Rashek writes:
"After a a two-month investigation, Newsweek claims it's found Satoshi Nakamoto, the inventor of Bitcoin[PayWall]: a 64-year-old Japanese-American man whose name really is Satoshi Nakamoto!
The article contains interviews with some of Nakamoto's family members, a picture of his house and even a picture Satoshi Nakamoto himself. At least that's what the journalist behind this, Leah McGrath Goodman, claims them to be."
The Telegraph takes up the article and, at time of writing, it is accessible to all.
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"The Man Behind Bitcoin Has Been Found" - Newsweek
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:25PM
Let the dude have his anonymity. I know the bitcoin libertarian squad holds this guy up as the god-emperor of man, but if he wanted to be in a spotlight, he would have been.
(Score: 5, Funny) by ikanreed on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:28PM
Next you'll want the media to focus on informative and useful information. There's just no pleasing some people.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:25PM
Send him to the gulags.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by takyon on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:29PM
All this time and the "alias" was his real name all along. So much for cloak and dagger cyberpunk deep web crypto intrigue.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Rivenaleem on Friday March 07 2014, @10:35AM
Just goes to show how effective security by obscurity is!
Until you get found, that is...
(Score: 2, Insightful) by goodie on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:29PM
... On the other hand if it is really him good job on making all his personal and family details so well known. Almost reads like the "researcher" wants a reaction from him. The perspn depicted here reads like a pretty "conventional" otaku if there is ever such a thing...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:33PM
So where's his stash of bought/stolen pantsu?
(Score: 2, Funny) by edIII on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:39PM
It's Japan.
They have national infrastructure and programs to deliver government issued used pantsu to all Japanese men....
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:43PM
So he invented bitcoin to launder (not as in cleaning them if course) his used pantsu through the Japanese government?
(Score: 1) by goodie on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:44PM
Well they do have underwear vending machines over there according to rumors ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @08:44PM
Ask him why he didn't design it so that I can still own it while Mt.Gox is in possession of it!
(Score: 5, Informative) by TheloniousToady on Thursday March 06 2014, @06:47PM
I read TFA from beginning to end. It describes Satoshi Nakamoto as
yet the article also tells us that although he changed his name to "Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto", the "Satoshi Nakamoto" of Bitcoin fame - which has been widely assumed to be a pseudonym - is actually his real birth name.
So, a man who is obsessively private attaches his birth name to a potentially revolutionary new system of money. Go figure.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Barrabas on Thursday March 06 2014, @07:34PM
I've often wondered about pseudonyms in this regard.
For example, any time Taco is referred to in the press, it's always phrased "Rob Malda, who goes by the name CmdrTaco". We have Wikipedia entries for moot [wikipedia.org] and Moxie Marlinspike [wikipedia.org], each highlighting their real name.
Famous actors frequently use different names (Allen Konigsberg [wikipedia.org] and Krishna Pandit Bhanji [wikipedia.org]), writers use pen names (Stephen King [wikipedia.org] and J. K. Rowling [wikipedia.org]).
The reasoning is obvious: You want a clear divide between your personal and public life. It allws you to lead a normal sane existance without being pestered by paparazzi [wikipedia.org] (also here [tmz.com]), stalkers [wikipedia.org], or just weird, disconcerting whackos [dumb.com].
I once looked into registering a new name legally for business purposes. The only way to do it is to use "John Barrabas, DBA Trenton Smith", which 'kinda defeats the purpose.
I don't know why NewsWeek didn't just say "we've found the mysterious man behind BitCoin, here's an interview" or something. The man spent a lifetime protecting his identity, and NewsWeek outs it in an instant for quick thrillz to punch up an otherwise uninteresting story.
If we are ever a primary news source, we should have a policy of "we don't do that".
(Score: 1) by tynin on Thursday March 06 2014, @09:29PM
More directly, not many people have a claim to $650,000,000 USDs in BTC. People have had home invasions and been tortured for far far less. Regardless if this is him, this is an old man with health issues who is now going to be supremely paranoid, above and beyond what he was, and he should be. I feel sorry for him, but he might need to get over living a simple life, sell some of those BTCs and get the hell out of Dodge.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @09:42PM
Technically, you CAN create a Nevada corporation whose information is non-public and held by a designated agent who can be compelled to disclose the information only in response to a bona-fide court order... but you'll pay at least a kilobuck or two per year for the service.
