Quote from: Mike Hearn on March 24, 2013, 11:06:38 PM

SOPA didn't pass, did it?

You're quite right in that law making, democracy, the systems we have today are all flawed in many ways. But let me quote Churchill. Democracy is the worst form of government known, except for all the others.

I think most politicians will come to these debates without much of an opinion on Bitcoin. It's a new technology. It has benefits and costs, like any other. On one hand, maybe law enforcement is complaining about it. On the other hand, their constituents hate banks and are clamouring for a real alternative to the existing financial systems. So they're going to be looking for some kind of middle road that tries to make everyone happy, or at least, not too unhappy.

That's why it's worth thinking about reasonable proposals. Like I said, left to their own devices and if put under pressure lawmakers will come up with regulations that are completely un-Bitcoinish, because they will just automatically assume the state can be trusted, they'll impose lots of costly paperwork, etc. There won't be any real usage of advanced technology because they don't understand it.

A lot of law makers do understand this problem, by the way, they understand that the costs of regulations can be really high. It's quite common to see them propose that an industry self-regulates with actual, real laws only as a last resort. So if the Bitcoin world can show that it isn't just blowing off the whole issue of crime, that it's able to come up with interesting solutions to its own problems, that's a very strong argument for just leaving it alone.

The solution is to let them try.

...and to fight back with more instruments of decentralization, not less.
...and to most certainly not aid them.

Quote from: Mike Hearn on March 24, 2013, 11:06:38 PM

SOPA didn't pass, did it?

I dare not even get started on this line of anecdotal reasoning (which, by the way, was temporarily halted specifically because people vocally resisted and rightfully shamed supporters). Yikes. Meanwhile, many of those same entities are determined to bring more convincing, slippery-tongued legislation that will eventually pass because the system is inherently dictatorial. Regarding the US, a small group of [535+1+etc] kings/queens -- [Congress + Executives] -- ruling over and deciding everyone's fate and abilities is by no definition a "democracy" either.