Post
Topic
Board Bitcoin Discussion
Re: Mike Hearn, Foundation's Law & Policy Chair, is pushing blacklists right now
by
acoindr
on 14/11/2013, 20:51:42 UTC
This can be done right now. The biggest obstacle for redlisting currently is the difficulty in convincing people to care about the fact that you're redlisting coins.

It's the second sentence that's key, not the first. The nature of money itself inherently means its value rests with how many will accept it. It's the fact an influential player like the Foundation might champion such a scheme. Imagine BitPay then adopting the measures, for example. As regards Bitcoin that would mean large swaths of businesses automatically participate.

As I think about this it seems very similar to 2nd Amendment arguments. People try to keep some power away from bad guys but unintentionally weaken the good guys along the way.

It's like a balancing act where you want to have your cake and eat it too. You want to have enough control to be effective against certain actors, but not so much control it hurts the good guys.

The dollar system we have now is that balancing act. There are stringent money transfer regulations, and at the same time it's quite easy for dollar payments to Wikileaks or Edward Snowden for example to be blocked and/or traced, as that favors government.

When it comes to crime the real bad guys will find a way to get guns. They will also find a way to sell (lots of) drugs with dollars etc. The regulations hamper the little voices/actors more than real bad guys I'd say, the people who won't bother circumventing them. Anyone sufficiently intent on getting dollars to Wikileaks or Snowden could probably do it. It's the fact that it's not easy for anyone to do it that's key. Same with access to acquiring/keeping guns. The feasibility of an action is what's politically important.