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The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

lawfareblog.com

11–20 of 183 posts

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#11

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

Cash enables muggings so we must ban cash?

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#13
post #11

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

Cash enables muggings so we must ban cash?

Ask someone younger than 20 if they have more than 10$ cash on them.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#14
post #11

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

Cash enables muggings so we must ban cash?

We don't have a huge mugging problem. We have muggings (I've been mugged), but they occur infrequently enough that society isn't disrupted. You can't say that about ransomware. Not only that, but we have done things to defang muggings; for instance, it's been made less lucrative (and more dangerous for the mugger) to steal a modern phone.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#15

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

I'm not a cryptocurrency advocate but as arberx points out in another comment this is avoiding the real problem. The problem isn't cryptocurrency or ransomware. The root cause is what needs to be fixed: Software publishers and software owners are to blame for insecure systems. Software development is like the wild west with absolutely no accountability. This need to change.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#16
post #7

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

The answer is that sometimes progress comes with a cost. Whether or not you consider cryptocurrencies "progress" is irrelevant, because it's an emerging technology that exists whether you (or I) like it or not. The cold, hard, unavoidable truth is this: Ransomware may be a Bitcoin problem, and it may not be. Either way, tough shit.

How does this compare to banning ICE vehicles?

They are widely adopted and useful, yet their secondary harms warrant laws to be written.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#17
post #4

Is it possible to ban cryptocurrency traffic in general? How would that even work?

You can make it illegal to transact crypto. That would devastate the price and ruin it as a currency. The network would still exist, but it'd be useless as a medium for criminal payments due to the low value.

Bitcoin was wildly popular on darknet markets even when it was worth less than $10. It's still tied to a dollar value, so it can be used for payments without issue.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#18
post #6

Never understood why ransomware didn’t use more anonymous crypto currencies like Monero or ZCash. Doesn’t that better protect the scammers from law enforcement?

I thought you can easily wash the money by converting it through an anonymous cryptocurrency and then out again anyways.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#19
post #11

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

Cash enables muggings so we must ban cash?

you say this in jest but in reality plenty of people have stopped using cash by themselves for this exact reason.

Re: The Ransomware Problem Is a Bitcoin Problem

#20

I'd like to hear how cryptocurrency advocates address this without deploying a fallacy. Cryptocurrency makes ransomware possible, without the former, the latter cannot thrive. The defenses I usually hear come in the form of "current banking facilitates bad stuff, too," which is a fact, but doesn't absolve cryptocurrencies central role in ransomware. As the article states, there is simply no way to pay a ransom withou…

Before cryptocurrency it was iTunes giftcards or money transfer services to a 3rd world country. Cryptocurrency is not the only way to transfer money that’s relatively hard to trace.
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