Bitcoin is one of the greatest, most brilliant, technical and cultural innovations. (What a statement!) Its a wisely envisioned way to enable personal privacy in conjunction with Internet/digital-commerce and still keep the very private concept of cash alive. Since paper-money/credit/bank/prepaid cards are under attack from every way possible by malicious crooks (notice no mention of the legitimate words like hacker, nerd, or white hat security tester) and counterfeiters is wonderful to see an improvement such as the Bitcoin concept.

In no way can individual anonymity of normal everyday purchases be underestimated in its function of allowing a free and open democratic society pursue the cultural ways it wants to express itself in. (open ended statement) This shows up immediately in how we contribute to political/activist organizations we support that may be controversial to other parts of society following culture we do not believe in.

Lets examine, some of this, concept with currently hot topics;

In the case of Prenda vs. John Doe (various/many) where an typical defendant might have been trying to use the (somewhat/mostly) anonymity of torrents to download controversial content made easily available because of recent technological advances (the Internet). (duh)

Why did this cultural group use this method of obtaining items? A) It probably was not available from any other source. B) The on-line available source required an address and credit card or PayPal and destroyed any form of anonymity that a cash purchase might provide. C) Other. (the concept of honey-pots/forced-rarity comes to mind)

Considering the religious and puritanical wars current politics wages their battles in… anonymity is the only way to defend ones personal cultural habits. Lets face the facts that marital infidelity (gimme a break!) is more damaging to a politicians career than fraud, waste, mismanagement of public funds, deception, theft, lying under oath, spying on the public, violating constitutional right, etc, etc, etc. (Citizen awareness is at an all-time low?)

Would the defendant in the Prenda case use a legitimate source to purchase these items if there was an reasonably anonymous and easy way to obtain them? A 100%, Likely, yes. It would, at least, be guaranteed to increase licensing profits.

This has wider implications than providing a way to pursue ones happiness in whatever form. How do we protect the anonymity of political contributions?? With US (and other) governments routinely abusing the tax collection agencies (IRS) to enforce audits and non-profit-status on any opposing group (Tea Party, candidates, etc… So much evidence, over so many administrations, please google it yourself) this should not be an argument?

The accusations of laundering and terrorist support are baseless in respect to the anonymity of an cash donation to whatever group/person/industry/item/whatever/etc anyone wants. Screw the critics. If anyone has evidence of wrongdoing don’t please provide the evidence and not just mess up democratic society with some tyrannical scheme.

?Some? money laundering is no excuse to destroy or confiscate any exchange in the same way the Safe Harbors Act protects Internet Service Providers from random content. One might complain that the US Dollar is used for firecrackers or porn. Its always idiotic to enforce opinion/religious/puritanical values over democratic civilization as a whole. When one culture is allowed to pick on another we have the classic war of one class over another.

In a good democratic society we know that each individual will not always make a choice that others will agree on. Thats life. What is important is that we understand the diversity of our own population and allow for all the possibilities.

STUPID NOTE; The terms counterfeiters, hackers, down-loaders, IP, activist, protester have been misused/abused by malicious-special-interest-groups/government-bureaucracy so much that it must be painfully pointed out that only the normal dictionary meanings are used in this opinion here.

Reactionary,

Ninja. Control over the habits of average citizens by an industry influenced government is an obvious pitfall that any aware citizenry must try to avoid. Megaupload is a good example where the only thing that may be the media industry fears is the dissemination of creative commons based licensed content not under their control?

Control is a topic that should send shivers down any democratic citizens spine.

AC. The Bitcoin concept is in its infancy. Its value is dependent on both some leveling/averaging of world currency (evaluation/devaluation) and scarcity. The scarcity might be solved by increasing the bit level depth of encryption. (both a suggestion and complaint as weak bit level encryption is a vital concern.)

Key Take Away/Gwiz. Trust is a major factor in any currency. Current Fed money printing policies combined with current administration(s) lack of wise investment of such a windfall does not make for a promising economic future. In matters of trust would anyone feel that a US Fed based Bitcoin implementation a good thing? Would they likely manage it in the same was as the US Dollar?

Tax law has been a traditionally abused way to force purchasing habits of the average citizen. Tax refunds and even purchase rebates on your tax refunds are normally provided for any industry with the political special interest savvy to incorporate such motivations.

It is an opinion of mine that any purchases under 20,000$ usd (inflectionally adjusted) should be anonymous. Argue with me.

Rome is Burning. Democratic ideals are not dead. What is important is average citizen awareness. The current dangers to this is the DMCA and the indiscriminate Take-Down notice that requires no peer review.

Horse with no name. One must believe in democracy. To not believe in democratic society is to support some other society. What are your suggesting?