Gavin will visit the CIA

[TiagoTiago]

...

Cia got bin ladin.  Woot.

ya .. dead .. until his next wikileaks interview showing him having a wonderful dinner with those whom 'killed' him.

My bet is he is alive, but the treatment he is receiving is of the "enhanced" kind

[The Script]

...

Cia got bin ladin.  Woot.

ya .. dead .. until his next wikileaks interview showing him having a wonderful dinner with those whom 'killed' him.

My bet is he is alive, but the treatment he is receiving is of the "enhanced" kind

The man was supposedly on dialysis like ten years ago.  If that were true it seems unlikely he would have made it this long. But who knows.  It will probably end up being one of the great mysteries: Was there a lunar landing? Who is John Galt?  When did Osama die?  911 an Inside Job?  Who is Satoshi Nakamoto?  Etc.   

[FreeMoney]

Golly, journeyofrivers is really going to hate me when he finds out I'm an Elected Official and a Cog in the System.  Last night I voted to steal millions of dollars from taxpayers and give it to public (I know!  Terrible!) schools.

(I'm only barely an elected official, one of 251 elected Amherst Town Meeting members.  My punishment is long boring meetings late at night a couple times a year...)

Seriously, we probably agree on most things on a philosophical level.  I just believe I'll get farther by taking "small steps to a much better world."

OMG he's actually a Mass politician.

Just so you know, you probably haven't actually received your punishment for being an official yet.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Seriously, we probably agree on most things on a philosophical level.

Maybe .. but all I know of you is that you admit willingly going to the CIA ... that's immediate exile in my shit world.

Actually you are thinking backwards.
Gavin would be a traitor if he went to CIA, took $3000 and didn't tell us (or told us after the fact).

It's exactly the opposite - because Gavin told us openly that he is going to CIA (and he openly distributes the Video from the conference later) he is **honest** with us.

Liars, thieves & traitors simply don't act openly this way.


----
EDIT:

Also, this is a great opportunity to find out what do they want from us. Are they hostile or not ? Know your potential enemy.

[alkor]

Also, this is a great opportunity to find out what do they want from us. Are they hostile or not ? Know your potential enemy.

As they say, keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

[carp]

Golly, journeyofrivers is really going to hate me when he finds out I'm an Elected Official and a Cog in the System.  Last night I voted to steal millions of dollars from taxpayers and give it to public (I know!  Terrible!) schools.

(I'm only barely an elected official, one of 251 elected Amherst Town Meeting members.  My punishment is long boring meetings late at night a couple times a year...)

Seriously, we probably agree on most things on a philosophical level.  I just believe I'll get farther by taking "small steps to a much better world."

And I, on the other hand, just hope that you will not be corrupted by them, and will reform your ways and cut ties with them before they corrupt you too much. I doubt you can tell the CIA too much that they don't already know.... afterall... they can read all these messages.

The nice thing about bitcoin is that it has nothing to hide. The source code says all that needs to be said (as you pointed out in your Ignite! talk).

More important to find out what their attitude is. If they wanted to come after this community, its not like they would ask permission. They have demonstrated a willingness to lie, cheat, steal, and murder whenever it suits them.... if they wanted to disappear you it would be just that, you would be pushed into a black van and never heard from again. If they wanted to take over the network, they would be devious, and do it well, and we wouldn't figure it out until it was too late.

Best to get whatever info out of them we can, and to know that Big Brother is watching.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Golly, journeyofrivers is really going to hate me when he finds out I'm an Elected Official and a Cog in the System.  Last night I voted to steal millions of dollars from taxpayers and give it to public (I know!  Terrible!) schools.

(I'm only barely an elected official, one of 251 elected Amherst Town Meeting members.  My punishment is long boring meetings late at night a couple times a year...)

Seriously, we probably agree on most things on a philosophical level.  I just believe I'll get farther by taking "small steps to a much better world."

And I, on the other hand, just hope that you will not be corrupted by them, and will reform your ways and cut ties with them before they corrupt you too much. I doubt you can tell the CIA too much that they don't already know.... afterall... they can read all these messages.

Yeah, they will definately try something.

Even if Gavin won't accept money or power, they can still threaten to hurt his family or something.

But anyway, the source is still free/open so i don't see many ways in which they could hurt Bitcoin. Open source projects are not governed by the laws that the rest of this civilization is governed by. Open source is like an idea. It is virtually impossible to destroy (as long as there is at least one living person developing).

