Bitcoin app rejected by Apple

Post by weavejester » Sun, May 08, 2011, 3:08 PM UTC

cookiecaper wrote: post #73

weavejester wrote: post #15

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I doubt Bitcoin will be made illegal. By itself, the Bitcoin network is just a mechanism for passing around signed messages and calculating hash values. It would be difficult to outlaw that without running into constitutional free speech issues. Where Bitcoin might run into trouble is the trading of bitcoins for dollars or commodities. Depending on how bitcoins are classified legally, there may be additional regulati…

I don't see much point in this kind of rationalization. We know that it's probably not technically illegal to run the bitcoin network. I'm sure they'll find some way to postulate that btc as a currency is technically illegal, but even if they didn't, you have to know that everything that is big in government and the power scene right now is going to collude to take btc out of the picture as far as possible. They are…

Post by palish » Sun, May 08, 2011, 5:07 PM UTC

Groxx wrote: post #59

palish wrote: post #56

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Local Storage is limited to 5MB. Bitcoin requires much more than that --- on the order of 500MB. This is because it needs to verify the block chain history, in order to provide cryptographically secure transactions.

Not at all. The Java bitcoin client doesn't store the entire block chain. http://code.google.com/p/bitcoinj/ You don't even need to know the current block to send transactions, if I remember right (haven't dived in deeply enough yet to be 100% certain). The block solver (miner) is the only one who needs to know the chain, as they choose what transactions to include, and your transaction may not even be included (ie,…

Post by KingofPaupers » Sun, May 08, 2011, 6:07 PM UTC

fryguy wrote: post #70

hugh3 wrote: post #25

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Again we're running into the geeks-trying-to-understand-the-law problem -- they always expect the law to be as sensible and self-consistent as geometry. But the law has no patience with reducito ad absurdum, and judges and lawmakers are quite happy to declare that X is legal and Y is illegal even if in some sense Y is really analogous to X . As far as alternative currencies go, my understanding is that they're illega…

Why are "alternative currencies" illegal under US law? AFAIK the only thing that's illegal is refusing to accept US$ as payment if you accept something else. For example, people can spend foreign money (GBP, Euros, etc) inside the non-international parts of airports. Also, people can transfer their USD to foreign currency and vice versa over the internet and at banks. Is there something different about bitcoin than s…

Post by hammock » Sun, May 08, 2011, 6:43 PM UTC

jerf wrote: post #11

jnhnum1 wrote: post #4

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If this is illegal, then I think there's a freedom of speech issue here given that essentially the protocol is just sending messages (with no copyright infringement or anything like that) to peers... Edit: of course, you could say the same about other digital transmission of currency, but it seems different due to bitcoin not being tied directly to any "real currency". Then again, IANAL.

"just sending messages" With this message, I hereby transfer to jnhnum the sum of $12.54 out of my checking account. (Translation, since that's probably a bit subtle to just throw out there: In the process of abstracting money transfers as "just sending messages" your abstraction has leaked critically important details. There's more to money transfers than "just messages", and it is precisely those differences that a…

Post by joe_the_user » Sun, May 08, 2011, 8:04 PM UTC

webXL wrote: post #50

joe_the_user wrote: post #43

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There is no doubt that bitcoins will fall under one or another regulations. One argument would be that bitcoin is an illegal pyramid scheme. Another would be that bitcoin is means circumvent the tax system (all barter and local currency systems, for example, have to pay taxes). I'm sure many other arguments could be found.

I'm sure many other arguments could be found. Like, "Bitcoin is anti-American" or "Bitcoin will be used by heroin dealers who will sell your daughters into prostitution" If bitcoin is a means to circumvent the tax system, then we'd have to apply whatever tax regulation that results to all other forms of currency. Social Security is an illegal pyramid scheme because it wasn't sold to the American public that way. Let'…