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Does anyone here use Bitcoins?
Renegade:
But Bitcoin still isn't under government or central bank CONTROL. Sure they can try to regulate it... try. But where are the teeth?
Interest rates for bitcoins can't be controlled by TPTB. They are still a free market currency.
From the article:
but one thing is clear: If Bitcoins are the currency of choice for a computerized Wild West, the sheriff is pushing hard to impose some order amongst the chaosanarchy.
--- End quote ---
Needed a correction. Anarchy is not chaos.
Vurbal:
Needed a correction. Anarchy is not chaos.
-Renegade (August 08, 2013, 11:36 PM)
--- End quote ---
Definitely not. Constructive anarchy is the natural state for human society. Unfortunately there's always some douchenozzle waiting to take advantage of it and we haven't worked out a solution to that yet which doesn't involve a government.
Renegade:
Saw this and thought it might be topical and give a few people some laughs:
The only truly secure way to use bitcoin, from a long time computer security expert.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1e4b9s/the_only_truly_secure_way_to_use_bitcoin_from_a/
I've worked in the computer security industry almost since it was created, and I've heard a lot of misconceptions on this subreddit about how to securely use bitcoin. I thought it would be helpful to provide a few common sense steps anybody can use to safely secure their bitcoins.
* You simply cannot trust computer hardware manufacturers. Hardware Backdoor's are real and more prevalent than you can imagine. The only way to be sure you aren't susceptible is to design and build your own CPU and computer system. Fabricating your own silicon chips is a surprisingly simple process, as all you really need is some sand.
* Once you've hand manufactured your CPU, Motherboard, RAM, and IO devices, you'll need to write a C compiler that will compile down to your CPU's native language. Writing your own compiler will keep you safe from the Ken Thompson Hack.
* Create a simple OS that you can use to access the internet. Some people might suggest using Linux, but there are 9,868,933 lines of code in just the Kernel, most of which you won't need, and personally verifying every line for rootkits might take a bit longer than you have the patience for.
* Create your own bitcoin client. Satoshi's client could possess hidden back doors, or they could have been introduced since his departure. The classic create-a-currency-to-compromise-a-users-computer-attack is devastating, and we can't rule Satoshi out. Bottom line is that you cannot be sure.
* Dig a very deep hole into the earth, and surround it with at least three feet of re-enforced concrete. Place your custom PC in there. Thermal imaging attacks can easily penetrate the walls of your home, and reveal your private keys to any wayward onlooker, or high tech peeping tom. A sufficiently deep hole will also protect you against common keystroke sound vibration attacks. Also, if you've had any help so far, this hole will double as their grave.
* Before generating your public private key pair, carefully run your hands over your head to ensure that you don't have any suspicious electrodes attached to your skull. Mind Reading technology is real.
* Once your wallet is setup, Quantum Encrypt it so that any attempts to access it will immediately destroy the information.
* This is the most important: Never leave your re-enforced hole in the ground. Leaving your hole makes you susceptible to the highly effective (despite what Bill O'Reilly would have you believe) water-boarding-private-key-extraction-attack.
So long as you follow these simple 8 steps, you'll be reasonably safe against any would be attacker, assuming of course the entire universe isn't just a simulation running on Satoshi's computer.
8)[/list]
40hz:
Sure they can try to regulate it... try. But where are the teeth?
-Renegade (August 08, 2013, 11:36 PM)
--- End quote ---
Ask Manning. Ask anybody who is a detainee (who doesn't exist, being held by any government in places that don't exist, having things done to them that aren't done, courtesy of laws they're not allowed to know about) where the teeth are.
People are amazingly unaware of just how mind-numbingly powerful modern governments are. There's plenty of teeth to be seen once the decision to bare them gets made.
This isn't to say it's hopeless to buck the system. But it's important to realize that if you think any government is just going to roll over - or follow its own rules should the going get tough - you are setting yourself up for very harsh lesson in realpolitik.
Renegade:
Sure they can try to regulate it... try. But where are the teeth?
-Renegade (August 08, 2013, 11:36 PM)
--- End quote ---
Ask Manning. Ask anybody who is a detainee (who doesn't exist, being held by any government in places that don't exist, having things done to them that aren't done, courtesy of laws they're not allowed to know about) where the teeth are.
People are amazingly unaware of just how mind-numbingly powerful modern governments are. There's plenty of teeth to be seen once the decision to bare them gets made.
This isn't to say it's hopeless to buck the system. But it's important to realize that if you think any government is just going to roll over - or follow its own rules should the going get tough - you are setting yourself up for very harsh lesson in realpolitik.
-40hz (August 09, 2013, 03:59 AM)
--- End quote ---
Well, yes. It depends on if you can fly under the radar. Unfortunately, the radar is getting lower and lower.
For the moment, I think most of us can skate by. (crossing fingers)
Quoting one of the top advisors in the US that most people have never heard of:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12764606/Zbigniew-Brzezinski-Chatham-House-Speech-November-2008-
Namely in earlier times it was easier to control an million people literally it was easier to control an million people than physically, to kill a million people. Today it is infinitely easier to kill a million people, than to control a million people.-Zbigniew Brzezinski Chatham House Speech November 2008 Part 1
--- End quote ---
People are amazingly unaware of just how mind-numbingly sinister modern governments are. Absolute power & absolute corruption and all that jazz. Still, I'm hopeful. Zbigniew even gives hope:
Their capacity to oppose control over the politically awakened masses of the world is at A historical low.
--- End quote ---
There is hope. While they may regulate bitcoin, they can't police every single person for every transaction, unless they go full on Khmer Rouge psychotic democide spree or flat out Nazi concentration camp. Given that "cold eggs" (literally - not a joke) is an offense along with collecting rain water and planting tomatoes (both again quite literally), I wouldn't rule that out. Just hoping... And bitcoin can be a good tool to help undermine the power of the all-powerful state.
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