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Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

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Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#31

Post by declan »

jsnk wrote: post #17

I will forever mark the name, Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek editorial staff in my mind as a toxic journalist and TMZ-styled publication after this event. Granted, I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal by breaking this story. I don't think it's wrong for Goodman to attempt to contact Satoshi's relatives over the phone. What really crossed the line for me was Leah McGrath Goodman and…

> I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal

I wouldn't be so sure. Both may be subject to tort liability if Dorian Nakamoto != Satoshi Nakamoto. See my tweet: https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960

And a response by an attorney who works on Internet issues: https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#32

Post by mikeyouse »

nthitz wrote: post #22
Zikes wrote: post #4

Man, it's a good thing HN didn't fly off the handle and start obsessing over this man and try to invade his privacy using the excuse that NewsWeek started it and that makes it okay. That would've been pretty embarrassing.

That was not my impression of the HN comments in the least. Most HN commenters seemed to think it was an egregious invasion of his privacy from what I read.

HN in a nutshell:

This was an egregious invasion of his privacy! Look, these postings from years ago on various message boards don't match his writing style -- these Amazon reviews don't match the style either -- his INS form doesn't match the timeline as close as expected -- From the streetview of his house, it doesn't look like the house of a hundred-millionaire -- this transaction made 3 years ago to buy juice in New York is off too -- I can't believe Newsweek invaded his privacy!

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#33

Post by Zikes »

nthitz wrote: post #22
Zikes wrote: post #4

Man, it's a good thing HN didn't fly off the handle and start obsessing over this man and try to invade his privacy using the excuse that NewsWeek started it and that makes it okay. That would've been pretty embarrassing.

That was not my impression of the HN comments in the least. Most HN commenters seemed to think it was an egregious invasion of his privacy from what I read.

There was a separate post where a small business owner in New York claimed to have met the man in 2011 when he made a purchase at his store. People then started demanding the transaction ID so they could try to track down his wallet.

It was filled with claims that it's not doxxing because NewsWeek posted his address already, that Bitcoin users should have no expectation of anonymity, it could have huge ramifications to the economics of Bitcoin as a whole, etc.

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#34

Post by declan »

boyaka wrote: post #28
jsnk wrote: post #17

I will forever mark the name, Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek editorial staff in my mind as a toxic journalist and TMZ-styled publication after this event. Granted, I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal by breaking this story. I don't think it's wrong for Goodman to attempt to contact Satoshi's relatives over the phone. What really crossed the line for me was Leah McGrath Goodman and…

Why are you discussing Leah's article when this article is discussing something completely different (the fact that Leah's article is wrong)? You can go to the post of the Newsweek article and get a billion comments exactly like yours. It is pointless to keep harping about it in every related discussion...

Good point. The story now is whether Dorian == or != Satoshi. I think there's more evidence for != than ==.

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#35

Post by maxerickson »

maaku wrote: post #29
maxerickson wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%27s_house Bad example.

Bill Gates spends millions a year on personal security. What if this guy is not actually worth millions of dollars?

My point was more that wealthy, powerful people often don't even have the sort of privacy being talked about, it doesn't make sense to complain that their wealth and power would protect them.

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#36

Post by fleitz »

maaku wrote: post #29
maxerickson wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%27s_house Bad example.

Bill Gates spends millions a year on personal security. What if this guy is not actually worth millions of dollars?

Then he has to suffer through the horror and agony of having someone knock on his door, and having the police escort them off his property.

I'm not sure if he'll fully recover from that kind of trauma.

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#37

Post by jsnk »

declan wrote: post #31
jsnk wrote: post #17

I will forever mark the name, Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek editorial staff in my mind as a toxic journalist and TMZ-styled publication after this event. Granted, I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal by breaking this story. I don't think it's wrong for Goodman to attempt to contact Satoshi's relatives over the phone. What really crossed the line for me was Leah McGrath Goodman and…

> I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal I wouldn't be so sure. Both may be subject to tort liability if Dorian Nakamoto != Satoshi Nakamoto. See my tweet: https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960 And a response by an attorney who works on Internet issues: https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281

Thanks for the info. I do hope this man has a case against Newsweek.

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#39

Post by pseudonym »

fleitz wrote: post #26
mililani wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking more like a huge lawsuit.

Libel? Slander? Where's the suit? If this guy actually is Satoshi the last thing in the world he wants is to be on a witness stand. Opening a case against Newsweek lets them subpoena all sorts of records that they aren't entitled to with out a case, primarily because the truth is a defence to slander / libel, and if this guy loses then he's forever Satoshi. Also it's going to be pretty difficult to prove that he suff…

>Also it's going to be pretty difficult to prove that he suffered damages from the article.

It depends on what the fallout from it is, in terms of internet attention. If he's not "the real Satoshi" and he starts getting harassed because of this article, I'd say he has a pretty decent case: If the statement "is false, caused harm, and was made without adequate research", then most non-celebrity citizens have a pretty strong case.

Re: Man Denies He's Bitcoin Founder

#40

Post by waterlesscloud »

declan wrote: post #31
jsnk wrote: post #17

I will forever mark the name, Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek editorial staff in my mind as a toxic journalist and TMZ-styled publication after this event. Granted, I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal by breaking this story. I don't think it's wrong for Goodman to attempt to contact Satoshi's relatives over the phone. What really crossed the line for me was Leah McGrath Goodman and…

> I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal I wouldn't be so sure. Both may be subject to tort liability if Dorian Nakamoto != Satoshi Nakamoto. See my tweet: https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960 And a response by an attorney who works on Internet issues: https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281

There's also the question of obtaining his email address through a merchant he did business with. That seems like it would be borderline illegal.
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