

BitCoin and International Crime - canweriotnow
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-bitcoin-20131125,0,3265347.story

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lukeqsee
"Stop Bitcoin. Save the children (and rhinos, too, while you're at it)!"

When will we learn that money and systems (especially X new technology) aren't
the issue (or the solution)? People are both. Until society admits both its
faults and its failed solutions, it probably will be plagued with deplorable
crimes such as those facilitated by Bitcoin (and USD and CAD and CHF, for that
matter).

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canweriotnow
Submitter here - I hate, hate, hate this post. It is the worst FUD I have seen
in some time, and I'm only posting b/c I think it needs the full HN lens.
Please don't think I agree with a single word.

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jnbiche
Agreed. I'd be interested in hearing Prof. Green's rebuttal -- I'm sure he's
long since thought these issues through very carefully.

One of the commenters to the article mentioned, money was never designed to be
a tracking system. That "feature" has only been added over the past few
decades.

And law enforcement will always be inconvenienced in a free society, the kind
our founding fathers most definitely envisioned here in the U.S. (and
elsewhere, I'm sure).

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canweriotnow
Let's hope there is a rebuttal... his last major blog post[1] was censored by
his university. In a flash of reason, the decision was reversed (woohoo
academic freedom!)

In this case, since Zerocoin is actually a university-sponsored project (from
the Johns Hopkins Information Securuty Institute), we can hope for a
response... hopefully it will be a rebuttal from the researchers and not a
kneejerk response from administrators.

Even beyond its obvious utility (for good or ill), zerocoin is a fascinating
problem in cryptographic research, and we should be grateful it's occuring in
the light of day and not as some super-secret project.

[1] [http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/10/nsa-
mat...](http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/10/nsa-matthew-
green-takedown-blog-post-johns-hopkins)

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mgback
Here is the real crime... It is a currency that no government can manipulate
or control. Bitcoin with tumblers is "true" economic freedom from any
beaurocratic or government control. You get the bad... But you also get the
infinite good of not having any government able to take your wealth away from
you at its whim.

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mschuster91
As if rhino poachers would ever use bitcoin, lol. After all, the money has to
enter and exit the BTC world (e.g. at places like MtGox), where it can and
will be recorded.

Far too risky for poachers and large-scale criminals.

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jamhan
Playing the devil's advocate here:

In 30 years time, you consider retiring, and you have a significant portion of
your savings in Zerocoin. Someone, somehow, manages to fraudulently acquire
your Zerocoin savings, perhaps through a flaw in the Zerocoin system itself.
You go to the authorities, and ask them to help you recover your stolen
retirement savings. They reply, "Sorry, as you know, Zerocoin is completely
anonymous. We can't help you, no-one can."

What do you do?

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rbehrends
Simple: You don't invest in Bitcoin/Zerocoin in the first place.

Digital currencies are the online equivalent of cash, not of a savings account
or stocks. Like regular cash, it can be stolen (e.g., by hacking into your
computer) or lost (hard drive crash with an outdated backup), and thus, you
shouldn't have more on hand than you can afford to lose.

Different rules apply to speculators, of course, but you are talking about
retirement savings. Putting your retirement savings in a Bitcoin wallet is
about the same as having a pile of cash under your mattress.

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jamhan
That much is already clear. I'm more interested in comments from those who
appear to think Bitcoin/Zerocoin is an "infinite good":
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6806395](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6806395)

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a3voices
Bitcoins don't kill people, people kill people.

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mdelias
Rhinos don't poach Rhinos, Bitcoins poach Rhinos

