Bitcoin press hits, notable sources

[FreeMoney]

Bitcoin 'will recover' from crash - BBC News -includes a statement from Gavin.

Wow. Although there are some annoying things in that article, it's really nice to see a news article on the crash that actually interviews someone relevant.

It's sometimes amazing when you get that flash of memory of back when news outlets used to impartially report details and quote other people's opinions rather than just wing it with the author's interpretation presented as fact.

Bleh, looks like a bad piece to me.

[Horkabork]

Bleh, looks like a bad piece to me.

Maybe I just can't spot a bad bitcoin article anymore because I've read so many crappy opinion pieces that anything remotely resembling journalistic research appears amazing by comparison, even if their timeline is screwed up and they have the common problem of being unable to explain bitcoin.

[FreeMoney]

Bleh, looks like a bad piece to me.

Maybe I just can't spot a bad bitcoin article anymore because I've read so many crappy opinion pieces that anything remotely resembling journalistic research appears amazing by comparison, even if their timeline is screwed up and they have the common problem of being unable to explain bitcoin.

Lol, true. I never really expected good explanations in 'real' press, now my bar is "was not malicious, just wrong". This one still makes it sound like a coin was actually worth .01 for a while and maybe still is. It should have been mentioned (even stressed) that someone was selling coins they couldn't keep for themselves. There was never a point where someone preferred a penny to a bitcoin. The 'value' was never .01 despite what some compromised site claimed.

[Bezza]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/lulzsec-rogue-suspected-of-bitcoin-hack

[speeder]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/lulzsec-rogue-suspected-of-bitcoin-hack

Now that is interesting.

If the entire article is true, they have beaten the forums to the punch.

[Horkabork]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/lulzsec-rogue-suspected-of-bitcoin-hack

Now that is interesting.

If the entire article is true, they have beaten the forums to the punch.

Wait. How are they connecting a "lulzsec rogue" to the hack?

The phrase, "are believed to be", should never ever be in allowed in a news article unless your source would be in some sort of danger. Even then, you should give some reference to the validity of the source. They might as well be reporting what a magical 8 ball told them when they asked it about the hack. This is especially so if it's the lynchpin of your headline.

[FatherMcGruder]

The phrase, "are believed to be", should never ever be in allowed in a news article unless your source would be in some sort of danger. Even then, you should give some reference to the validity of the source. They might as well be reporting what a magical 8 ball told them when they asked it about the hack. This is especially so if it's the lynchpin of your headline.

The passive voice tends to annoy me, especially when writers employ it without an agent. I make an exception for scientific texts, but only begrudgingly.

[ben-abuya]

Newsweek!

http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/19/the-web-s-secret-cash.html

[Batouzo]

http://policyjni.gazeta.pl/Policyjni/1,91152,9824891,Bitcoin___sposob_na_ukrycie_pieniedzy_przed_skarbowka.html

it is a police-topics subsection of major (1 of 5 biggest) news portals in PL.

The topic is unfortunatly "New way to hide money from tax collectors", articles starts in this stupid tone but them moves on to mention good sides like emigrants making cross border transfers (which btw is not really that good use).

Not too good articles, but I guess it can be.

[Longmarch]

http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/22/6917264-bitcoin-virtual-money-gets-hacked-and-heisted

Bitcoin, "the first decentralized digital currency," suffered a hack at the largest Bitcoin-to-real-money exchange, Mt. Gox, that caused all values to drop from $17 to $0.01 per Bitcoin credit.

Bitcoin to "real" money, eh?  


edit: Skimming over the article, seems yet another episode of opinion masquerading as a news report.  Bleh. 

[charliesheen]

spam the msnbc comment section with factual information about bitcoin!

