Bitcoin press hits, notable sources

[k]

Another article going with an overblown title.

'Devastating' protocol flaw could paralyze Bitcoin system
 
Scientists propose 'Red Balloon' incentive solution
By Dan Goodin in San Francisco

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/15/bitcoin_flaw/

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[repentance]

Bitcoin's been included on a list of "World-changing Ideas" in the 15 November 2011 edition of Scientific American.  The article's behind a paywall, so I don't know how accurate it is.  Perhaps someone with access could summarise it.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/search/?q=bitcoin&x=5&y=2

[finway]

Bitcoin's been included on a list of "World-changing Ideas" in the 15 November 2011 edition of Scientific American.  The article's behind a paywall, so I don't know how accurate it is.  Perhaps someone with access could summarise it.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/search/?q=bitcoin&x=5&y=2

Waiting for free reading.

[julz]

Bitcoin: The Virtual Currency

2011-11-16

http://isutech.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/bitcoin-the-virtual-currency/

isutech.wordpress.com is an illinois state university blog 'funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation.'

[sapp]

Bitcoin, the peer-to-peer digital currency is under fire.

It's struggling with hack attacks that sent the value of the virtual currency plummeting, major thefts of the currency from one users computer, plus Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin calling for a crackdown.

My colleague John Carney writes about how the Bitcoin "HackCrash" raises doubts about the viability of virtual currency. But the folks behind the currency are pushing very hard to make it legit.

Though Bitcoin isn't an organization or company with someone in charge, Gavin Andresen, Bitcoin's lead developer has emerged as the unofficial spokesperson for the currency. He was just down in Washington D.C. at the CIA presenting Bitcoin to a digital currency conference. He's also been meeting with his Congressmen to educate them on the system, and why the company should be seen as a positive to cut transaction costs, rather than an evil responsible for money laundering and drug deals.

He told me this morning that it's important to remember that Bitcoin itself wasn't hacked — just one particular exchange using Bitcoin had its consumer database compromised. Andresen acknowledges that this weekend's hacking "Could slow the growth of the use of Bitcoin." But surprisingly, Andresen tells me that slower growth is "not necessarily a bad thing — the Bitcoin infrastructure needs to grow up." From Andresen's perspective, developers, led by him, need plenty of time to build the infrastructure. His defense of Bitcoin: "the nature of dealing with money is that you will deal with thieves."

Another vocal proponent of Bitcoin is Donald Norman, the co-founder of Bitcoin Consultancy, which advocates for Bitcoin's regulation and works with retailers to help them incorporate Bit coins. He blames the slew of negative media about Bitcoin on a lack of information about how the "currency" is distinct from the storage and trading of it. He says the theft of $500,000 of Bitcoins from one user has nothing to do with the currency's security, and everything to do with the firewalls on that user's computer. Bitcoins' bank account is your computer — and you're responsible for keeping it safe. But unlike a regular bank, there's no FDIC to protect your assets.

Norman is pushing to bring Bitcoin away from its roots and closer to a traditional currency — he is reaching out to regulators, looking to get legislation to oversee the system. He wants to create a system of accountability for Bitcoin, which would help protect assets if an exchange is hacked or a firewall penetrated. And yes, he even wants fraud protection.

The big question is if Bitcoin is successfully brought to the mainstream — with accountability and regulation — will it still have its appeal? Regulation and central oversight would quite likely bring with it some costs, which means the frictionless Bitcoin system — the ability to do transactions with incredibly low fees — could change. We'll see if Norman's plan works, and in the meantime, how the value of the currency fares as it battles with attacks from hackers and senators.

[julz]

Notes about “On Bitcoin and Red Balloons”

Moshe Babaioff, Shahar Dobzinski, Sigal Oren, and Aviv Zohar
2011-11-17?

http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/people/avivz/bitcoin_red_balloons_summary.aspx


Our paper “On Bitcoin and Red Balloons” has attracted some attention recently after being noticed by members of the Bitcoin community. Since the paper itself was written for theoretical computer scientists and is mathematical in nature, we give here a more simplified summary aimed at those that are more familiar with Bitcoin.

[julz]

Just a very short bitcoin intro/description piece:

Tools Spotlight: Bitcoin

2011-11-17

http://digitalrightswatch.org/?p=18325

[julz]

Bitcoin: The Mystery Behind the First Digital Currency

Ross Lazerowitz
2011-11-17

http://infospace.ischool.syr.edu/2011/11/17/bitcoin-the-mystery-behind-the-first-digital-currency/

The entire story seems as though it has been pulled from a cheesy 1980’s science fiction movie.
...

Will Bitcoin overtake the world’s currency? Probably not. But it will make people think twice about the way current currencies are evaluated and may even help bring some much needed change to the economic system.

Information Space is where the people of the Syracuse iSchool community share their stories, ideas and thoughts about the information field. Our bloggers are students, alumni, faculty and staff.

[julz]

This one strikes me as a bit of a non-story... but I guess it's a press hit.

500,000 Bitcoins Transferred in One Exchange

Kit Dotson
2011-11-17

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/11/17/500000-bitcoins-transferred-in-one-exchange/

Someone out there has a lot of bitcoins to throw around.

Well it shows they're currently under control of a single entity - but it says nothing about ownership.
I think it's an interesting hint at how centralized the exchange market is.. but not much more.

