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The Face Behind Bitcoin?

mag.newsweek.com

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Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#161

Post by clouds »

greyskull wrote: post #51
jxf wrote: post #28

So Newsweek outed a guy who allegedly owns half a billion dollars in pseudo-untraceable, digital cash? I hope they're also going to chip in for a permanent security detail... More seriously, I think they could have done a better job reporting on the identity without giving so much away: * A picture of his house is posted, identical to the one in Google Street View * The license plate is relatively clear in the high-r…

It's a joke, really. It's like she didn't even think about what she was doing... I encourage people to send her an email voicing whatever opinion you have, it's readily available (I don't know if it's against HN rules, so I won't post it myself just yet).

dox the doxing doxer

Seriously, the story is best of psyops.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#162

Post by ig1 »

eloff wrote: post #104
ig1 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I pointed out in the now dead earlier thread that while there's obviously privacy issues and Newsweek should have written the article without so many personal details there is clearly a public interest angle here. If the article is accurate the bitcoin founder has a background working as a software engineer on classified US government projects, which makes it a public interest issue due to pre-existing concerns th…

The government now wants to backdoor bitcoin? I think you need a reality check.

The pre-existing concern wasn't that the government wanted to backdoor the crypto (as they have done with BSAFE, etc.) rather that Bitcoin might have been invented by a government for their own reasons.

Obviously you can argue how likely that would be, but it's been widely discussed in the bitcoin community in the past and has been an issue of concern given there are "arbitrary" cryptographic decisions in the bitcoin algorithm design without clear reasoning.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#163

Post by bruceb »

dagw wrote: post #24
Angostura wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I empathise withe guy and understand his discomfiture at being discovered, I don't have any particular problems with the ethics of the piece.

They basically published not only his full name and home address, but that of his whole family. What journalistic purpose does that serve? They could have written exactly the same story, but without giving away exactly where he and his family lives, and it wouldn't have suffered in any way.

We already knew his full name. You can find the family names of the Wal-Mart family also. Could Newsweek done it better? Yes, but his address would have become public within days of this story being published. Posted on reddit maybe with in hours.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#164

Post by sexmonad »

ewoodrich wrote: post #38
nwh wrote: post #22

Being labeled Satoshi regardless of truth is pretty much going to get you robbed, kidnapped or killed. This dude lives in this town and has $400M of untraceable currency? The article gives his name, face, address and relatives. You can be sure as hell that somebody will do something stupid to try and get to it. I wouldn't wish this label upon anybody, it's exactly why the community tries to avoid speculating about it…

It is hardly untraceable. I hear Bitcoin advocates frequently claim that government has an interest in "shutting down Bitcoin", but compared to the all-cash industry of most organized crime, Bitcoin's pseudonymity is law enforcement's dream come true. A state actor would merely have to obtain the identity of one key in a series of transactions on the blockchain, and would gain far more information than any informant…

It's true. The blockchain is at best pseudoanonymous. If you are careful about how you get your coins, and use a high latency mixer (which don't exist as far as I know, but can be faked by multiple runs through a low latency mixer) and take your profits out slowly, you can make them quite anonymous. While they are a richer stream of data that a purely cash business, they don't have the same hassles (mostly physical size and security issues) as cash.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#166

Post by revdinosaur »

leigh_t wrote: post #100
Blahah wrote: post #16

The author of the piece can be reached in these ways: http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1zpmo8/the_face_beh... If you think this article is a dangerous invasion of privacy, tell her and her employers (Newsweek).

Well, she's also rather helpful in giving us things like these: http://leahmcgrathgoodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Jer... Which may or may not be out of date http://leahmcgrathgoodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/vis... Which has other useful info on it.

This has a tinge of pettiness to it, don't you think?

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#167

Post by gexla »

bane wrote: post #101

Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…

Maybe he developed those views after working for the government. Maybe he saw something while working for the government (that we don't see) which helped shape those views. Maybe for him, given the chance to do things he found to be interesting and challenging was greater than his views of the government.

This story obviously leaves a lot out from a guy who has had a long secretive life. Also, he isn't on a soapbox. He didn't share these opinions and I imagine, not thrilled that any information about his has got out.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#168

Post by michaelt »

dTal wrote: post #117
argumentum wrote: post #82

Quite an odd article for such an important (if true) expose. The only reason I think its possibly true is Gavin's vague tweet. 50% of the article deals with material about bitcoin that is redundant to anyone whose been following it for more than a day (like most here). 45% deals with "Dorian S. Nakamoto"'s family, personal background and that he's a libertarian oddball, with a penchant for math (but no other signific…

To be honest I agree with you that there quite a few red flags about this article. However, short of Newsweek outright making everything up, isn't the lack of a denial in this instance tantamount to an admission? I mean, if it were me, and I valued my privacy that much, I would a) have used an actual pseudonym, b) responded to questions about Bitcoin with "bit-what-now"?

  isn't the lack of a denial in this instance tantamount to 
  an admission? I mean, if it were me, [...] responded to 
  questions about Bitcoin with "bit-what-now"?
If all his friends and family know he shares his name with the creator of bitcoin, he might have already heard all the jokes and think "not this shit again" as well as not being able to credibly deny knowing about it.

There's a british general who goes by Mike Jackson when his real name is Michael Jackson [1]. If someone asked him to moonwalk I'd expect the resigned frustration of someone who has heard that lame joke a thousand times before - rather than him denying having heard of the pop singer of the same name.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Jackson

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#169

Post by spindritf »

bane wrote: post #101

Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…

the paradox of the deeply conservative anti-federal government types who work for the government - directly or as a fed contractor

Those are the people who have a realistic, first hand understanding of the government innerworkings.

Also, a contradiction between believing that allocation of capital would be more efficient under a less centrally-influenced system, and being willing to accept higher pay and benefits from one of the central institutions only exists if you believe that individuals should strive for public good even at great personal expense. Which strikes me more as a moral view taken by nationalists than libertarians.

Re: The Face Behind Bitcoin?

#170

Post by tootie »

bane wrote: post #101

Topic other than discussing the irresponsibility of "outing" a guy using the clever tricks of using his name and public records look ups. > A libertarian, Nakamoto encouraged his daughter to be independent, start her own business and "not be under the government's thumb," she says. "He was very wary of the government, taxes and people in charge." > What you don't know about him is that he's worked on classified stuff…

There was another guy like that in the news recently. Ned Snowman or something.
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