[PwrLeveld]

I hope that bitcoins.org isn't registered in the U.S. pokerstars.com anyone?

[ribuck]

In-Q-Tel (the firm that invited Gavin to speak at this technical conference) funds the development of new technology that could solve the CIA's "pressing problems". For example, In-Q-Tel funded Keyhole Inc. to develop what is now Google Earth. In-Q-Tel isn't in the business of getting people to conferences to talk about stuff so that it can be "taken down".

As ShadowOfHarbringer says, Bitcoin is open source and cannot be easily subverted by an intelligence agency. And the CIA won't be bending Gavin's arm or threatening his family or anything like that.

But what In-Q-Tel could do is to invest in a startup that is doing Bitcoin-related stuff that is interesting or useful to them. For example, developing (secret) customised versions of the Bitcoin client, or developing other tools to interface with the Bitcoin infrastructure, or developing super-efficient Bitcoin mining hardware.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

And the CIA won't be bending Gavin's arm or threatening his family or anything like that.

I never said they will, i just said they can.

But I personally doubt it. If they invited Gavin the way they did, they will rather not try an open attack.

After all Bitcoin is a perfect tool for easy transfering the funds CIA earns from illegal drugs. Also, they can use it to anonymously fund all of their dark operations without leaving a trace. So i think they are going to use it for their gains.

[PwrLeveld]

Actually there was some good points here. The CIA could use bitcoins for completly anyonmous payments to undecover agents, and other intrests the CIA has. It shall work. CIA will not atack bitcoins the same way even if it is determined illegal then if you ask me. We realy need some lobyists suport bitcoins and withdrawl of goverment control on all of out lives.

[gigitrix]

The CIA should not be treated as the 'enemy' for you guys: they are a neutral party. You can speculate all you like, but at the end of the day someone wants to pay our lead developer some cash in exchange for an education in the protocol: that can only be a good thing in the short term. In the long term, if the CIA "were" an enemy, they could find this all out anyway.

[TiagoTiago]

Neutral? More like Chaotic-Neutral....

[bittersweet]

Bitcoin is not a secret nor a very complicated idea, they don't need to meet with anyone to learn everything about this technology in a day or two. They have their own specialists.

Therefore I can only speculate their intentions are not merely learning about "this new cool thing" but to learn about and meddle with people who are behind it. I find it disturbing. They want to get into personal contact, watch the community, learn about relations between developers, between major traders, their lives, perhaps even to "convince" Gavin somehow to work for them as informant. What's the better way to start it than get in touch with the current lead developer? They are not your friends.

I think you should just send them info - you can learn everything about Bitcoin on bitcoin.org.

[mcdett]

A reason the CIA could be good

They will present to the politicians what bitcoin could or could not do.

Mybe US embraces it as a method to go back to the "gold standard" without actually mining gold (or admitting that fort knox is empty (or is it?))

Maybe with the right leadership the usd gets tied to something that will not inflate and that all world economies can play in fairly (dump the imf, and keep chn yen honest)

Maybe the US enters the market early on (do we know who is behind these group mining efforts... I expect China is in there somewhere) and finds themselves with a superior holding of btc, and then by helping make sure that the block chain is preserved (anyone with large btc holding would seek a accurate record of their holdings) they can help preserve a future, efficient, world economy (something that's honest and plays no favorites)

If the math behind bitcoin is superior and long lasting, then this is force to be reckoned with

If the math is soft, then it's better then that the cia abuses it and commissions the shutting of it down so we can all get over this addiction (don't lie to yourself about this) sooner rather than later

For me it all comes down to the math

bottom line is that if any of the above (not including shutdown) happens then a btc will be worth more then is tolerably imaginable




Gavin... don't touch any of their hookers and blow :-p

[mizerydearia]

Cia got bin ladin.  Woot.

ya .. dead .. until his next wikileaks interview showing him having a wonderful dinner with those whom 'killed' him.

Usamah bin Ladin has been dead since 2001.  See http://breaking.witcoin.com/p/1476/Osama-bin-Laden-already-died-in-2001 and http://breaking.witcoin.com/p/1549/Statement-From-the-Family-of-Osama-bin-Laden

Note: scientifically symbolic Earth object is much larger than usa matter and voices of creatures existing within us contamination zone as led or influenced by president and/or government control is not necessarily worldwidely recognized or accepted due to immunity of the related diseases including, but not limited to manipulative or brain dissolving gmos. -- This message brought to you courtesy of Disney.

