Is suggesting the
translation of bitcoin-qt to farsi "encouraging illegal activity"?
The smuggling of bitcoin software into Iran would be different, but that's not what was suggested here.
There are
hundreds of thousands of Iranian diaspora in the US and Europe.
I think jgarzik should calmly explain his position on this. I'd certainly be interested in hearing his line of reasoning.
Also, it would be nice if you explain what kind of "pressure" you're doing. You represent the rest of the bitcoiners here, so it's nice to know how bob182 is acting on our behalf.
Wikileaks is the enemy of major world powers right now, with many influential elites feeling that Assange committed an act of war against the United States, or, at a minimum, irrevocably disrupted world affairs. This is not some mailing list discussion or theoretical exercise; there are very real, very powerful organizations actively targetting wikileaks' network infrastructure, organizational infrastructure, and most importantly, financial infrastructure.
It is extraordinarily unwise to make bitcoin such a highly visible target, at such an early stage in this project. There could be a lot of "collateral damage" in the bitcoin community while you make your principled stand.
Use by Wikileaks hasn't killed Bitcoin yet, that doesn't mean the risk wasn't/isn't there.
What if Bitcoin had been released 11 years ago, and the taliban
(or some other organization which need not be named here)
had instructed their people to use Bitcoin at all times?
That would be an
Outside Context Problem for Bitcoin.