US Citizens! Do Your Part! Don't Let Senator Schumer Ban/Limit Bitcoin

[swusc2]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-rt-us-financial-bitcoitre7573t3-20110608,0,6328122.story

MtGox and Bitcoin are completely legal!

To all US citizens that support Bitcoins. Although Senator Schumer and Friends are helping the publicity of Bitcoins we still need to take action. Some of you just say "Whatever I doesn't matter they can't hurt Bitcoin, exchanges will always be replaced" but the core issue is that it SHOULDN'T have to be replaced. MtGox is a perfectly legal institution, Schumer is just fear mongering people and blowing things out of proportion by trying associate "Bitcoins directly with Drugs" even though Bitcoin is used for a lot more things. Although some of you don't agree with the illegality of drugs at least bare with me.

Bitcoin =/= Illegal Drugs. Don't let them push some baloney bill to ban/limit the use of Bitcoins in the US. It is just a regrettable side effect of any money. It should be the governments job to work with people like Garzik to limit illegal drug trafficking not ban the entire currencies LEGAL use because they feel threatened because they don't understand it. If PayPal just happened to be used to buy drugs and the government didn't bother to work with them to stop it, but instead just decided to stomp PayPal out we would think that is ridiculous.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504943_162-20069780-10391715.html

I don't know what lobbyist pay Schumer and Friends but this is obviously just some strong arming against Bitcoin.

Show them how level headed, passionate, and large our community is and why what we do is a good thing. SEND EMAILS, SNAIL MAIL, and PHONE CALLS (preferably snail mail and phone calls but anything is better than nothing) to your local Senators and Representatives to Schumer and to the Attorney General explaining to them the ridiculousness of what they are doing right now. It violates the fundamental values of capitalism and democracy.

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

http://manchin.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/contact-form

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[Freakin]

The exchanges will NOT always be replaced.  People who think so have an incredibly short memory.

[niemivh]

Rand: http://paul.senate.gov/?p=contact
Ron: http://paul.house.gov/

Lot of libertarians here that think they've somehow checkmated the government.  For you other more realistic people please at least write 1 congressperson.  It does matter.  It does count.  They do read them.  Know that if you did your part then you in the moral clear, it is the very cynics who do nothing that are the reason we have the government that we do.

[Oldminer]

Senator who?

I don't believe this person has any jurisdiction in Australia lol..

[swusc2]

Senator who?

I don't believe this person has any jurisdiction in Australia lol..

You laugh because you live in another country and think the issue is completely transparent to you but if it gets banned in one place it gives precedent to other nations to do the same. Act now in Australia start legitimizing Bitcoin there. Not only will it help to avoid the legal battle that will eventually ensue it helps bring Bitcoin into the media.

Rand: http://paul.senate.gov/?p=contact
Ron: http://paul.house.gov/

Lot of libertarians here that think they've somehow checkmated the government.  For you other more realistic people please at least write 1 congressperson.  It does matter.  It does count.  They do read them.  Know that if you did your part then you in the moral clear, it is the very cynics who do nothing that are the reason we have the government that we do.

Exactly! Don't just languish believing that the idea of Bitcoin will protect us. Act! Be active, it's people who believe in what niemivh highlighted that let great ideas go to waste.

[AbeFroman]

Understand exactly who this is and where he is coming from, and realize that he is serious.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001093&cycle=2010

Industry	Total
Securities & Investment	$2,644,799
Lawyers/Law Firms	$2,137,360
Real Estate	$1,244,190
Lobbyists	$569,713
Misc Finance	$543,950

[swusc2]

Also to all the people who don't care about the social and legal implications of Bitcoins and are just hoarding. Send your representative emails anyways, it will help the value of the Bitcoin. And now that I'm at it, everyone in every country out there should write their government and show them what Bitcoin is; explain to them why its legal and the benefits and most importantly show them dedication and progressiveness of this community.

[btclaw]

To OP: Great idea to get people to take action.  The best bet may be a focused effort to try to educate Schumer and other democrats on his committees about bitcoin.  Convince them it is not a threat.

