Tag Archives: Crypto-Anarchism

Why The Deep Web Has Washington Worried

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“The Senate Homeland Security Committee, officials tell TIME, plans on holding hearings on Bitcoin within the month. The committee sent letters to nine federal agencies in July asking for their thoughts on Bitcoins and other virtual currencies in the hopes of developing a holistic approach to the so-called cryptocurrency that neither stifles the currency’s potential nor enables criminals to abuse it. ‘As with all emerging technologies, the federal government must make sure that potential threats and risks are dealt with swiftly,’ Committee Chairman Tom Carper, a Delaware Democrat, and the committee’s top Republican, Tom Coburn, wrote in the letters.”

http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/31/the-deep-web-has-washington-worried/

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Bitcoin is going mainstream. Here is why cypherpunks shouldn’t worry.

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“Imagine a world where Bitcoin is commonplace and (even if regulated) exchanges and wallets are second nature and so is paying for pizza or ordering a book online. In that world, WikiLeaks would not have even considered using PayPal, and a large network of people familiar and comfortable with cryptocurrency could not be prevented from making contributions. And again, none of this would prevent those who want to rely on ‘exit’ from doing so. In fact, a bigger and stronger network benefits those who choose to use something like Dark Wallet, even if that bigger network is built out by entrepreneurs complying with regulation, and even if it is populated mostly by mainstream users.”

http://techliberation.com/2013/10/31/bitcoin-is-going-mainstream-here-is-why-cypherpunks-shouldnt-worry/

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RIAA: Bitcoin Makes it Hard to Track or Seize Pirate Bay Donations

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“The RIAA alerted the U.S. Government to several notorious pirate websites this week, including The Pirate Bay. While the inclusion of the infamous torrent site doesn’t come as a surprise, the RIAA did raise a novel issue. The music labels point out that The Pirate Bay has embraced the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, which they believe makes it harder to seize and trace the site’s funds. While the former is certainly true, a quick look at TPB’s Bitcoin wallet easily reveals where the donation money is being spent.”

http://torrentfreak.com/riaa-bitcoin-makes-it-hard-to-track-or-seize-pirate-bay-donations-131030/

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FBI proves seizing bitcoins isn’t the same as owning them

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“While the FBI may have its hands on the founder of Silk Road’s bitcoin wallet, that doesn’t mean it has access to what’s inside. Ross Ulbricht, despite his own self-incriminations as the mastermind behind the online black marketplace, was able to do one thing right: secure his bitcoins.  ‘Without the private key, it would be impossible for the government to access the bitcoins,’ says Ankur Nandwani, who runs bitcoin micropayments service BitMonet.  Conceivably, the government could make some sort of deal with Ulbricht to provide the key to the bitcoin wallet holding the approximate 489,000 bitcoins it cannot currently access.”

http://www.coindesk.com/fbi-proves-seizing-bitcoins-isnt-owning/

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Satoshi’s Genius: How Bitcoin Dodged Some Cryptographic Bullets

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“As far as open-source protocols go, one area in which Bitcoin is unique is the sheer difficulty of making any changes to the protocol. Unlike most other protocols, where features can be added, modified or deprecated at a moment’s notice, in Bitcoin alone, absolute consensus is required. As a result, most of the decisions that Satoshi Nakamoto made in 2008 we are essentially stuck with. Although Satoshi’s choices were by no means perfect, fortunately it appears that he has been right more often than not; in fact, there are several instances in which we are all better off for the choices Satoshi made for reasons that even he did not imagine.”

http://bitcoinmagazine.com/7781/satoshis-genius-unexpected-ways-in-which-bitcoin-dodged-some-cryptographic-bullet/

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“Elliptic Curve Cryptography, the Foundation of Bitcoin” by Matt Whitlock

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“On December 15, 2012, activist group Truth, Freedom, Prosperity hosted the East Coast Bitcoin Summit at Underground Arts in Philadelphia. The entire event was from 1pm – 5pm.”

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A (relatively easy to understand) primer on elliptic curve cryptography

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“The US government uses it to protect internal communications, the Tor project uses it to help assure anonymity, it is the mechanism used to prove ownership of bitcoins, it provides signatures in Apple’s iMessage service, it is used to encrypt DNS information with DNSCurve, and it is the preferred method for authentication for secure Web browsing over SSL/TLS. A growing number of sites use ECC to provide perfect forward secrecy, which is essential for online privacy. First generation cryptographic algorithms like RSA and Diffie-Hellman are still the norm in most arenas, but ECC is quickly becoming the go-to solution for privacy and security online.”

http://arstechnica.com/security/2013/10/a-relatively-easy-to-understand-primer-on-elliptic-curve-cryptography/

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Bitcoin Poses a Challenge for Law Enforcement

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“Backers say virtual currencies offer advantages for legitimate uses. There are no bank holidays or foreign-exchange rates. More businesses, including the dating website OKCupid, run by Rainbow Humor Inc., accept bitcoins. A unit of Baidu Inc., the Chinese search giant, said last week it will now accept bitcoins as payment for some services. It can be easy for law enforcement to track down inexperienced Bitcoin users, said Scott Dueweke, a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton who has advised U.S. agencies, including the DEA, on virtual currencies. But, Mr. Dueweke added, ‘If you’re sophisticated, which criminals are…then I think it is very anonymous.'”

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304384104579143703058398582

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Google Launches Tools For Evading Government Control

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“On its official blog, Google announced the launch of Project Shield, to help protect websites from distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, the Digital Attack Map, which tracks DDoS attcks in realtime, so they can be exposed as they happen, and uProxy, a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox that works like an easily shared personalized virtual private network (VPN) to allow people living under controlling regimes to surf the Web via connections to users elsewhere, evading censorship and surveillance.  Given the criticism that Google has come under for collaborating with the NSA and other elements of the U.S. government, it’s good to see them doing something for the good guys.”

http://reason.com/blog/2013/10/22/google-launches-tools-for-evading-govern

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John McAfee is Back! – CNBC Oct 2013

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“John McAfee is back in Silicon Valley with his company Future Tense, and his $100 device, d-central.”

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