2013-11-18 FORBES: Meet The 'Assassination Market' Creator Who's Crowdfunding Mu

[zeroday]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/andygreenberg/2013/11/18/meet-the-assassination-market-creator-whos-crowdfunding-murder-with-bitcoins/

For now, the site’s rewards are small but not insignificant. In the four months that Assassination Market has been online, six targets have been submitted by users, and bounties have been collected ranging from ten bitcoins for the murder of NSA director Keith Alexander and 40 bitcoins for the assassination of President Barack Obama to 124.14 bitcoins–the largest current bounty on the site–targeting Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve and public enemy number one for many of Bitcoin’s anti-banking-system users. At Bitcoin’s current rapidly rising exchanges rate, that’s nearly $75,000 for Bernanke’s would-be killer.

Hmm. This article is like a provocation on the day of senate hearing.

[1715513509]

1715513509

[18RATTT]

kickstarter + GTA VI

[drawingthesun]

I am intrigued how they determine the killer. I would imagine one of the marks gets killed and thousands of people will be online within minutes trying to claim the bounty.

Also good luck trying to clean those coins. They will investigate a million tainted people for life for such a kill*.

[cfrm]

I am intrigued how they determine the killer. I would imagine one of the marks gets killed and thousands of people will be online within minutes trying to claim the bounty.

It's in the article

Pretty disgusting concept. Sure, Bitcoin is independant and a challenge to governments, but no one has the right to kill another person.

[darkmule]

I am intrigued how they determine the killer. I would imagine one of the marks gets killed and thousands of people will be online within minutes trying to claim the bounty.

Also good luck trying to clean those coins. They will investigate a million tainted people for life for such a kill*.

If you read the article, you'd know.  The future date is encrypted into a transaction to the site and can only be decrypted (to prove that the date was predicted in advance) when the original sender wants it to be and sends the decryption key.  This is basically a scheme based on Jim Bell's old scheme posted to the cypherpunks list (also referenced in the article).  That is, the better provides proof of future knowledge of something supposedly only the perpetrator would know.

Needless to say, the reckless and stupid nature of this kind of thing is pretty obvious.  Why do the people think that a functional market like this, if it could be created, would somehow be magically limited to use against politicians by noble assassins?  Why wouldn't it be used by politicians against normal people, by rich people against neighbors they don't like, etc.?  There may be a certain inevitability in the technology toward uses like this, but it certainly isn't something to approve or actually do if you have any sense whatsoever.

(But people don't necessarily.  Also, great timing, Forbes.  Thanks for that.)

[zeroday]

It will be waste of coins, which will obviously end up in the pocket of site owner.
Al-Qaeda has already had similar kill-list for many years but most of the targets will never be killed due to professionally organized counter-measures.

[Arvicco]

Forbes and "old money" it represents hate Bitcoin and will do anything possible to smear and neuter it. This much is very clear.

[darkmule]

There's something about these arrogant attention whores who give interviews to Forbes like this.  DPR and this guy, specifically.  Are these clowns so desperate for attention they don't realize they're threading their own nooses and, for that matter, causing not completely insignificant damage to Bitcoin in the process?

Also, this has to rate among the dumbest sentences ever uttered:

I also believe that as soon as a few politicians gets offed and they realize they’ve lost the war on privacy, the killings can stop and we can transition to a phase of peace, privacy and laissez-faire.

Oh, yeah, sure.  As soon as a murder machine is set up, people will just stop using it after the good murders are done.  Nobody will ever use it for bad, evil murders!  Idiot.  What planet is this guy from?

I guess the only good thing about this is we may very soon find out just how good the de-anonymizing powers of the NSA really are.  Because if they'd want to make an example of anyone, it'd be this guy.  The dude said enough about himself in this interview (much like DPR) that the already narrow pool of candidates for being him is already substantially narrowed.  If so, it will be yet another case where anonymity technology is overcome by narcissism.