Schumer is no joke, he is one of the big dogs that others follow.  12 years in the senate and 18 in the House before that.  Lawyer.  On the 3 Commitees Bitcoin businesses must fear most: Finance, Banking, Judiciary.  Don't just blow this off, he is for real.  

He probably sees Bitcoin as a threat to his State if it takes off. He might try to claim this as an issue to help his state of New York, where all the banks, trading houses, stock and currency exchanges are.  NY is also the state where most foreign national corporations do their business and NY courts are where they redress their grievances.

The Coup De Grace:  Someone who knows the computer code for Bitcoin very well needs to get on to Silk Road and do some private eye work.  Track a transaction, prove your work with meticulous notes, link it to an IP, and hand it over to law enforcement.  Make yourself available as an expert witness.  There will be good money in that as they dismantle Silk Road, KP rings and other foolish copycats.  

Get successful prosecution(s) aided by Bitcoin community to prove Bitcoin is not used by dangerous criminals, but legitimate businessmen.  What we need is enough people to assist in destroying silkroad without new legislation to prevent legislation by showing that it is unnecessary.  Truth is, you will only be helping to bust the stupid dealers who don't know how to launder bitcoins before cashing them out, but what the old men in Washington don't know won't hurt them.  

Bitcoin is not anonymous, and it is not for money laundering.  These are the touchstones for Schumer and his like-minded senators on the big banking commitees.  Take the fangs out of their argument by proving them wrong, then you've got something.

[Jaime Frontero]

Understand exactly who this is and where he is coming from, and realize that he is serious.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001093&cycle=2010

Industry	Total
Securities & Investment	$2,644,799
Lawyers/Law Firms	$2,137,360
Real Estate	$1,244,190
Lobbyists	$569,713
Misc Finance	$543,950

ah.  someone else who's been through the blog wars.  i know the tone and the cite...

yes, he's serious.  and owned.  i'll grant him the slight grace of a touch of reasonableness - for his breed - but no more than that.

yelling at your congresscritters always has value, if done correctly.

don't send e-mails.  they are ignored.

send snail mail - at least hand signed.  the best are hand written.

the very best is to call - sometimes you even can speak with the critter him/her self.  but they are well-versed in debate:  don't call if you are not.

[swusc2]

If possible someone should draft a letter and post it up. If people are lazy they can just print it out and sign and send. If anything it might give people something to work off of.

[rebuilder]

Unless there's been some new development, Schumer hasn't said anything about banning bitcoin. He wants Silk Road closed. I think it's a mistake to try to make that about Bitcoin if the politicians don't do it first.

[BitcoinBonus]

All of this makes me realize that it would be good for us to think about creating a "Bitcoin Association", a non-profit organization that has a charter to support Bitcoin.  It will likely have to have two separate organizations, one that is allowed to take contributions to do legislative advocacy on behalf of Bitcoin, and another that is a plain 501(c) 3 for doing more Public Relations and perhaps conference organizing.

I'm here in Washington, DC and would be interested in coordinating with others to help launch something like this.

I am planning on pre-emptively writing my representative in the house, even tho she can't vote.  Here in Washington, DC the citizens have limited representation--with no representation in the Senate.

--Darrell

[airdata]

The problem is that we have so many aging politicians like this schumer guy sitting in the senate, working for lobbyists.  They don't understand anything that has come out in the past 20 years.  

It's a huge problem to have people from the past essentially ruling over the future.  You can't regulate 2011 like it was 1951... it just doesn't work.

[cloud9]

Senator who?

I don't believe this person has any jurisdiction in Australia lol..

You laugh because you live in another country and think the issue is completely transparent to you but if it gets banned in one place it gives precedent to other nations to do the same. Act now in Australia start legitimizing Bitcoin there. Not only will it help to avoid the legal battle that will eventually ensue it helps bring Bitcoin into the media.

Rand: http://paul.senate.gov/?p=contact
Ron: http://paul.house.gov/

Lot of libertarians here that think they've somehow checkmated the government.  For you other more realistic people please at least write 1 congressperson.  It does matter.  It does count.  They do read them.  Know that if you did your part then you in the moral clear, it is the very cynics who do nothing that are the reason we have the government that we do.

