These guys are UNBELIEVABLE. The Brookings Institution weighs in.

[cypherdoc]

"Digital image and video recording is now routinely used in venues as diverse as banks, stores, and taxis. A properly designed system could aim to ensure that cash could only be accepted or disbursed when both the agent and the person providing or accepting the cash were on video."

http://www.bakerinstitute.org/publications/ITP-pub-FinancialTransactions-082911.pdf

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[bitrebel]

+1,000,000

Thanks Cypherdoc, you are awesome!
That's a great document for all of us to read. I just browsed it over real fast.
I noticed it talked about World of Warcraft Gold, and E-Gold, but didn't see a bitcoin mention. Is it there? Can you give us a synopsis? If not, i'll do it later this evening.
Great post!

[cypherdoc]

yes.  it explicitly pointed out Bitcoin.  we're a target.  we need to go deeper.

[bitrebel]

yes.  it explicitly pointed out Bitcoin.  we're a target.  we need to go deeper.

I'm going to read it all later on this afternoon. I'll post a synopsis tonight, if it's not done already.
I think it's an extremely important article. Who commissioned it or who was it created for? Which agency or think tank? Can you gather anything else about this?

[cypherdoc]

yes.  it explicitly pointed out Bitcoin.  we're a target.  we need to go deeper.

I'm going to read it all later on this afternoon. I'll post a synopsis tonight, if it's not done already.
I think it's an extremely important article. Who commissioned it or who was it created for? Which agency or think tank? Can you gather anything else about this?

Brookings Institute.  pretty prominent.

[RodeoX]

Thanks doc. Ill have to read this tonight.

Just seeing the title and the publication date, we know who they are talking about.  

[cypherdoc]

the good news from reading btwn the lines and from what i know of gov't, i don't think they're anywhere near to dealing with Bitcoin from a technological standpoint.  but from a troll standpoint, i think they're already here.

[hugolp]

Here are the parts where they talk about Bitcoin:

Enter Bitcoin, a digital currency based on a paper9 that was self-published on the Internet in 2009
by an author listed as Satoshi Nakamoto, and whose true identity and location has generated
much speculation but much less concrete information. Bitcoin utilizes a peer-to-peer network to
create multiple complete replicas of transactions conducted by people whose identities are
hidden behind public-private key encryption pairs.10

While e-gold was backed by actual gold, Bitcoin is fully virtual, backed only by the confidence
of the people who use it for transactions. A governmental entity attempting to shut down Bitcoin
servers in its territory would almost certainly find that even more servers would spring up,
Hydra-like, in other parts of the world. As of July 23, 2011, there were approximately 6.9 million
Bitcoins trading at a value of more than $13 per Bitcoin, corresponding to a total supply of over
$90 million.11

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the use of encrypted identities in Bitcoin has spurred the creation of an
online market that accepts payments only in Bitcoins and links anonymous drug buyers with
anonymous drug sellers.12 As Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Charles Schumer (D-NY)
stated in a June 2011 letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and Drug Enforcement
Administration Administrator Michele Leonhart, “after purchasing Bitcoins through an
exchange, a user can create an account on Silk Road and start purchasing illegal drugs from
individuals around the world and have them delivered to their homes within days.”13

The potential Achilles heel of Bitcoin—that each server in the network contains a complete record
of all transactions—will almost certainly be addressed in future systems that distribute transaction
information so that no single server or small collection of servers contains a complete transaction
record. It is also possible to envision systems in which the transaction records are not only
distributed, but evanescent, so that even the collective information stored on all the servers in the
system at any given time would not enable a complete reconstruction of transaction history.

Later on:

Technology itself is a critical aspect of the solution in several respects. First, government
agencies need to maintain an understanding of the novel methods being used to move money. On
June 14, 2011, Bitcoin open source project lead Gavin Andresen gave a presentation to a CIA
conference on emerging technologies.48 Afterward, Andresen had little to say about the meeting
other that it “went well.”49 While there was ample speculation as to why Andresen was there,
even on Andresen’s own forum, the fact that the visit occurred shows that the importance of
understanding virtual currencies—and by extension, the wider set of methods that can be used to
mask illicit financial transactions—is understood in the intelligence community.