[Nescio]

Slashdot editors seem to find Bitcoin very interesting, two more articles:

EFF stops accepting Bitcoin (comments generally of type "see, it's bs")
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/06/21/1433207/EFF-Stops-Accepting-Bitcoin-Regifts-All-Donations

Second one is an interview with the proprietor of Britcoin and Bitcoin Consultancy, Amir Taaki. This one is pretty positive of course, but Amir mistakes his audience and gives a lot of marketing answers, here and there evasive ones. Highly moderated comments are mostly negative, but they are quite biased and badly misinformed in places (some by the same detractors as before). Slashdot quickly takes offense to topic frequency.
http://interviews.slashdot.org/story/11/06/22/1737237/Amir-Taaki-Answers-Your-Questions-About-Bitcoin

[bitboy]

Doug Casey on Bitcoin and Currencies
(Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator)

http://howestreet.com/2011/06/doug-casey-bitcoin-currencies/

[Vladimir]

Doug Casey on Bitcoin and Currencies
(Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator)

http://howestreet.com/2011/06/doug-casey-bitcoin-currencies/

Doug: It’s a sign of the times. Lots of peo­ple are actively look­ing for an alter­na­tive to the dol­lar. I think Bit­coin is a very good thing, in prin­ci­ple. But after the recent dis­as­trous hack, it’s prob­a­bly a dead duck, at least in ver­sion 1.0.

Stopped reading right here. Doug has no clue.

[em3rgentOrdr]

Doug Casey on Bitcoin and Currencies
(Interviewed by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator)

http://howestreet.com/2011/06/doug-casey-bitcoin-currencies/

Doug: It’s a sign of the times. Lots of peo­ple are actively look­ing for an alter­na­tive to the dol­lar. I think Bit­coin is a very good thing, in prin­ci­ple. But after the recent dis­as­trous hack, it’s prob­a­bly a dead duck, at least in ver­sion 1.0.

Stopped reading right here. Doug has no clue.

Wow.  Doug Casey is someone I respect and admire his intelligence and humor.  I think Stefan Molyneux said it best: the hacking attempts are simply proof that bitcoin has value, and there are bad guys out there who will steal valuables.  Eventually there will be entrepreneuers out there who will provide multiple levels on encryption to safeguard your valuables.

Anyway, I propose that the bitcoin client code be modified to require the user to enter a passphrase that will PGP encrypt the user's wallet.dat by default.

[Longmarch]

From the Doug Casey article...

Frankly, I can’t see why any­one would, when there’s already an elec­tronic dig­i­tal cur­rency like Bit­coin but backed with gold: Gold­Money. I should dis­close that I’m a small investor in the com­pany. But I have to say that I really do like Gold­Money. It does every­thing Bit­coin does — or did — but is backed by some­thing of real value: gold. That means it’s not just an abstrac­tion, but an actual store of wealth. The ulti­mate proof of that is that you can take deliv­ery of your gold if you want to. With Bit­coin, there’s noth­ing to take deliv­ery of. I don’t under­stand why any­one would use Bit­coin when they can use Gold­Money, which does all the same things but has real backing.

[bitboy]

This is frickin hilarious!

Secret money: ABC virtual currency racket probe
Asher Moses
June 23, 2011 - 2:15PM

An ABC IT worker has reportedly dragged the public broadcaster into a virtual currency money making racket and a "serious misconduct case" is underway.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/secret-money-abc-virtual-currency-racket-probe-20110623-1ggp6.html

[Kid81]

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/secret-money-abc-virtual-currency-racket-probe-20110623-1ggp6.html

News artical by the second largest paper in Australia.

[Cluster2k]

This is frickin hilarious!

Secret money: ABC virtual currency racket probe
Asher Moses
June 23, 2011 - 2:15PM

An ABC IT worker has reportedly dragged the public broadcaster into a virtual currency money making racket and a "serious misconduct case" is underway.

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/secret-money-abc-virtual-currency-racket-probe-20110623-1ggp6.html

Well there you go.  Bitcoin is a "money making racket".  Over the past two weeks popular media has labeled bitcoin as the currency of choice for drug dealers, money launderers and now it's a racket (hence implying the whole thing is illegal).  Fantastic.  I'm sure merchants are lining up to support bitcoins with this kind of publicity.

[Cluster2k]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/jun/22/lulzsec-rogue-suspected-of-bitcoin-hack

Now that is interesting.

If the entire article is true, they have beaten the forums to the punch.

LulzSec has become the new electronic boogeyman, akin to Al Qaeda.  Over the past few years whenever an attack occurred the media would label it as 'bearing all the hallmarks of Al Qaeda' within hours of the attack, regardless of any investigation or conclusive evidence.  Now we'll have LulzSec being blamed for every electronic intrusion and DDoS.  They must be loving the attention.