On Wed, 2013-10-02 at 20:21 +0200, Lodewijk andré de la porte wrote:
On Oct 2, 2013 7:19 PM, "Ted Smith" <tedks@riseup.net> wrote:
I know on the Internet people aren't terribly good at being people, but where I'm from it's considered bad form to celebrate anyone being imprisoned. Let's try not to celebrate someone's life being ruined.
I think this is an interesting notion. Yet you misunderstand my apathy for dislike. I simply don't care for this man. Not at all. I think law is served the way it should be, although later than it should be. This law the citizens of America mostly agree with (hard to believe but true nonetheless) and he will likely be prosecuted fairly.
It's miraculous that this man didn't decide to build up an existence in Russia or somesuch country, where he'd be safe from such prosecution. Why he didn't do the ultimate best he could to simply disappear.
Additionally Silk Road has been the one example of "bad things with Bitcoin" so as a news message this is good news for those that own Bitcoin, and Bitcoins image of legitimacy. This is the fact I am celibrating. The actual arrest and takedown are sad results of society and the fact that the owner wasn't hardcore paranoid enough, and I see no reason to celebrate that.
I hear there are non-profits that work to advance the "legitimacy" of bitcoin. There are plenty of companies that are trying to do the same, so they can make money. But we're neither bitcoin-related nonprofits, or bitcoin-related startups. This is the cypherpunks list. Legitimacy shouldn't be our concern. I think it's sad that so many people had no better option (indeed, the Silk Road was usually the best option for finding substances that weren't dangerously adulterated) than to send their money to a man who did violent things, and supported other people that did violent and utterly reprehensible things. I also think it's sad that this particular man is almost certainly going to have a shit life from now on. I also think this adds nothing to any argument over Bitcoin, because again, he got caught by being dumb. Bitcoin+Tor still seems pretty ironclad as a hosting platform for illegal activities. -- Sent from Ubuntu