-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Gregory Maxwell <greg@xiph.org> writes:

On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 9:51 PM, StealthMonger <StealthMonger@nym.mixmin.net> wrote:

...

Yes, Bitcoin liberates trade from "public" extortion ("taxation").

It does no such thing.

Not true. Look at the sources: ... Bitcoin can be considered to be another variety of cash, i.e. digital cash. ... and cash can also be used for tax evasion purposes. [1] [2] Bitcoin prevents inflation and helps tax evation [sic] (the system itself is hard to regulate) [3]

Under US law, for example, Barter in Bitcoins is just as taxable as ...

States describe their pronouncements as "law" in an effort make them respectable.

Many Bitcoin users I know are kind and thoughtful people and all of the developers I know are.

Are you suggesting that there is something unkind or thoughtless about promoting a free market?

Tying it back to the list topic.

Seems to be on-topic. From the liberationtech Info Page: The Program on Liberation Technology "Liberationtech" seeks to understand how information technology can be used to defend human rights, improve governance, empower the poor, promote economic development, and pursue a variety of other social goods. [4] By these criteria, Bitcoin discussion qualifies.

There are some interesting challenges in the context of anonymity systems (in particular) which I think that Bitcoin, and technologies from its ecosystem, can contribute to improving. Generally preventing denial of service from resource starvation or spam is frustrated when participants are anonymous.

Resource starvation? Anonymous markets have thrived throughout history, and probably before. [1] http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201210en.pdf [2] "tax evasion" is their euphemism for successful defense against their extortion. [3] http://shadowlife.cc/files/btcotc.pdf [4] https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech - -- -- StealthMonger <StealthMonger@nym.mixmin.net> Key: mailto:stealthsuite@nym.mixmin.net?subject=send%20stealthmonger-key -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.5.9 <http://mailcrypt.sourceforge.net/> iEYEARECAAYFAlCVhlAACgkQDkU5rhlDCl5vDgCgn+gT6aD2zNiqKQpT42EMpikJ LkEAmwQVUnNuxZbv46xBibwwblDdWbXB =TgK+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- -- Unsubscribe, change to digest, or change password at: https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/liberationtech ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org">leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE