Silk Road founder arrested ...

[Ted Smith]

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 at 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
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