[LINK] Fwd: BitCoin DDoS and/or Wallet-Hack

[Kim Holburn]

On 2013/Apr/05, at 5:39 PM, Jim Birch wrote:

> If Bitcoin starts to seriously challenge the state or it's revenue base it
> is certain to be clobbered with some form of taxation or maybe simply
> rendered illegal.  

Which "the state" would that be?  It might be declared illegal in one country but that is unlikely to break it.

> Control and taxing of transactions are fundamental
> functions of the state - the whole reason for the state to issue currency
> is to be able to efficiently tax economic activity.  It beats collecting
> bags of wheat.   At present Bitcoin is a tiny part of the black economy. It
> appeals to criminals who want untraceable cash, eg for drug dealing, and
> somewhat romantically to technolibertarians of a
> what-have-the-Romans-ever-done-for-us variety.

Your only argument is a kind of "if you're not doing anything wrong then you'll have nothing to worry about when the state puts surveillance cameras in your bedroom."  Perhaps we shouldn't use "cash" at all, so the government can trace every transaction and extract its tax.  If it's tax you're really concerned about well the people who get out of paying the most tax are not poor or in general criminals.

> The black economy is always in the sights of the state but at present the
> return for effort is probably better in other areas.  

The world black economy is the second largest economy in the world.  
http://www.forbes.com/sites/benzingainsights/2011/11/07/rise-of-the-shadow-economy-second-largest-economy-in-the-world/
It's probably much more important than we think (including to our non-black economy).

> If Bitcoin becomes
> too big they will go after it and kill it and/or tax it.  (Why should
> anyone, even drug dealers, be excluded from paying tax?)  However, it may
> it may die in the meantime when someone cracks the system.  

I think bitcoin might be the smallest worry if this happens.

> It might also
> be hit for other reasons, eg, to crack down on drug dealing, or, perhaps
> when terrorists have been found to use it to buy weapons, or if it exerts a
> destabilising or distorting influence on the white economy.

Crime is not the only reason for privacy.  It is a reason people often use to get rid of privacy.



-- 
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
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