Comment Re:other? (Score 2) 167
Stock offers from legitimate successful companies also benefit creators and early adopters. By your definition, does that make all stock offers scams?
Comment Re:For now. (Score 3, Informative) 498
With Bitcoin, the owner encrypts his wallet so the police can't use it, and the owner has a backup copy somewhere else where he can retrieve it whenever he's free. Or his trusted friend retrieves it.
Harvard Study Suggests Drone Strikes Can Disrupt Terror Groups 429
An anonymous reader writes "Can drone strikes rid the world of terror groups? Many have argued that drones/UAVs seem to be a logical weapon of war: ground troops are not needed and strikes can be specifically targeted against terror-cell leaders (so-called 'decapitation strikes). Others have argued that such attacks only fuel more anger towards the United States and the West while also trampling on nations like Pakistan's sovereign rights and territory. Two recent studies published by Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government suggest 'On the basis of comprehensive analyses of data on multiple terrorist and insurgent organizations, these studies conclude that killing or capturing terrorist leaders can reduce the effectiveness of terrorist groups or even cause terrorist organizations to disintegrate.' It seems then drones and UAVs will be a weapon of war for a long time to come."
With Euro Zone Problems, Bitcoin Experiencing Boost In Legitimacy 430
derekmead writes "Despite being used for drugs and beef jerky, Bitcoin is finding legitimate purposes. Bitcoin's decentralized convenience means international efficiency, in areas where local restrictions on money transfers to foreign companies make legal businesses cumbersome. 'I've been able to have cash in my bank account in a matter of hours using Bitcoin, rather than three days with traditional banking,' one British businessman in China told Reuters. In embattled Europe, Bitcoin offers some a viable alternative against central banks, said a Greek owner of an island bar and restaurant who accepts payment in Bitcoin. 'I don't put money in the banks. I trust the euro as a note, but I don't trust banks. I don't want them making money out of my earnings.' Indeed, Europe's financial woes are caused an unprecedented surge of interest in the alternative currency, as the continent loses economic credibility with each new bailout, according to a report by the Financial Post."
Comment Re:Not news (Score 1) 415
If you give the average investor the choice between a) freedom, capitalism, and free markets, and b) higher profits through having the law favor his investments, he will choose B every time.
Comment Re:This story is completely overblown (Score 1) 331
I don't think Bitcoin will work in the long run. The main reason is that it's designed to be limited to a fixed amount. This leads to three problems:
1) And financial transaction that requires interest is a problem. Anything from a business loan to a mortgage is basically impossible in a fixed money supply.
Interest on loans does not require an inflationary money system. The money that a person pays as interest either reduces his future spending or will require him to sell more of the future goods/services he produces.
2) Assuming the economy grows, there would be deflation, which will mean people try to hoard their bitcoins instead of spending them. This in turn increases the deflation.
Bitcoin will always have a value less than infinity, and therefore there will always be some fraction of Bitcoin you can take to represent any value to send to someone, and thus Bitcoin will still "work." A deflationary money system does mean that people ought to adjust their prices accordingly, but this is easier than in the past due to fast modern communications and a liquid exchange market.
3) Related to the first two points: One person can over time become the owner of all bitcoins if this person has a sizeable initial stack of bitcoins, and lends them out at interest, and keeps spending well below the gained interest, you end up gaining a larger and larger share of the total bitcoin supply.
How does that work with real estate? Say someone owns a lot of properties, and charges people rent for people to live there, and keeps spending less than he takes in from rent, and buys more land with the difference. Will he then someday own all the land in the world? And thus can we say that the system of land ownership and rent is doomed to fail? No, because first, he won't live that long, and second, the value of the remaining land will increase as its supply decreases. (And third, a human being will find things to spend his money on sometime before he owns all the land in the world.) In the same way, if one person's Bitcoin wealth is great and increasing, it becomes asymptotically hard for him to gain all the Bitcoins in the world, because the value of remaining Bitcoins will approach infinity.
Comment This is all based off of claims from IRC (Score 1) 411
I can't remember exactly where, but someone suggested that this might be a possibility on one of the Bitcoin forums. A day later, someone said in an IRC channel that they had been raided. I'm pretty sure they made it up based on the previous day's speculation. And now a website has picked up the IRC claim, and now Slashdot picks up that website's claim. As far as I can tell there's no backing that this supposed drug bust ever happened, but it's pyramiding into bigger and bigger news based on nothing.
Comment Re:Untraceable? (Score 1) 858
They are tracable to a hash of a signature. I don't think these hashes are easily traceable to a person.
Porn Reportedly Found At Bin Laden Compound 537
Hugh Pickens writes "Reuters reports that a stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the US commandos who killed him. The pornography consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity. Officials said they did not know if bin Laden himself had acquired or viewed the materials and it is unclear how compound residents would have acquired the pornography but a video released by the Obama administration confiscated from the compound showed bin Laden watching pictures of himself on a TV screen, indicating that the compound was equipped with video playback equipment. Officials familiar with evidence gathered during investigations of other Islamic militants said the discovery of pornography is not uncommon in such cases." Is it too cynical to mention that the US government has a vested interest in denigrating Bin Laden, and that he's no longer around to deny this claim?
Comment Re:Bitcoin is good, but problematic. (Score 1) 280
I really like BitCoin, But the biggest problem is the "goldrush" is over. While new bitcoins can still be mined, it's expensive, and takes time. Oh, the other big problem is that not enough people accept them.
Difficulty of generating new Bitcoins is a feature, not a bug. If it were easy, they would have no value. The purpose of Bitcoin is to function as a form of money for saving and exchange, not to get rich by using your processor to print money. But you're right on the second part, the biggest obstacle is the lack of businesses that accept them.
Comment Re:The first step (Score 1) 517
And when was money first thought of? It has been around since prehistoric times.
Comment Re:There are several problems here (Score 1) 517
Bitcoins can be divided up into units as small as .00000001 The software currently only supports 2 decimal points, but this can be increased in later versions.
Comment Re:meaningless (Score 3, Interesting) 517
True. Dollar-parity is just a psychological milestone. What is meaningful is that Bitcoin has increased from about $.05 in September to $1 now.
Comment Re:What does this say... (Score 2) 479
Numerous powerful US political figures and pundits have unashamedly called for his assassination. Fear of going to Guantanamo is not unreasonable. http://www.peopleokwithmurderingassange.com/
Comment Re:Right... (Score 1) 244
I've never gotten a telemarketer call in the years I've been on the list.
