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From the very richest Forbes Magazine (reprint) come news of a nefarious plot:
There's no better example of the power, and the terror, inspired by blockchain than Gab.com, the social network used by the accused Pittsburgh synagogue gunman to threaten Jews.
About a month and a half before the alleged gunman made good on those threats by opening fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue and killing 11 people, Gab submitted paperwork to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to raise $10 million via an initial coin offering (ICO). The offering, dated September 18, 2018, has so far received commitments to raise $5.6 million in capital for the "free speech" social network, which is a favorite of white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other members of the "alt-right."
Since the shooting on Saturday, Gab has been shut down by a host of mainstream services including payment processors Stripe and Paypal, Web-hosting company Joyent and briefly, domain registry GoDaddy. But that might not matter, because Gab has already taken the first step toward freeing itself from dependence on traditional infrastructure and support mechanisms, thanks to its funding via the ethereum blockchain. Ultimately Gab's goal is to build an entire ecosystem beyond the reach of centralized authorities—whether Facebook, Twitter or venture capitalists—making it nearly indestructible. On this, the tenth anniversary of the publication of Satoshi Nakamoto's whitepaper, which gave birth to bitcoin, Gab epitomizes the darker consequences of his vision.
[...] Gab can also use other blockchain services if mainstream providers try to kick it off the internet by refusing to provide critical services. If Gab needs to replace GoDaddy for domain service (the addresses people use to find websites), Ethereum Name Service provides domains for decentralized applications built on the ethereum blockchain. Web hosting? No problem. Ethereum's Substratum provides a decentralized alternative to Joyent. Others have already pioneered the idea. PeepEth is a nascent ethereum-powered social network, and Mastadon is a blockchain-based Twitter.
Previously: Social Media and the Pittsburgh Shooter: Gab.com Going Down
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @12:44PM (15 children)
Cryptocurrency really is about freedom.
Since cash is infeasible over the internet, we are left with electronic payment. The credit card companies dominate this in the USA (try to wire someone money from your bank account!), and the credit card oligarchy can decide to cut you off for basically no reason or for reeasons forced on them by the govt. Is this a free society where your livelihood depends on the whims of powerful organizations that do not have to follow any laws in their actions with you? You have broken no law, but they "don't like you"? If this is the case, how can a simple baker be forced by the Supreme Court to bake a cake for people HE doesn't like? It's one set of rules for the powerful, and another for everyone else.
I favor freedom. Don't like it? Don't go to that website. Diversity has consequences. Heh.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @12:52PM (11 children)
Sounds like you need to take a look outside your window. There is a whole world of local businesses that take cash as a form of payment. No blockchain required.
What? You want the benefits of product choices, availability and lower prices offered by the internet? That doesn't sound like "freedom", it sounds like "capitalism". You know what else wreaks of capitalism? Credit card companies.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @01:52PM (1 child)
Your entire post did nothing to address my points. Capitalism at its base is about providing goods or services in exchange for payment. Refusing to deal with a customer because of their opinions is politics. Yes, on the part of the baker and the credit card companies. The difference is, there is a robust free market in local bakeries. There is no such thing in the oligarchy of credit card companies. Personally, I favor serving everyone as long as they have not broken any laws. That is my salient point.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @02:35PM
Interesting how your OP was so far off your "salient point."
Go spend cash in the real world. Or go complain about not enough online places taking cryptocurrency, which are not that private or secure when you have to provide a physical address to ship your purchase to. Either way, never choose an online bakery because shipping a cake is never good for the cake (salient or not).
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @02:19PM (5 children)
rebuttal fail
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @02:32PM (4 children)
Not at all. You tie the dollars to a pigeon....
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday November 02 2018, @02:41PM (1 child)
SKEET SHOOT!! Count me in!
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @08:15PM
Ah, that's why my RFC 1149 compliant bitcoin client has such high packet loss.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Friday November 02 2018, @08:42PM (1 child)
African or European?
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Joe Desertrat on Saturday November 03 2018, @11:43AM
The African are non-migratory, so one would have to use the European.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Friday November 02 2018, @05:14PM (1 child)
Sorry, but "capitalism under government prohibition of entry of new players" isn't capitalism.
This isn't surprising, as actual capitalism has a very poor track record except in the eyes of the rich and powerful, and even they prefer to avoid competition when they can, so they legislate it away. So they don't like capitalism either. You are left with people who have been taught that the word describes something good (or evil) so if you label something with that name they will react as expected.
People tend to be hypnotized by names. That name given to a thing doesn't necessarily have much to do with the thing itself. You have to check. And very different things turn out to be given the same name in circumstances where it's difficult to check.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @06:07PM
You lost me. The internet doesn't allow new players, or new players cannot enter the credit card industry? Or are you talking about the thousands of cryptocurrencies that have popped up in the last year or two?
Cash still works in the real world. If you want to have the convenience of buying over the internet then you need to trade something for that convenience. One thing that is traded for that convenience is the use of cash and the anonymity of your transactions. But how anonymous can you be if you have to provide a shipping address for whatever you buy?
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by khallow on Saturday November 03 2018, @03:12AM
FTFY.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 02 2018, @06:54PM (2 children)
Well, maybe fix it? Seems to work fine in EU. Just give me your account number, and someone can send you money. Free. Been like that for decade? But then, EU so actual freedom not guns
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 03 2018, @05:28PM (1 child)
But then, EU so actual freedom not guns
You're so full of it! American guns are what have kept the peace in Europe for the last 73 years! The minute we pull out, you'll be right back to your nazi feudal warfare bullshit. As if Bosnia/Serbia/Croatia/Whatever wasn't a fucking hint! Thousands of years, and European arrogance hasn't diminished one bit!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 04 2018, @03:07PM
Troll? Got some real kool-aid drinkin' moderators here too, eh? The truth is an ugly bitch, ain't it? Damn! We are so doomed if you damn people don't wake up!