Quote from: Morbid on November 18, 2013, 11:42:50 PM

Quote from: Neptune on November 18, 2013, 11:09:22 PM

So the big question that I heard from the Chairman was to the first Panel "What do you need from the legislative branch?" and all 3 panel members basically stated that they were doing fine with the tools(laws) currently on the books.

its interesting that what mithily said was that they are happy to work together with other agencies to fight criminals. she listed almost all governmental agencies who can help to fight crime except nsa. and in the end added "and other agencies" - she obviously meant that they are strongly unable to track down the users without their help. expect nsa to get funded to the max and to be "on the frontline" to combat anonymity techniques within bitcoin. mithily also mentioned that those agencies must be sitting at the table too. It shows you how far detached nsa from all the lawmaking in usa, especially after snowden bonanza. also all these governmental representatives were afraid to talk out of their mind and kept on reffering to their (scripted) statements. the fbi guy was treated like a little boy as he struggled expressing himself properly. department of justice lady even said that its hers department brought down liberty reserve - as if fincen's nagging and fbi's actions didnt help at all. its funny to see how they artistically submerge each other's faces into the mud. pathetic. during the second part the representatives at least spoke less of reading material and actually expressed themselves - showing that they are more human. the speaker is probably realises that the government agencies are only doing what they do best - seek and destroy in their own narrow field of influence without asking much questions. unfortunately its that group of agencies that we as a community will end up fearing most for changing bitcoin dramatically. they pose the biggest threat to the original values that we had in place since creation of bitcoin. These brainwashed gangs will go to any extent and break relations with any country in order to reach their goal. i call it a sad day.

You are somehow certainly right in your statement. But you forget about one thing and that is the community. It is us against the big NSA now. We control the code and we provide the power for it. But yes, it is going to be an ugly digital war against our digital freedom. But I am ready to fight for it, just for the sake of our kids. With the integration of digital currency into our society we can make another world where the community also has something to say against all those bankers and politicians. I truly believe today is a good day for the Bitcoin community, but it is also the day where the government openly says that they are coming and has the intention to stay.