WikiLeaks and the End of the Beginning
Hey,
I wanted to send a letter to Wikileaks about Bitcoin since unfortunately they’ve had several incidents where their funds have been seized in the past. http://wikileaks.org/media/support.html
Anyone know where to send a message to them?
Looking on the bright side, if Bitcoin did get known as the Wikileaks currency, attacked by governments all over the world, at least we’d get our Wikipedia page back!
Quote from: Hal on December 04, 2010, 08:43:07 PM
Looking on the bright side, if Bitcoin did get known as the Wikileaks currency, attacked by governments all over the world, at least we’d get our Wikipedia page back!
This is so true. There certainly wouldn’t be a shortage of “reliable sources” about Bitcoins at that point. I think it would likely show up on the front page of most newspapers and be talked about extensively on both radio talk shows and the other broadcast networks too.
For myself, I’m getting to the point to say “bring it on” in regards to Wikileaks. Note that I’m using my real name here instead of a psuedonym and I’m willing to personally say “bring it on” in terms of being associated with Bitcoins as a project. I’ve had police come into my house without my permission already and do all kind of stupid stuff, so for me that line being crossed has already happened. I am also connected to enough people politically that if something was to happen to me that it would be noted and things would happen too.
It is the morally correct thing to be supporting Wikileaks, and if they’ll take a few of my bitcoins, I not only want to donate but to let the world know that they can donate to Wikileaks through Bitcoins as well.
I can’t speak for everybody here in the Bitcoins community but I am speaking for myself on this matter, and I’m not afraid of anything that the U.S. government might do to me if I was associated with backing Wikileaks financially. If anything, it would show that I no longer live under a constitutional government any more. If the U.S. government wants to tip their hand to expose themselves in that way, so be it. If the U.S. government kills me or puts me in jail, I’ll certainly set a way for this community to find out. I really don’t think it would come to that either, but I don’t care if it did.
If I have to “vote” on this matter, I would encourage the Bitcoin community to take up the plate like we did with the EFF and encourage Wikileaks to put up a Bitcoin address on their website for donations. It would bring in some new blood into the Bitcoin community regardless, and it might be beneficial to Wikileaks as well. Leave it to Wikileaks to see if they want to use Bitcoins or not. In terms of governmental review of Bitcoins, we know that is going to happen sooner or later, so why are we fighting that inevitable result? Anything other than a low-key investigation is only going to make more people interested in Bitcoins, which is only going to help the project even more. It can’t be killed as a project, only slowed down a little bit in its growth at this point and more likely its adoption would be accelerated by any kind of publicity that would happen.
The only possible concern I would have is over how sound the protocol itself is right now. If anything, a major flux of new people into Bitcoins would help there too, and the worst that could happen is that Bitcoins itself would be broken in some way where a new cryptocurrency would have to be created fixing the problems of Bitcoins. It is the idea of cryptocurrency that would then persist, and it is incredibly hard to censor an idea.
Basically, bring it on. Let’s encourage Wikileaks to use Bitcoins and I’m willing to face any risk or fallout from that act.
— Robert S. Horning Logan, Utah
With paypal down I’m increasing my pressure upon their board of directors to get a bitcoin address up.
Quote from: bober182 on December 05, 2010, 07:58:37 AM
With paypal down I’m increasing my pressure upon their board of directors to get a bitcoin address up.
So you decide to ignore the long discussion and just do it?
Listen to people’s argument, make a decision, give a reasoned case for what you’re going to do, and then do it.
Also, it would be nice if you explain what kind of “pressure” you’re doing. You represent the rest of the bitcoiners here, so it’s nice to know how bob182 is acting on our behalf.
Quote from: kiba on December 05, 2010, 08:02:58 AM
Also, it would be nice if you explain what kind of “pressure” you’re doing. You represent the rest of the bitcoiners here, so it’s nice to know how bob182 is acting on our behalf.
bob182 is certainly not acting on my behalf, nor several others, as these threads seem to indicate.
And for Pete’s sake, bob182, please don’t misrepresent yourself as some sort of official Bitcoin representative.
Wikileaks is the enemy of major world powers right now, with many influential elites feeling that Assange committed an act of war against the United States, or, at a minimum, irrevocably disrupted world affairs. This is not some mailing list discussion or theoretical exercise; there are very real, very powerful organizations actively targetting wikileaks’ network infrastructure, organizational infrastructure, and most importantly, financial infrastructure.
It is extraordinarily unwise to make bitcoin such a highly visible target, at such an early stage in this project. There could be a lot of “collateral damage” in the bitcoin community while you make your principled stand.
Quote from: jgarzik on December 05, 2010, 08:15:21 AM
Quote from: kiba on December 05, 2010, 08:02:58 AM
Also, it would be nice if you explain what kind of “pressure” you’re doing. You represent the rest of the bitcoiners here, so it’s nice to know how bob182 is acting on our behalf.
bob182 is certainly not acting on my behalf, nor several others, as these threads seem to indicate.
And for Pete’s sake, bob182, please don’t misrepresent yourself as some sort of official Bitcoin representative.
bober182 doesn’t need to have anybody’s permission to do anything. Even if he were to present himself as being ‘official’, the Wikileaks people are probably smarter than the average visitor of this forum, so they would be able to figure that out in less than a minute.
Does anyone have an idea of how large the Wikileaks group is? I know one guy who is in it, but two guys don’t make a group Wink I suppose the actual members are a secret, but is the number too?
Or, to put in military terms, we know that wikileaks’ entire financial infrastructure is being actively targeted, and The Powers That Be have successfully destroyed one target in the past 24 hours.
Only cannon fodder would stand up and wave a red flag that says “shoot me” at such a point in time Smiley
Quote from: farmer_boy on December 05, 2010, 08:23:15 AM
bober182 doesn’t need to have anybody’s permission to do anything.
This isn’t about a permission issue.
I just want bober182 to be a responsible member of the community. He’s going in there, contacting the organization, when it is clear that members of the community don’t think it is the best idea. He didn’t address any of our concerns. He didn’t give us any details what he is planning to do, except putting additional “pressure” which could mean anything from “being pushy” or selling “snake oil”.
This is akin to somebody just go in there, with no plans and guns blazing, costing half of his squads and then costing us a war in the long run.
The wikileaks board of directors has 10 members + JA, then there are about 150~200 staff, and under that are 1400 volunteers.
Quote from: RHorning on December 04, 2010, 10:17:44 PM
Basically, bring it on. Let’s encourage Wikileaks to use Bitcoins and I’m willing to face any risk or fallout from that act.
No, don’t “bring it on”.
The project needs to grow gradually so the software can be strengthened along the way.
I make this appeal to WikiLeaks not to try to use Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a small beta community in its infancy. You would not stand to get more than pocket change, and the heat you would bring would likely destroy us at this stage.