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Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

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Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#201
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is perfectly possible. Your only task is to secure the private keys. These are short enough to be printed as a QR code or written down. keep that piece of paper somewhere safe. Alternatively, it is possible to use a good, random, long passphrase as your de facto private key. That way, the keys to your wallet are literally stored in your mind and nowhere else. As of now, there are no known fatal flaws or weaknesses…

> It is perfectly possible [to secure a bitcoin one owns]. You're forgetting about social engineering.

Social engineering applies to pretty much everything. It has nothing to do with Bitcoin (or whatever else a social engineer wants from you) and everything with your own lack of due diligence and gullibility.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#202
post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I find actually amazing isn't your ignorance, your misunderstanding of Objectivism, Libertarianism, and Silk Road denizens. Nor do I find amazing your inability to separate the individual from the collective. No, what I find actually amazing is that despite all that you still believed you could make a meaningful comment.

Swoosh! Right over your head. This is just so hilarious I can't stand it. Nothing is better than watching a true believer grasp clumsily at his beliefs as they slip from his grasp like a slimy eel.

You keep describing all aspects of this situation as hilarious. It's condescending and not adding anything to your argument. If you're trying to be persuasive, this isn't how you do it.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#203
post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I honestly don't get this. If there isn't a monopoly on laws and law enforcement, does that mean that victims of crimes should be able to shop around to get the law enforcement agency that they want? Should the accused? Is there any historical precedent for anything like this actually working?

There are currently thousands of different sets of laws and legal systems that you can choose to subscribe/submit to. Potential victims of crimes can shop around for the legal system that they prefer, and those who intend to commit crimes can do the same. Generally this "shopping around" cannot be done retroactively; there are a few exceptions to this however. The way that you pick the one that you wish to be associa…

That doesn't do anything to answer my question about where libertarians stand on the question. I still don't get what a civilization without a "monopoly on laws and law enforcement" would look like.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

this is seriously the most hilarious response to a hacker news thread i have seen in a long time. it's got it all; > Here we have a group of objectivist libertarians wild conjecture? you bet. > who believe that there should be effectively no laws other than the law of economics and self-interest please, tell me, what else do they think? perhaps next you can tell me what i think, i'd love to hear it. > We need the gov…

Haha, Ted Bundy? The ultimate strawman slippery slope argument! Oh so good, all your defenses do nothing but point out the deeper contradictions in the statements. Seriously go back and read your replies to my replies. They're even funnier.

ah, we've gotten to the "i know you are, but what am i" stage already.

well, i'm glad you made it to the ted bundy part, but i can only assume you read one out of every 8-10 words, as that last bit was about hypocrisy in general (and why it's pointless to claim someone is a hypocrite in order discredit someone's argument). in no way was a "slippery slope" argument invoked.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#206

how the hell do they get away with kind of heist? Wouldn't they be able to follow the blockchain addresses until arriving at the wallet they are using to cash out?

I've talked about this before. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7086399

You won't be able to find me without the authorities forcing the exchanges to provide info since they make their own cut helping me move the funds around in transaction-fees if they keep quiet about these kinds of things. As long as I'm not too greedy/eager and don't rush things, I can collect on these funds over the course of several months. I can even spice things up by sending a bunch into an online bitcoin-gambling-site. Gamble a little bit; perhaps lose some then withdraw after a few days. So now if I had sent 10 BTC in then 9 BTC goes somewhere else, you don't know if I lost 9 BTC to the casino or if I lost 1 to the casino and 9 is going to another wallet of mine.

All this will look pretty crazy to anyone trying to follow me on the blockchain. You can't know which coins are actually mine and which belong to the exchanges & casinos. Maybe I legitimately won the jackpot; who knows.

Also, there's this: http://www.bitcoinfog.com/

Sidenote: Casinos are a great business to launder real life fiat money too...

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#207

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, Nuremberg trials and the American revolution show that ethics are above law in many peoples minds at least when convenient. And in many ways, opposite expressions of the notion of Natural Law vs. State. (not Socrates, of course)

Is that the Nueremburg trials that von Braun was prosecuted at? Because the history of that trial showed me that justice is applied at the prosecution's convenience rather than in the cause of justice, even for the most reprehensible.

Nuremberg trials are not a paragon, merely an example where a majority of the people believe that ethics/natural law trumps the laws of the state. This says nothing of its actual conduct.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#208

This is seriously the most hilarious thing I have read in a long time. Here we have a group of objectivist libertarians who believe that there should be effectively no laws other than the law of economics and self-interest who run an illegal website devoted to the pure greed of cashing in on contraband, and this is what they write: "I’ve included transaction logs at the bottom of this message. Review the vendor’s dis…

I think you have a deep misunderstanding of libertarianism (which is your right of course). Libertarians don't necessarily not believe in laws, they simply don't believe in a monopoly of laws and law enforcers. This is kind of the whole point. Its clear that in your world view "justice" is somehow inexorably tied to government, but there others that disagree (which leads to your confusion in thinking that because som…

I notice you don't question the "everyone is greedy" assertion, however.

As I understand it, libertarians believe that justice can be attained through the adversarial institution of the market.

That is, by everyone greedily fighting within the bonds of normal commerce, a just (but likely not equal), situation will arise.

The gaping hole in this scenario is that those who are greedy and, say, losing or just not getting what they want from the normal framework, have every incentive to cheat in this competition. By lying, by hacking opponents computers, by assassinating opponent or whatever.

I understand also that some combination of collective pressure and private enforcement is supposed to stop that from happening, sure. But all this is supposed to happen automatically, it's not an "ideal" but supposedly how things. Well, clearly things didn't work this time and given that Zed's comment on greed actually tags it.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#209

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is roughly what I thought when I saw this. These people are dealing with criminal enterprises. What do they expect?

SR1 was a criminal enterprise as well, and there's no indication DPR was stealing from his users. Trust is at least as valuable in the criminal world as it is in legitimate enterprise, if not more so. A criminal who runs a trustworthy criminal enterprise is likelier to do well in the long run than one who rips off his customers.

You can easily throw that trust away and profit some bitcoins if your face is unknown. In the real world someone would come after you sooner or later. In the world SR1/SR2, Bitcoins and Tor? Only if the NSA has an interest.

Re: Silk Road 2 Hacked, All Bitcoins Stolen

#210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If SR was re-issuing coins automatically, it's because they were being intentionally stupid. MtGox was re-issuing coins automatically. Due to this, Gox has lost money. Possibly a huge amount. Were they being intentionally stupid, or just stupid? Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7222690 This transaction malleability flaw is certainly a convenient excuse. But if these people implemented their wallet softwar…

Stupidity is rarely intentional. That fact doesn't negate the stupidity.

Come visit East Texas, you'll change your mind. Stupidity is a lifestyle choice.
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