[LiteCoinGuy]

I am intrigued how they determine the killer. I would imagine one of the marks gets killed and thousands of people will be online within minutes trying to claim the bounty.

Also good luck trying to clean those coins. They will investigate a million tainted people for life for such a kill*.

Needless to say, the reckless and stupid nature of this kind of thing is pretty obvious.  Why do the people think that a functional market like this, if it could be created, would somehow be magically limited to use against politicians by noble assassins?  Why wouldn't it be used by politicians against normal people, by rich people against neighbors they don't like, etc.?  There may be a certain inevitability in the technology toward uses like this, but it certainly isn't something to approve or actually do if you have any sense whatsoever.

(But people don't necessarily.  Also, great timing, Forbes.  Thanks for that.)

/sign

[bitfromit]

It will be waste of coins, which will obviously end up in the pocket of site owner.
Al-Qaeda has already had similar kill-list for many years but most of the targets will never be killed due to professionally organized counter-measures.

->hmmm reminds me of betting on life expectancy in Agatha Christies "The Pale Horse"

[knight22]

Congratulations to Ben Bernanke for this popularity contest 
http://assmkedzgorodn7o.onion/
Kind of creepy...

[Xer0]

this stuff wants one to puke... sick!

it could be a fake made by bitcoin antagonists
to create a reason why btc should be banned

[exstasie]

this stuff wants one to puke... sick!

it could be a fake made by bitcoin antagonists
to create a reason why btc should be banned

That's what I was thinking as well.  Trying to get as much bad press out there as possible!

[oakpacific]

It ain't like you can just spend some bitcoins, and ask for the killing of someone and get away with it. If you want to kill a person completely unrelated to you, heavy security usually is around him, if you want to kill someone related to you, the law enforcement can find out about you through the victim's social network.

[oakpacific]

this stuff wants one to puke... sick!

it could be a fake made by bitcoin antagonists
to create a reason why btc should be banned

That's what I was thinking as well.  Trying to get as much bad press out there as possible!

The effect may just be the opposite:" Woo, BTC can be used to hire assassins anonymously! And all the cool kids are doing it, it must be really badass."...

[Spaceman_Spiff]

1) Countermeasure: Create 10+ sockpuppets per day to predict a certain day, remove financial incentive for real hitman.
2) Countermeasure to countermeasure: ask for specifics about the assassination
3) Countermeasure ^3: Create 1000+ sockpuppets per day, each with different descriptions, site owner gets overwhelmed, site loses functionality

Or just do Nr. 3 from the start.

[darkmule]

1) Countermeasure: Create 10+ sockpuppets per day to predict a certain day, remove financial incentive for real hitman.
2) Countermeasure to countermeasure: ask for specifics about the assassination
3) Countermeasure ^3: Create 1000+ sockpuppets per day, each with different descriptions, site owner gets overwhelmed, site loses functionality

Or just do Nr. 3 from the start.

Yep, incidentally, all discussed when Jim Bell shitposted the original essay that landed him in jail (well allegedly it was tax evasion and dumbass threats to the IRS guys but I doubt they would have bothered without that self-inflicted idiocy).  Yet, there are still people stupid enough to float this idea that was bad in the first place, and to attempt to implement it.

But yes, among the other reasons this "let's go around murdering people" idea is bad is "it wouldn't work anyway."

[westkybitcoins]

This is the best they can do?

"No one is listening... we need to PROVE that Bitcoins are dangerous and need regulation. ... See?! Anonymous currency can be used for assassinations! You NEED the regulation!"

The whole thing is clearly a ruse. I'm just waiting for the "kiddy pr0n" angle to be used next, and to flop. At that point we'll know their backs are against the wall.

[danielW]

Does anybody know how I can access the site?

btw just for the record lol, I dont want to make any contribution but would like to have a look at it.

[knight22]

Does anybody know how I can access the site?

btw just for the record lol, I dont want to make any contribution but would like to have a look at it.

You need tor