Quote

What is needed is an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust,
allowing any two willing parties to transact directly with each other without the need for a trusted third party. https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

To me an ideal payment network has the following properties:

- All funds ("coins" in the case of Bitcoin) are equal
- All parties are equal

I like Bitcoin because it does have these properties (for now).

The differnece between the "bitcoind" and "bitcoin-qt" distributed by Gentoo Linux and github

Gentoo Linux currently distribues a version of bitcoind and bitcoin-qt which includes a set of patches by "Luke-Jr". These patches include a hardcoded blacklist. Who gets to be on this blacklist is solely up to "Luke-Jr".

This decision is currently being debated as Gentoo Bug #524512

My main problem with this is that all parties are NOT equal when you have a few select players who are put on a blacklist.

If there is more than an imaginary problem to be solved then the solution should be something which applies equal to everyone. A "solution" which singles out a few select players is not fair, or good.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I'm the dictator."

-President-elect George W. Bush, at a photo-op with congressional leaders during his first trip to Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

There is a word for a management style like the one used to choose who gets to be blacklisted and who does not.

Quote

Authoritarianism -noun

1. A form of government characterized by strict obedience to the authority of the state, which often maintains and enforces social control thorugh the use of oppressive measures. A dictatorial system which views the state of nation as superior to the individuals or groups composing it.

2. The personality or management style of an individual, organization or collective which seeks to dominate those within its sphere of influence and enforces rather than builds concensus.

3. See Contemporary Military/Industrial/Governmental/Legislative/Corporate/Media Complex

This is not the kind of management style I prefer for Bitcoin or GNU/Linux distributions in general. I am specially sceptical when the person who solely gets to decide who gets blacklisted or not has this to day about his political views:

Quote

"I will freely admit to being an enemy of libertarianism. The form of government that seems to work out best in practice is a monarchy. bitcointalk: Is one of the devs (Luke-Jr) an enemy of Bitcoin?

The technical argument

Luke-Jr has been arguing that SD and sites like it are a "DDOS" on the Bitcoin network for years and years. There is no concensus on this. I personally do not care too much about the technical argument. SD is paying transaction fees for their transactions. If I pay $10 for a cup of coffee then I expect to get one, I do not expect the cafe to take my money and then complain loudly that I am a problem because they have to spend energy boiling the water to make my coffee for me nor do I expect them to tell me that I am doing a DOS attack because I am denying the other customers their coffee while they are making mine.

If there is an actual problem to be solved then this needs to be solved in a way which is fair and equal to all.

Why do I care about this at all? Simple. I like Bitcoin. It has poential. My view is that if the properties "All funds are equal" and "All parties are equal" go out the window then it is as good as dead and both the currency and the payment network becomes worthless. It may be a good thing that there are altcoins in case more GNU/Linux distributions decide to distribute Luke-Jr's bitcoin-qt fork instead of the real thing.

If you have an opinion on this then please comment on Gentoo Bug #524512.

One last little thing: Luke-Jr as repeatedly claimed that I am "trolling" for raising this issue. If you wake up in the morning and you meet a troll then that's just bad luck. If you wake up and meet a troll and the next person you meet is also a troll and you meet trolls all day.. well. you be the judge.