Quote from: forever-d on June 06, 2011, 12:16:59 PM

Quote from: Phenomenon on June 06, 2011, 12:00:31 PM

If law enforcement can develop tools and techniques to catch criminals using bitcoin they will have effectively proved that bitcoin's implementation does not provide adequate anonymity or security.

I disagree.

Just like Tor, bitcoin can never be 100% anonymous. An investigation team with enough manpower and time on its hands can track down any bitcoin user, with one exception: The bitcoin user who never spends a single bitcent in his wallet.dat. But what use are bitcoins if you can't spend them?

However it is anonymous enough for most people going about their daily honest business. Discovering the identity of bitcoin users takes a large amount of resources, so governemnt will only ever bother going after serious criminals, while ordinary people can enjoy the benefits of financial privacy.

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Whether or not you agree with what certain people do with bitcoin, it's purpose is to prevent ANY central authority from having control over the financial system. This includes governments. If a government has a way to prevent, manipulate, or track transactions at will, then bitcoin will have no purpose whatsoever.

They can't control Bitcoin itself. All they can do is prevent selected individuals from spending their bitcoins using traditional police work.

If bitcoin performs as intended, then a bitcoin user who takes the proper precautions should be as difficult to track down as someone who uses cash. Obviously with enough time, manpower, and resources, it is possible for a government to track down anyone doing anything. However if it turns out that bitcoin itself can be used as a tool by the government to efficiently find "serious criminals", then it is not performing as intended.

If they (a government, large organization, etc) can "prevent selected individuals from spending their bitcoins" as well as track transactions they disapprove of, then what advantage does bitcoin provide except a hedge against inflation?