So it's a very serious problem which I think people on this forum are underestimating. Cryptolocker could destroy Bitcoin just like the blacklist can.
Mike's core concern, based on the thread on the Foundation forums, is that Cryptolocker is a serious problem, and because it's such a demonically simple way to extort cash from people, it's going to become a
huge problem. There will be many, many copycats soon, and you get enough non-techies getting ripped off and having their first experience with bitcoin this way, and suddenly govs around the world become very hostile to bitcoin (vs barely caring about it, and figuring out how they feel about it as is the case now). And then (or perhaps before), you can kiss any hope of business acceptance of bitcoin (something we all dream of, I'd imagine, so that we can transact in bitcoin without having to resort to exchanges) goodbye.
CryptoLocker is forcing people to rethink their computer security. In our post-Snowden world, I believe this is a long-term good thing, despite the harm and frustration it is causing people in the short term.
I actually met one of the victims, BTW. A late-60's women from Vancouver trying to buy coins from the Robocoin ATM:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=330720What she didn't like about bitcoin was the difficulty she had in buying one. I thought it was interesting that in her mind cryptolocker was "evil Russian hackers" and bitcoin was just some unrelated thing she could buy from the ATM.