(Score: 1) by stderr on Friday March 07 2014, @12:03AM
We especially should have that policy, when the guy "denies any ties" [reuters.com] to bitcoins.
alias sudo="echo make it yourself #" #
(Score: 3, Insightful) by combatserver on Friday March 07 2014, @02:08AM
"...and NewsWeek outs it in an instant for quick thrillz to punch up an otherwise uninteresting story."
I disagree, wholeheartedly.
There are some interesting bits of information revealed in numerous articles on this subject that I think are entirely relevant. The man had a security clearance, worked with government contractors and has clamped down a lid of secrecy on a large portion of his life. I seriously doubt it was for what he claims--contract work on communications for aircraft and military vessels.
Who is to say that Bitcoin isn't a government operation to secure black-op funding? Pseudo-currency that can be pumped-and-dumped at will, all manipulated behind the scenes by those that know everything the internet has to offer. Far-fetched? It isn't like the US Intelligence community doesn't do this sort of thing--going into business to ensure their needs are met, that is. They've been in business for years. [wikipedia.org]
My point is that the man had his hands in a very large pie--you can't go around creating things like Bitcoin and then simply wash your hands of the implications and effects of such an invention, especially if it was delivered into the hands of those with less than honorable intentions (like bilking people out of hundreds of millions of dollars).
I hope I can change this later...
(Score: 3, Informative) by rob_bruce on Thursday March 06 2014, @07:34PM
(Score: 1) by lx on Thursday March 06 2014, @07:54PM
He calls himself Dorian. What a missed opportunity! Let's all call 10E-4 BTC (10000 satoshis) a dorian from now on. Whether this guy really is the inventor of Bitcoin or not.
I mean spending a couple of satoshis now and then is fun, but I'd much rather spend a couple of dorians.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @08:42PM
"The article contains interviews with some of Nakamoto's family members, a picture of his house and even a picture Satoshi Nakamoto himself. At least that's what the journalist behind this, Leah McGrath Goodman, claims them to be."
I would love to read an article that interviews some of Leah McGrath Goodman's family members, a picture of her house, and even a picture of Leah McGrath Goodman herself. Also welcome would be detailed examinations of every aspect of Ms. Goodman's past and everything she's ever done that might shed light on her personality and her professional life.
In other words, I'd love for there to be an outlet that rakes through the lives of all these damn reporters who go around raking through everyone else's lives for their "human interest stories". Doesn't the public have a right to know, after all?
(Score: 2) by wjwlsn on Thursday March 06 2014, @09:29PM
Dorian, is that you?!
(On another note... why was this modded down? It was a bit of a rant, but a valid viewpoint I think. If, all of a sudden, *you* had been outed publicly in this fashion, how would you feel?)
I am a traveler of both time and space. Duh.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @09:34PM
I'd fuck your dad in the ass and then have a snack.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @09:45PM
More like he'd beat your ass and make you snack on your own excrement, you pissant little cockbite. Now go crawl back into that pus-infested hole you just crawled out of... you know, your Mama's nasty snatch.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 06 2014, @10:42PM
Oooooooh. Internet tough guy alert!!!
(Score: 5, Funny) by Barrabas on Thursday March 06 2014, @10:29PM
The mainstream news outlets probably wouldn't run such an article.
Too bad we don't have access to a news outlet that would take volunteer journalism of this nature. You know, something hungry to make a name for itself among traditional news outlets. Some up-and-coming news model, as it were.
Some place where you could contact the editorial staff ahead of time, then go out to gather the relevant information and construct a nicely-written article for publication. I don't know any such place, nor how to get in touch with them.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by darkfeline on Thursday March 06 2014, @11:58PM
Considering everyone's reaction to this shocking revelation, that was perhaps Satoshi's plan in the first place? No one would ever expect that a privacy-loving cryptocurrency inventor's pseudonym is his actual name!
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 1) by neiras on Friday March 07 2014, @01:16AM
This reporter essentially doxxed Satoshi for personal gain. Apparently ruining people's lives is entertainment now.
If Anonymous decides to pay her back, I'll do my best to be entertained.