Note: Agreeing with and propogating through acceptance and agreement with story that OBL was buried in h2o on May 1st, 2011 is a method of defense allowing individuals to prevent from being kidnapped and tortured due to spreading information that conflicts with and competes with propagandas.  Save your life by keeping your head down and submitting!  Spread propaganda today!  Also, carrot > bitcoin!

Gavin... don't touch any of their hookers and blow :-p

He already has us$3k worth of influence or incentive.  Although, Gavin's willingness to present or discuss bitcoin for x monies is negotiable.  For example, would Gavin be willing to present to CIA for us$0?  Would he be willing to present to CIA for us$1,000,000,000?  Would the difference in Gavin's presentation be affected by the amount of monies he has received?  e.g. us$0 vs us$3,000 vs us$1,000,000,000?  If so, does the amount of money provided as a kind of influence have any association or affiliation with the level of corruption or incentive to manipulate and intervene with Gavin's time and efforts through money?

In any case, regardless of Gavin's singular existence participating with organized crime/corruption/terrorism, as Gavin pointed out, Bitcoin's success is not reliant on any leader that has potential of being corrupted.  Even if Gavin becomes evil and contributes to stuff liek at http://death.witcoin.com/ Bitcoin will survive and thrive, but not deprive you to stay alive with jive and arrive with vive wive to swive and stive and skively rive and then revive the live of wife, her to shrive of your strive to slively drive a hive of five that i've yet to see dive and derive a shive on a smartdrive. O_O

[marcus_of_augustus]

Bitcoin is not a secret nor a very complicated idea, they don't need to meet with anyone to learn everything about this technology in a day or two. They have their own specialists.

Therefore I can only speculate their intentions are not merely learning about "this new cool thing" but to learn about and meddle with people who are behind it. I find it disturbing. They want to get into personal contact, watch the community, learn about relations between developers, between major traders, their lives, perhaps even to "convince" Gavin somehow to work for them as informant. What's the better way to start it than get in touch with the current lead developer? They are not your friends.

I think you should just send them info - you can learn everything about Bitcoin on bitcoin.org.

Two angles to this:
i)
If this is the case, it will be a good test of how susceptible the protocol is to political coercion/meddling. Better we find out now than when there is some real money in play.
ii)
When you continually take lovers in a whorehouse expect to get the pox eventually.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Bitcoin is not a secret nor a very complicated idea, they don't need to meet with anyone to learn everything about this technology in a day or two. They have their own specialists.

Of course, but they also want to hear it first hand, form the main developer. It is a complletely different thing to read some technical documentation and hear it in person from somebody who is project leader.

I find it disturbing. They want to get into personal contact, watch the community, learn about relations between developers, between major traders, their lives, perhaps even to "convince" Gavin somehow to work for them as informant. What's the better way to start it than get in touch with the current lead developer? They are not your friends.

You are probably right, however the most prominent CIA guys probably are living in the times before internet & rapid FOSS development, so they don't realize that Open Source projects cannot be controlled even if you buy out a project's boss. That's the beauty of it.

Sure they will most likely try convincing Gavin to come to the "dark side", but sooner or later they will realize that this gives them nothing, and they will drop the idea.

I think you should just send them info - you can learn everything about Bitcoin on bitcoin.org.

Sending info is NOT the same as coming to headquarters oneself.
Face-to-face communication is simply waaaaaaaaay more effective than any other means.

[bitcool]

.. some day I shall get my head out of my ass ..

Generally, visualization skill helps your reading and comprehension. This is one exception.

[carp]

The CIA should not be treated as the 'enemy' for you guys: they are a neutral party. You can speculate all you like, but at the end of the day someone wants to pay our lead developer some cash in exchange for an education in the protocol: that can only be a good thing in the short term. In the long term, if the CIA "were" an enemy, they could find this all out anyway.

I don't entirely disagree with your sentiment but... this is the CIA we are talking about.

We are talking about the people that have done everything from setup secret brothels to study what happens when they slip people LSD 40 years ago, to helping run secret prisons and torture facilities, run guns, introduced crack into inner cities... and regularly murder people with remote controlled planes.

The CIA is, in my estimation, the enemy of all civilized human beings.