Re: [Bitcoin-development] bitcoin.org SOPA/PIPA blackout

[Stefan Thomas <moon@justmoon.de>]

I'm firmly against a *blackout* - it would harm users' trust in Bitcoin 
since people looking to download the client or to get information about 
Bitcoin may end up in the wrong place. I constantly have to delete 
YouTube spam advertising this or that "miracle GPU miner" or "secure 
Bitcoin client", which of course are all just the same trojan.

As for making a statement or putting up a banner - that's ok with me.

On 1/17/2012 7:15 AM, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
> On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 9:37 PM, Kyle Henderson<k@old.school.nz>  wrote:
>> For those that believe one particularly noisy country in the North America
>> region with a policy called SOPA or PIPA directly affects Bitcoin - can you
>> point out precisely where it does so?
> In addition to the concerns about internet freedom and domain name
> system filtering which are against the interests of bitcoin users and
> the bitcoin system generally, SOPA contains new requirements for
> payment networks which may adversely impact Bitcoin services
> businesses and limit their ability to do business in the US and other
> places where similar legislation is adopted.  There are many millions
> of potential Bitcoin users in the US, so US law matters for our
> ecosystem even though far from all Bitcoin users are in the US
> themselves.
>
> (21) PAYMENT NETWORK PROVIDER-
>              (A) IN GENERAL- The term `payment network provider' means
> an entity that directly or indirectly provides the proprietary
> services, infrastructure, and software to effect or facilitate a
> debit, credit, or other payment transaction.
> [...]
>                  (i) PREVENTING AFFILIATION- A payment network provider
> shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures, as
> expeditiously as possible, but in any case within 5 days after being
> served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may
> order, designed to prevent, prohibit, or suspend its service from
> completing payment transactions involving customers located within the
> United States or subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and
> the payment account--
>                      (I) which is used by the foreign infringing site,
> or portion thereof, that is subject to the order; and
>                      (II) through which the payment network provider
> would complete such payment transactions.
>
> If you really want to go for the more extreme interpretation, it's not
> hard to conclude that the Bitcoin system itself is a "payment network"
> by the definition under the act, and if so in theory the AG's office
> could— without due process— order miners and mining pools located in
> the US to, for example, not process transactions containing the well
> known addresses of targeted infringing sites (e.g. The Wikileaks
> donation address).  Though I personally think this is far out.
>
> I also think that other people will covered the SOPA/PIPA awareness
> (e.g. Wikipedia is shutting down for 24 hours) more than we could
> possibly do with our own resources.
>
> But this attitude of it being someone elses problem? I think thats
> nonsense. We live in _one world_, one world which is getting smaller
> every day.  The value of a network—or of a economy— comes from the
> number of potential connections it can make. One reason Bitcoin is
> good is because it deconstructs some of the old barriers and anything
> that risks imposing new ones is a threat to us all.
>
> So, don't participate because bitcoin.org's help would be so small as
> to be pointless— sure.  But because it doesn't matter? hardly.
>
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