Libertarians and Governments will swap what they think about bitcoin, in future!

[cuddaloreappu]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2014/05/21/marc-andreessen-in-20-years-well-talk-about-bitcoin-like-we-talk-about-the-internet-today/



 Investor and Web browser pioneer Marc Andreessen explains..

"Anybody who thinks Bitcoin makes it easier to do transactions that aren't tracked by the government is 100 percent wrong. The transactions all happen in public view. Anybody can look at the entire ledger and verify who owns what. So if you're a law enforcement agency or an intelligence agency, this is a much easier way to track the flow of money than cash. So I think actually law enforcement and intelligence agencies are going to wind up being pro-Bitcoin, and libertarians are going to wind up being anti-Bitcoin."


Do you agree?

[Beliathon]

Do you agree?

The moment is here, and it's time to make a choice.

[cuddaloreappu]

Do you agree?

The moment is here, and it's time to make a choice.

let there be dark

[blatchcorn]

Yes the government will still be able to monitor actions of people, but bitcoin gives people the power to monitor the actions of government for the first time

[Meuh6879]

and then, bitmixer appear ... 

[Ibistru]

Let there be dark

[Ludi]

Why would they swap what they think? I think governments will chnage their mind though.

[yatsey87]

"Anybody who thinks Bitcoin makes it easier to do transactions that aren't tracked by the government is 100 percent wrong. The transactions all happen in public view. Anybody can look at the entire ledger and verify who owns what. So if you're a law enforcement agency or an intelligence agency, this is a much easier way to track the flow of money than cash. So I think actually law enforcement and intelligence agencies are going to wind up being pro-Bitcoin, and libertarians are going to wind up being anti-Bitcoin."


Do you agree?

Yes I do agree. Any person that claims bitcoin is untraceable really just needs to look how hard it is to track paper money and they'll soon shut up. Bitcoin is more traceable that cash in this respect.

[yayayo]

"So I think actually law enforcement and intelligence agencies are going to wind up being pro-Bitcoin, and libertarians are going to wind up being anti-Bitcoin."

That would be very sad. I really hope more privacy-enhancing features will be introduced soon.

There is no reason for the government having any right for doing surveillance on private business.

ya.ya.yo!

[inBitweTrust]

Bitcoin is whatever we make it to be as an Open source technology. Seems as if most of the developers, even on the core team, are serious about privacy so coinjoin and stealth addresses are here to stay.

 In Gavin's last presentation he stresses the need for at least 3 implementations that interact with the same bitcoin blockchain. Right now we almost have 2 full implementations with two different sets of developers and project maintainers. What needs to happen is more developers need to work on Libbitcoin and than others to create another full implementation(instead of one of the many partial floating around). This will insure that if any one group of developer is co-opted to undermine security and privacy we can quickly move to a more secure codebase(Full nodes decide this , not just the miners)

[inBitweTrust]

Yes I do agree. Any person that claims bitcoin is untraceable really just needs to look how hard it is to track paper money and they'll soon shut up. Bitcoin is more traceable that cash in this respect.

Stealth addresses and coinjoin actually make Bitcoin similar to cash in privacy. Cash is serialized and can initially be traced, but is harder to track all the intermediary's that handle the bills which is exactly like bitcoin if you use stealth addresses(Gives privacy to the merchants/sellers) and coinjoin(gives privacy to the buyers/clients).

[Meuh6879]

I think governments will chnage their mind though.

gov follow always the money ... 

[acoindr]

The way Bitcoin works and is used right now he could be right. Bitcoin is all about data and computers are incredibly good at processing data. It's not that Bitcoin was designed to provide automatic perfect anonymity. However, Bitcoin moves the anonymity ball into into the digital realm where tools and techniques can be developed to enhance anonymity greatly.

Most people are not interested in activities that run afoul of governments. That's why Bitcoin is probably fine being an open ledger. Default privacy tools (like coinjoin etc.) built into wallets will probably suffice for most users. If you're some high profile target the government is after, though, you're probably better sticking to offline transfers, unless you have Snowden level abilities.

[jc01480]

But I'm small fish.

[inBitweTrust]

But I'm small fish.

Small Fish are fried all the time because they are easy to catch and make great examples to strike fear in the rest of the pool. Larger fish can be harder to catch and often will create a much bigger struggle. Sometimes it is dangerous to catch a larger fish because there reputation makes cooking them unpopular and they don't want another martyr inspiring all the other smaller fishes to escape the hatchery.

[Bibop]

Let the politicians a nice donation to rise up and they will change their mind even about their mother..

[Ron~Popeil]

I will take less privacy if it brings greater accountability of government actions. I can find ways to use my btc privately if I choose to do so.

[justusranvier]

In Gavin's last presentation he stresses the need for at least 3 implementations that interact with the same bitcoin blockchain.

Gavin is fond of saying that in interviews and at conferences, because that's what people want to hear.

Meanwhile, on GitHub, Bitcoin Core developers do everything they can to stonewall the kinds of changes that are needed to create a clear and well defined protocol that alternate implementations need: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3982

Insert a comment here regarding the relative volume of actions vs words.

[inBitweTrust]

Meanwhile, on GitHub, Bitcoin Core developers do everything they can to stonewall the kinds of changes that are needed to create a clear and well defined protocol that alternate implementations need: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/3982

Their personal motivations do not matter as their code is open and readable by other developers. Libbitcoin is another mostly full implementation which works with the blockchain with other developers and a chief maintainer.

All we need to do is support Libbitcoin and than create a third option after the fact.

[RomertL]

Bitcoin is as as anonymous as you want it to be. Which is good. People and businesses wanting to pay taxes and play nice with governments can use normal wallets while us libertarians can use Darkwallet and such, making it very hard not to say impossible for government to track our transactions. No need to use a ceparate crypto for that like as far as I'm concerned.