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What is with the smart contract propaganda. Let's put everything in a legal perspective using the DAO as the example...was what occurred there a "hack" or just

What is with the smart contract propaganda. Let's put everything in a legal perspective using the DAO as the example...was what occurred there a "hack" or just a proper function of the contract which all parties agreed? let's assume, all things being equal, the DAO smart contract wasn't a smart contract on the block chain but a regular contract, which included a provision allowing any single party to unilaterally take all the investment funds of the other parties to the contract...is that enforceable? No. In fact with the SEC report on the DAO, we know the contract was likely an illegal offering of a security. Therefore, the entire contract is void and unenforceable and every party is entitled to their investment back, nothing changes because it was a smart contract on a block chain rather than a written contract.

IIAOPSW 9y ago
>was what occurred there a "hack" or just a proper function of the contract which all parties agreed? both. Lawyers are just hackers of the legal system. the runtime environment is the courtroom. The contract is the code. loopholes and technicalities are another name for bugs.
- Angostura 9y ago
  This elegant-naive model of the law seems to be quite popular with certain hackers, 'sovereign citizens' etc. It works right up to the point where the judge says 'yeh... I don't think so, you're being silly'
- msbarnett 9y ago
  This is a very naive view of the legal system. In reality, a lawyer trying to "hack" a contract with some technicality will run afoul of a judge telling them to sit down and shut up. Judges exist to discern the intent behind the contract and thereby fix "bugs" in the contract that would otherwise lead to absurd, unintended outcomes. "Loopholes" matter a hell of a lot less in real life than in episodes of Law & Order or whatever you've been watching.
  - js4 9y ago
    > "Loopholes" matter a hell of a lot less in real life than in episodes of Law & Order or whatever you've been watching. Or if you are a company trying to avoid paying taxes.
- will_brown 9y ago
  Mind explaining your personal experience with breach of contract matters in civil court? Are you a lawyer, or have you been a plaintiff/defendant in any breach of contract matter, were they state court matters or federal matters? If none, check out some of the foundation legal principles of contract law, including, but not limited to: offer, acceptance, bargained for exchange, mutual assent, consideration, "four-corners", contractual intent, illusory promises, statute of frauds, UCC (uniform commercial code), illegal per se. The contract isn't the "code", the contract is the contract and if anything the law is the "code" (in fact in many states and federally laws are called code), just because layman and tech people don't understand the law/code, doesn't mean its full of loopholes, technicalities and bugs...though as a layman watching the disaster that is smart contracts executing in ways people did not understand and authors marketed in plain language, I would says smart contracts are full of bugs.

IIAOPSW 9y ago

>was what occurred there a "hack" or just a proper function of the contract which all parties agreed? both. Lawyers are just hackers of the legal system. the runtime environment is the courtroom. The contract is the code. loopholes and technicalities are another name for bugs.

Angostura 9y ago
This elegant-naive model of the law seems to be quite popular with certain hackers, 'sovereign citizens' etc. It works right up to the point where the judge says 'yeh... I don't think so, you're being silly'
msbarnett 9y ago
This is a very naive view of the legal system. In reality, a lawyer trying to "hack" a contract with some technicality will run afoul of a judge telling them to sit down and shut up. Judges exist to discern the intent behind the contract and thereby fix "bugs" in the contract that would otherwise lead to absurd, unintended outcomes. "Loopholes" matter a hell of a lot less in real life than in episodes of Law & Order or whatever you've been watching.
- js4 9y ago
  > "Loopholes" matter a hell of a lot less in real life than in episodes of Law & Order or whatever you've been watching. Or if you are a company trying to avoid paying taxes.
will_brown 9y ago
Mind explaining your personal experience with breach of contract matters in civil court? Are you a lawyer, or have you been a plaintiff/defendant in any breach of contract matter, were they state court matters or federal matters? If none, check out some of the foundation legal principles of contract law, including, but not limited to: offer, acceptance, bargained for exchange, mutual assent, consideration, "four-corners", contractual intent, illusory promises, statute of frauds, UCC (uniform commercial code), illegal per se. The contract isn't the "code", the contract is the contract and if anything the law is the "code" (in fact in many states and federally laws are called code), just because layman and tech people don't understand the law/code, doesn't mean its full of loopholes, technicalities and bugs...though as a layman watching the disaster that is smart contracts executing in ways people did not understand and authors marketed in plain language, I would says smart contracts are full of bugs.