In fact, much of it is. There are many many laws on the books that already cover digital currencies. Just ask the people who have been arrested for transacting too much without a licence. Financial regulations and consumer protection laws still apply.

The ecosystem is also self-regulated in many ways. I don't mean in the whole sense of that loaded phrase, but simple things like the rules to create and maintain the money supply and rate of that creation or the fact that you can transact without the need for a bank that needs the oversight. Bitcoin, done right, doesn't have someone else in a position to abuse trust of leaving you money in their hands.

I'm sure there are things that need tweaked, but the "Wild West" notion attributed to Bitcoin has more to do with a lack of understanding of how it works by users than a lack of rules to govern it's use.

Are you kidding? This isn't even in the lower quartile of bad summaries here. If it were among the worst of the summaries, you wouldn't even know TFA had something to do with stars.

At the very least, the consequence of either should be the loss of trust and power.

The amount of serious discussions of how to mitigate this "attack" above this comment saddens me. If you have rouge software on your computer, severing one of the least efficient communication channels I've heard of is not going to be helpful.

Then we just add petroleum based fertilizers to the soil. Problem solved,

The engineering is done. We're just voting on the colors.

It didn't feel like he was using any lube.

Ultimately the customer is going to end up paying more. Most likely the raised prices will hit everyone, not just those of us who use Netflix. So, it's good to know that those who can barely afford service with basic plans will be subsidizing my leisure time activities. I sure don't want to pay for it all.

Maybe they are, but I'll never find out. There's no way I'm clicking that link to learn more about them... Then again, it still might be easier on the eyes than Beta.

Of course they voted it down, their energy policy is good marketing for their target audience. The bottom line is still the reason for the policy.

I've seen and heard his interviews. Sure, it falls quite short of personally knowing him and there is certainly a mask of some sort to portray how he wants the public to perceive him rather than a reflection of his real personality. However, that is the vibe I always got from him. There is a limit to how many people we can know personally. To be able to function within those limits we have instincts. Empirical evidence should be sought when possible and opinions based on instincts should be held loosely. The events surrounding this man are quite important to our world and it's worth thinking about and having an opinion. His motives and personality do play a role in how much trust one should put in the man and insights like this are about the best we have without scheduling a meeting with him.

Re: SoylentNews Quite a few of the stories I've seen there so far seem to have a heavy "conspiracy theory" spin to them. I could see this posted there, only it would have a line about O'Hagan being an NSA shill. That being said, Slashdot has been in decline for a while and I will be heading over to SoylentNews to read, comment, and support that website after I am done here.

And then prices go up across the board and the struggling single mom with internet access so her kids can do homework gets to subsidize the entertainment of the middle class. Brilliant.

Don't act like this is something new. Incomprehensible summaries have been part of slashdot since the beginning.