Folks are asking the wrong questions.  The more interesting questions are:

If it were so ordered, how might it be done?

If it were done, how could it be kept hidden to stop it being circumvented?  (given that the point of bitcoin is that people are supposed to be a validating node.. right?)

What would they really want, anyway?  A copy of transactions? (like the public block chain? oh wait..)  Map addresses to people?  (That's what the FinCEN MSB/etc stuff is for)


Backdoors like registering private keys or even public addresses would never work (too many alternative clients, a huge can of worms - people would remember Clipper quickly)

Backdooring miners is academic - all they're doing is gathering signature transactions into a blockchain.  You need to private keys (see above) to take somebody's BTC.  They can't tamper with the blockchain, it would be rejected by the rest of the network.  The block chain is to provide consensus of which version of transaction is the right one, it doesn't make actual transactions.


No, its far easier and more practical to raid your home at first light, seize everything you have, and present you with alternatives so horrible that you'll cave.  A bit of shock and awe goes a long way to keep people in line.

There's no gain for "the government" to backdoor the bitcoin code when there's far more effective tactics.  Be more worried about the highly effective, low tech attacks.  Its hard to spend your bitcoins if you're in prison.