The block explorer doesn’t state how many nodes have accepted the transactions that moved this 5M of bitcoins;

Pretty sure 500K is meant!

[julz]

A namecoin article which mentions it's bitcoin heritage.

Anonymous "dimnet" tries to create hedge against DNS censorship

Sean Gallagher
2011-11-18

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/anonymous-bit-dimnet-tries-to-be-a-hedge-against-dns-censorship.ars

With concern mounting over the potential impact of the Stop Online Piracy Act and claims that it could make the Domain Name Service more vulnerable, one group is looking to circumvent the threat of domain name blocking and censorship by essentially creating a new Internet top-level domain outside of ICANN control. Called Dot-BIT, the effort currently uses proxies, cryptography, and a small collection of DNS servers to create a section of the Internet's domain address space where domains can be provisioned, moved, and traded anonymously.

...


Dot-BIT is derived from a peer-to-peer network technology called Namecoin, derived from the Bitcoin digital currency technology. Just as with Bitcoin, the system is driven by cryptographic tokens, called namecoins. To buy an address in that space, you either have to "mine" namecoins by providing compute time (running client software that uses the computer's CPU or graphics processing unit) to handle the processing of transactions within the network, or buy them through an exchange with cash or Bitcoins.

[S3052]

A friend told me that Bitcoin was mentioned again in ElliottWave.com 's Theorist that was issued on 11-18-2011. If someone is a subscriber, he may be able to post the article.
This mention could again spark some investor interest.

[julz]

In March 2012, various anti-money laundering specialists will be including bitcoin in their conference discussion.
This is nothing surprising, but I guess it's notable that it's on their radar.

17th Annual International Anti-Money Laundering Conference -  Co-Organized by ACAMS

Conference Program
http://www.moneylaunderingconference.com/2012/program.asp


New Trends in e-Payment Methods: Understanding the Virtual Customer
Monday, March 19  |  1:30 PM - 2:45 PM

Analyze financial crime trends and vulnerabilities in credit cards, Bitcoin and pre-paid cards, especially in developing countries
Learn how to adapt your institution’s systems to include controls to monitor e-payments and alternative money
Mitigate the risk of abuse through mobile devices, the fastest growing method for transmitting money
Examine the impact of FinCEN’s Final Rule on Prepaid Access

[MemoryDealers]

National radio show on 100+ stations with around 100,000 listeners.

1.5 hour long interview,  condensed version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZAFGRrp_kc

[finway]

National radio show on 100+ stations with around 100,000 listeners.
1.5 hour long interview,  condensed version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZAFGRrp_kc

Great presentation, great interview.

[julz]

POLICY & LAW
How the Internet Evolves to Overcome Censorship

Jerry Brito
2011-11-21

http://techland.time.com/2011/11/21/how-the-internet-evolves-to-overcome-censorship/

[apetersson]

Bitcoins mentioned in the very polular XKCD map of "Money, a chart of all of it"

http://xkcd.com/980/huge/#x=-3780&y=-7906&z=6

[julz]

The site mentioned in the article seems to be a relatively minor one and the claim dubious:
"world’s first poker site to offer players the chance to play poker using controversial virtual currency Bitcoin."
(although it might be the first poker site which also takes more traditional money to accept bitcoin)


- but the site carrying the article (cardplayer.com) is a well known poker-news site. (and magazine)

World’s First Bitcoin Poker Payments Launched
Mobile Poker Site Switch Poker First To Offer Virtual Currency Deposits And Payments

Brendan Murray
2011-11-22

http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/12362-worlds-first-bitcoin-poker-payments-launched

edit: it seems the article came via some syndication arrangement and is on other general media and poker media sites too.
e.g http://finance.yahoo.com/news/switchpoker-com-adds-controversial-virtual-110400254.html
so I guess this is a case of switchpoker having done some decent media work.

Well.. it's bitcoin exposure to the poker world anyway.

Here's their blog entry on bitcoin:
http://blog.switchpoker.com/2011/11/22/bitcoin-payments-added

[meanig]

Bitcoin for beginners guide.

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-11-2011/111122-bitcoin-for-beginners-part-1.html?page=1

Whether you are interested in Bitcoin as an open source software project, peer-to-peer network, or decentralized virtual currency, insight into its many facets will help you make sounder decisions about implementing it. In this article (one of three parts) Dirk Merkel gives an overview of Bitcoin, discussing its characteristics as a peer-to-peer network and decentralized currency. He also explores motivations for contributing to the project or implementing it in online transaction systems, as well as some of the pitfalls of doing so.

[julz]

Bitberries! Bitcoiner Uses Heat From Mining to Dry Strawberries

Adrianne Jeffries
2011-11-22

http://www.betabeat.com/2011/11/22/bitberries-bitcoiner-uses-heat-from-mining-to-dry-strawberries/

One Canadian bitcoiner has figured out how to make the wasted electricity produced by bitcoin mining slightly less wasteful by using it to dehydrate strawberries (organic ones!).

Dried Strawberries Bitcoin Style, Uses Heat from a Mining Rig

Kit Dotson
2011-11-22

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2011/11/22/dried-strawberries-bitcoin-style-uses-heat-from-a-mining-rig/

[herzmeister]

they aren't organic    they're full of electro smog