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Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#41

Post by Tomte »

jaymzcampbell wrote: post #30

A little off topic but I always found it interesting that the "theft" of electricity is actually called Abstracting in UK law, since you can't really steal the electricity itself. > ...it was held that electricity could not be stolen as it is not property within the meaning of section 4 of the Theft Act 1968... Before the Computer Misuse Act 1990 those who misused computers ("hackers") were charged with abstracting e…

The same problem and solution in Germany, but already in 1900: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entziehung_elektrischer_Energi...

It seems that the French high court ruled differently, and they just prosecuted it under the regular theft statute.

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#42

Post by phire »

Looking at the picture, they are using really old bitcoin ASIC miners from 2017.

A profitability calculator I found says this Antminer S9 can get $948/year of income in exchange for $1,371 worth of electricity. That's a loss of $422/year.

Obviously it's not profitable to use anymore, unless you are literally stealing electricity like these guys.

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#43

Post by Joker_vD »

jaymzcampbell wrote: post #30

A little off topic but I always found it interesting that the "theft" of electricity is actually called Abstracting in UK law, since you can't really steal the electricity itself. > ...it was held that electricity could not be stolen as it is not property within the meaning of section 4 of the Theft Act 1968... Before the Computer Misuse Act 1990 those who misused computers ("hackers") were charged with abstracting e…

And yet we still call intellectual "property" just that, "intellectual property" even though it's not a property for most of the laws except for the ones written to specifically deal with intellectual "property". The wonderful world of law.

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#44

Post by mschuster91 »

nuclearnice1 wrote: post #11

Based on heat and people coming and going, police assumed it was a cannabis farm . Based on that incorrect conclusion, they raided the place. Flimsy evidence.

The heat thing is even more ridiculous, given that farmers have shifted to LED lighting for years now precisely to avoid heat emission that can be picked up by police copters...

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#46

Post by alex_young »

phire wrote: post #42

Looking at the picture, they are using really old bitcoin ASIC miners from 2017. A profitability calculator I found says this Antminer S9 can get $948/year of income in exchange for $1,371 worth of electricity. That's a loss of $422/year. Obviously it's not profitable to use anymore, unless you are literally stealing electricity like these guys.

Isn’t that entirely dependent on your electrical rate? There must be some break even point right?

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#47

Post by igravious »

Joker_vD wrote: post #43
jaymzcampbell wrote: post #30

A little off topic but I always found it interesting that the "theft" of electricity is actually called Abstracting in UK law, since you can't really steal the electricity itself. > ...it was held that electricity could not be stolen as it is not property within the meaning of section 4 of the Theft Act 1968... Before the Computer Misuse Act 1990 those who misused computers ("hackers") were charged with abstracting e…

And yet we still call intellectual "property" just that, "intellectual property" even though it's not a property for most of the laws except for the ones written to specifically deal with intellectual "property". The wonderful world of law.

Very good point.

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#48

Post by 0xfaded »

phire wrote: post #42

Looking at the picture, they are using really old bitcoin ASIC miners from 2017. A profitability calculator I found says this Antminer S9 can get $948/year of income in exchange for $1,371 worth of electricity. That's a loss of $422/year. Obviously it's not profitable to use anymore, unless you are literally stealing electricity like these guys.

Man, I was hoping some graphics cards would be liquidated to cover the losses.

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#49

Post by bryanrasmussen »

Joker_vD wrote: post #39
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There has got to be a British Gangster movie in this somewhere!

Just imagine that one scene from the Snatch! where Lincoln instead of a fianite tries to fend off a golden-painted manhole cover that the Pikies convinced him was a Bitcoin :) Edit: Oh God, it's actually an actual thing that already exists: [1] [1] https://bitcoinpenny.com/products/the-manhole-cover-physical...

So I think it's more Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking barrels - with the big Bitcoin penny being used to smash in people's heads along the way -

"hey, why's there so much blood on this thing?"

"you don't wanna know"

"I do want to know Tom, I do - enlighten me, where did all this blood come from? Wait a minute, is that hair and bits of brain down here? You don't normally see that kind of thing on coinage of the realm Tom"

on edit: formatting, and made dialog more Ritchiean.

Re: Sandwell Bitcoin mine found stealing electricity

#50

Post by piva00 »

josefresco wrote: post #10

"Detectives said they were tipped off about lots of people visiting the unit throughout the day and a police drone picked up a lot of heat coming from the building." Does that imply a drone with infrared capabilities?

Yup, that's been pretty commonplace for a few years, I believe. Dutch police has been using drones for more than a decade, IR capabilities included for tracking people smuggling and cannabis farms indoors.

I'd believe that most of the police forces in the EU already have some of those, can't see a reason why they wouldn't, it provides you almost the same surveillance capacity as a helicopter without all the expensive equipment and pilot training.

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