Exactly! Don't just languish believing that the idea of Bitcoin will protect us. Act! Be active, it's people who believe in what niemivh highlighted that let great ideas go to waste.

Calling your Bitcoins that you buy/sell/(trade for goods) a currency is stepping into a legal minefield in my opinion, as the financial industry is regulated by numerous laws beyond the scope of this posting, for legislation administrative rulings see http://fincen.gov/

Is calling your Bitcoins that you buy/sell/(trade/barter for goods) a digital P2P crypto-commodity not maybe more accurate and legally acceptable if it is traded/exchanged/bartered or bought/sold not within the scope of financial industry?

It seems like Australia and the United Kingdom's tax offices view Bitcoins in the latter manner.  see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/08/bitcoin_under_attack/

UK considers Bitcoins legal and taxable unique intellectual property assets? : "... quoting Her Magesty’s Revenue & Customs as saying that turning Bitcoins into currency could make transactions taxable..."  (turning Bitcoins into currency = Bitcoins not a currency, but a digital good?)

Australia considers Bitcoins legal and taxable unique intellectual property assets? : "... If traced by the Australian Tax Office, Bitcoins would probably get the same treatment as “barter” exchanges, with tax assessed on the value of traded goods or services. ..." (barter of digital goods?)

Also MtGox has carefully worded their website as well as to proclaim that you can buy or sell the internet commodity known as Bitcoin.  Unlike bitcoin.org proclaiming it to be a currency, for some unknown reason?

[zby]

Understand exactly who this is and where he is coming from, and realize that he is serious.

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00001093&cycle=2010

Industry	Total
Securities & Investment	$2,644,799
Lawyers/Law Firms	$2,137,360
Real Estate	$1,244,190
Lobbyists	$569,713
Misc Finance	$543,950

I wish that got tweeted together with the link to the original article.

[kiba]

Bitcoin is not anonymous, and it is not for money laundering.  These are the touchstones for Schumer and his like-minded senators on the big banking commitees.  Take the fangs out of their argument by proving them wrong, then you've got something.

I am not willing to hurt people simply for selling weapons and weeds. What these people are doing is a voluntary transaction. Schumer and his friends are morally disgusting, not us.

[cloud9]

Bitcoin network:  I'm the key holder 

Satoshi:  I'm the key keeper 

Swimmer: "Who you gonna call?"

Dan Aykroyd:  "Ghost Busters!!!"

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000101/

[BitCointransfers]

Schumer has no fucking idea what Bitcoins are.  He is a puppet of the federal reserve private banking cartel..  DISGUSTING.

[imanikin]

What is obvious to me is that the "US Citizens" and their part are irrelevant in this conflict, because their political system is also controlled by their well-financed military-industrial and commercial corporate lobbies.

That was clear to me during the US Healthcare Reform scam, the Wars on Drugs, Terrorism, Iraq, the Cold War, the "Free-trade" agreements, the bailouts of Wall Street and numerous other corporations. The list is endless... 

The majority that doesn't have a personal stake in Bitcoin will be bamboozled just as they were during the above, by powerful, psychology-based, Madison-Avenue brainwashing via TV, and other media Astroturfing...

So imho, just as in those other instances, whether or not a war is declared on Bitcoin by their government, is not within the control of the majority of "US Citizens"... 

Rather than waste time writing "their" (corporations') legislators, i think their best bet is just to use Bitcoin, and let that speak for itself... 

[cloud9]

Some more fiction:

Swimmer:  "But its anonymous!"  
Anders:  "No it is not!"  

Swimmer:  "But its untraceable!"  
Anders:  "No it is not!"  

Swimmer:  "But its illegal!"  
Anders:  "No it is not!"  

Swimmer:  "But you can launder it!"  
Anders:  "Yes you can! Like most assets!"  

Swimmer:  "But if you LAUNDER it, THEN it will become maybe untraceable or even anonymous!"  
Anders:  "Yes."  

Swimmer:  "But laundering is illegal!"  
Anders:  "Yes it is."  

Swimmer:  "Oh I get it!, Ghostbusters go after those LAUNDERERS and DRUG PEDDLERS at least we can LITIGATE .... THEM!"  

All legal Bitcoin crypto-commodity users:  Cheer!!