixing "bitcoin is a great new technology" with "drugs should be legal."

If Senator Schumer would like to attend your speaking engagement at the technology start-up symposium of the CIA he would quickly realise that bitcoin is simply a monetary technology, nothing more.

Invite him along.

[Jaime Frontero]

.
Why he did not bothered with opiates farms in Afghanistan, that is under US control (if US did not lie about it, lol)  ?

Because he can't admit to such a thing while Chocolate Jesus is president.

Is it your intention to be racially offensive or what?

nah.  some folks just take pride in ignorance.

for example:  that the clan (hmmm... possible spelling error) which preceded the current president were probably the biggest drug-dealers in history.  especially the senior, who started his drug-dealing before he was even the VP.  of course, the son had the intellectual capacity of a clam, and was really only coasting...

[cdnbcguy]

We can now expect another BTC rally as new people discover Bitcoin from this article.

However - we can expect the BIG ONE in two years when the yield of a block drops from 50 to 25 BTC at block 210,000