New attack vector: Mess with electricity costs to destabilize the BTC Economy?

[TiagoTiago]

Could the governament play with the electricity costs to indirectly alter the price of bitcoins so the BTC economy gets so unpredictable people start shying away from it?

[kiba]

Collateral damage. Make normal people angry.

[TiagoTiago]

What if they did somthing that would be more targeted at miners, somthing like adding an extra charge if your electricity bill jumps up and down often (miners starting and stopping their rigs when the difficulty changes)

[kiba]

What if they did somthing that would be more targeted at miners, somthing like adding an extra charge if your electricity bill jumps up and down often (miners starting and stopping their rigs when the difficulty changes)

I think it have to be a lot more sophisticated than that or otherwise you get intentional collateral damage.

[TiagoTiago]

Overtax videocards that are fast with the integer ops Bitcoin uses?

[kiba]

Overtax videocards that are fast with the integer ops Bitcoin uses?

You make gamers and researchers angry too.

[TiagoTiago]

There are alternatives that are about just as good with games and stuff

[kiba]

There are alternatives that are about just as good with games and stuff

For graphic cards?

[TiagoTiago]

Yeah, NIVIDIA's

[kiba]

Yeah, NIVIDIA's

I am sure AMD will throw in the wrench before that can happens.

[TiagoTiago]

If the governament is dedicated enough they could provide subisides(sp?) to AMD to research new approaches to chipmaking that will produce chips that perform poor for Bitcoin but good for games

[kiba]

If the governament is dedicated enough they could provide subisides(sp?) to AMD to research new approaches to chipmaking that will produce chips that perform poor for Bitcoin but good for games

Bitcoin miners will choose the most cost effective means of hashing bitcoin, with or without GPUs.

So I am not sure what this regulation actually does.

[TiagoTiago]

Oh, right, the difficulty scales according to the processing power avaiable, i forgot that detail

[gigitrix]

Such attacks are completely ineffective, as if they make generation harder, difficulty falls and people overseas will generate it all.

[FreeMoney]

Could the governament play with the electricity costs to indirectly alter the price of bitcoins so the BTC economy gets so unpredictable people start shying away from it?

Lol, even if it worked it would have the ridiculously bad consequence of making people shy away from every industry that is sensitive to power costs. Which is a shitton of important ones.

[carlerha]

I think it's very unlikely TiagoTiago, too many governmental corporatism interests depend on electricity for survival.

[rezin777]

Two ways I think the government might attack bitcoin.

Straight up make it illegal. This will be mostly ineffective, but might land some poor souls in jail for nothing.

Demonize it in the media. Make you look like a criminal for using bitcoin.

If they decide it's a threat to status quo, they will probably do both.

Neither or these things will stop people from using bitcoin. I can imagine new three letter agencies popping up to fight the currency of druglords, terrorists, and child predators.

DMS - Department of Monetary Security
CTD - Currency Trafficking Division
DMSEDWWSOE - Department to Make Sure Everyone Does What We Say Or Else 

Hi, I work for the DMS, specifically the CTD, and we've been authorized by the DMSEDWWSOE to confiscate all of your belongings and hold you indefinitely while we conduct further investigations. You have the right to piss your pants.

How do we fight it. Make sure bitcoin is a household name and used by billions ASAP. 

Wee fun post.

[grue]

Hi, I work for the DMS, specifically the CTD, and we've been authorized by the DMSEDWWSOE to confiscate all of your belongings and hold you indefinitely while we conduct further investigations. You have the right to piss your pants.

have a "panic" button (destroys your hard drive), and keep a backup of your wallet on a remote server.

[TradersEdgeDice]

Solar power?

A PC doesn't need much to get started.

[TehZomB]

Hi, I work for the DMS, specifically the CTD, and we've been authorized by the DMSEDWWSOE to confiscate all of your belongings and hold you indefinitely while we conduct further investigations. You have the right to piss your pants.

have a "panic" button (destroys your hard drive), and keep a backup of your wallet on a remote server.

there are people that have implemented that, especially those that are involved in highly illegal works on the internet (no, i don't mean cp, get your mind out of the gutter).

even better - truecrypt your hard drive, don't cache passwords (of course), and pull the plug when you see the feds pull up. that way, unless we're in a total police state, you should *eventually* get your stuff back.