Re: Decentralised crime fighting using private set intersection protocols
Way too many posters here seem to have a naive belief that Bitcoin is indestructable. Governments cannot do anything against it because ...... peer to peer!!!1!
But that isn't true. It is completely trivial for a government to squash Bitcoin out of existence with the stroke of a pen. All they have to do is say, of course you can accept and use coins! We just need you to take a few small measures to help us fight the terrorists. You can start by filling out this 100 page form, and registering with your local regulator. By the way, they will charge a fee of several thousand dollars to consider your application. After a few months they will evaluate your risk to the system and decide on the level of surety bond required, normally half a million dollars will do. Don't forget to do this in every state where you might have a counterparty!
An outlaw currency is not even useful to outlaws. So that would be the end of Bitcoin.
The absolute best way to bring this scenario about is to engage in a dick-waving contest with the police. How many politicians got elected by promising to be soft on crime? Zero. It never happens. So if the police go to your local representatives and say, "it feels like half of our investigations come to a dead end because the scammers are using Bitcoin" suddenly the idea of just regulating it out of existence will seem like an awfully good one to the decision makers, especially if 90% of the electorate just hasn't heard about Bitcoin or doesn't care yet.
That's why it's important for Bitcoin users to recognise that one day we might be asked, "what's your solution?" and an answer of "we don't have one" will result in regulation. And no amount of bitching or posting cute quotes from historical figures will change it.
But that isn't true. It is completely trivial for a government to squash Bitcoin out of existence with the stroke of a pen. All they have to do is say, of course you can accept and use coins! We just need you to take a few small measures to help us fight the terrorists. You can start by filling out this 100 page form, and registering with your local regulator. By the way, they will charge a fee of several thousand dollars to consider your application. After a few months they will evaluate your risk to the system and decide on the level of surety bond required, normally half a million dollars will do. Don't forget to do this in every state where you might have a counterparty!
An outlaw currency is not even useful to outlaws. So that would be the end of Bitcoin.
The absolute best way to bring this scenario about is to engage in a dick-waving contest with the police. How many politicians got elected by promising to be soft on crime? Zero. It never happens. So if the police go to your local representatives and say, "it feels like half of our investigations come to a dead end because the scammers are using Bitcoin" suddenly the idea of just regulating it out of existence will seem like an awfully good one to the decision makers, especially if 90% of the electorate just hasn't heard about Bitcoin or doesn't care yet.
That's why it's important for Bitcoin users to recognise that one day we might be asked, "what's your solution?" and an answer of "we don't have one" will result in regulation. And no amount of bitching or posting cute quotes from historical figures will change it.
You are US-centric here, half the nodes are outside the US and probably more than half of all users are outside the US. I can wipe my ass with those 100 page forms
Bitcoin can be used over TOR, not sure about I2P but IIRC there is a functional implementation of Namecoin over I2P (the same developer is working on DIANNA) and there are some plans of Bitcoin over Freenet although the works have stalled (probably until there is more demand for it). People are involved in cjdns and mesh networks, hopefully one day the Internet infrastructure will be operating independently of the governments ('I have a dream...').
The best the govts can do is follow North Korea's steps - allow only a few selected individuals to access the Internet. I don't believe they would go as far. Despite China's Great Firewall people are still able to bypass the censorship, same would happen to Bitcoin users if it was to be outlawed.