And finally:

For the United States to ensure its national and financial security, the ability to understand the
massive flow of digital information that is the global financial system today, from micro to
macro, and from baht to Bitcoins, is of fundamental importance. Where once the numbered
Swiss bank account, the wire transfer to a shell corporation, or, as in All the President’s Men, a
paper bag containing $25,000 in cash were primary means for covert financial activity, the
Internet and mobile phone networks are the potential setting for a vastly expanded set of new,
digital avenues for conducting hidden transactions.

Clearly, the banks are annoyed that we are trying to operate outside the regulated system.

[cypherdoc]

But it definitely shows we're on the right track...

[BitcoinStars.com]

Bitcoin pwns the govts

[cypherdoc]

"The potential Achilles heel of Bitcoin—that each server in the network contains a complete record
of all transactions—will almost certainly be addressed in future systems that distribute transaction
information so that no single server or small collection of servers contains a complete transaction
record."

i thought this was our strength?

[bitrebel]

"The potential Achilles heel of Bitcoin—that each server in the network contains a complete record
of all transactions—will almost certainly be addressed in future systems that distribute transaction
information so that no single server or small collection of servers contains a complete transaction
record."

i thought this was our strength?

It's law enforcement's Achilles Heel, that's why they say that, I think.
It's a good read. It's kind of boring though. Not much news really. But it does show Bitcoins impact and reaction from corporations and government.

Clearly Bitcoin is a problem for some people. This is a very good thing. 

[Raoul Duke]

Now the real fun will begin... The fuckers are feeling threated by Bitcoin. It's a huge day for Bitcoin, believe me.

[Vladimir]

"war on sound money" is in works

[cypherdoc]

"war on sound money" is in works

LOL!   do you know what a Central Bankers worst nightmare is?  SOUND MONEY!!!

[cypherdoc]

Now the real fun will begin... The fuckers are feeling threated by Bitcoin. It's a huge day for Bitcoin, believe me.

Believe me.  They can't do anything about it.

[cypherdoc]

"The potential Achilles heel of Bitcoin—that each server in the network contains a complete record
of all transactions—will almost certainly be addressed in future systems that distribute transaction
information so that no single server or small collection of servers contains a complete transaction
record."

i thought this was our strength?

It's law enforcement's Achilles Heel, that's why they say that, I think.
It's a good read. It's kind of boring though. Not much news really. But it does show Bitcoins impact and reaction from corporations and government.

Clearly Bitcoin is a problem for some people. This is a very good thing. 

yeah, i thought it was boring too.  but what made it boring is that its not really a research piece.  no statistics, figures, graphs.  just alot of fear and innuendo justifying gov't counteraction.  something you'd expect from a gov't pawn.

[MajorMiner]

Awesome stuff, thanks for digging it up! Reminds me of an old Gandhi quote, "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

[enmaku]

Only had to go to page 4 for the best quote in the doc:

Almost no one would argue that governments do not have a right to track and trace digital financial transactions associated with activities such as terrorism and human trafficking.

I would.

I would argue that governments do not have a right to track and trace a damn thing, regardless what I'm suspected of. I've seen this argument in various forms so many times it's laughable and I'm honestly surprised that, for once, they didn't throw "child pornography" into that sentence. It IS the classic scapegoat of governmental agencies who want more power/control after all.

[Raoul Duke]

Now the real fun will begin... The fuckers are feeling threated by Bitcoin. It's a huge day for Bitcoin, believe me.

Believe me.  They can't do anything about it.

It will be a pleasure to watch them crawl and moan and suffer while Bitcoin slowly kills their system

The good part is that the general public will all know what Bitcoin is when the banks start their war on Bitcoin.
And the effect will be completely opposite to the banksters goals