5 ms·

do anyone prosecute this kind of hacks? or just because is a token without legal status is like stealing Sheldon's gear in WOW. This kind of pre-generated seed

by kylell 9y ago

do anyone prosecute this kind of hacks? or just because is a token without legal status is like stealing Sheldon's gear in WOW. This kind of pre-generated seed hack is quite dangerous, a lot of mobile apps, don't have deterministic build so you can't be sure the open source version is the same as the one from apple store, and I bet Apple won't do such a thoroughly search.

abusoufiyan 9y ago
considering how rabidly most cryptocurrency supporters denounce the government and the banking system and wall street and evil regulations, you would think they would be livid at the idea of a government(!) prosecuting people for anything related to cryptocurrency.
- quickthrower2 9y ago
  Yeah but then they should be livid at the idea of the government prosecuting people period.
- JustFinishedBSG 9y ago
  A statist is just a libertarian who had his crypto stolen :)
- josephagoss 9y ago
  I'm a cryptocurrency supporter but I'm not anti tax or anti government. I genuinely think that decentralized trust based systems such as blockchain have a place in our world even alongside government. With that said, I would like to believe that if caught, these types of seed hacks could be prosecuted. (If viable)
  - vog 9y ago
    > I'm a cryptocurrency supporter but I'm not anti tax or anti government. The GNU Taler project might be interesting to you, then. It is based on design decisions that are refreshingly different from classic crypto currencies (who implement more an anarcho-capitalism mindset). Because of those design differences, I'm not sure if it should be considered a crypto currency or not. (They themselves do not.) Website: https://gnutaler.org/ https://gnutaler.org/ Presentation at SHA2017: https://taler.net/videos/sha2017taler.webm https://taler.net/videos/sha2017taler.webm
    - paulrd 9y ago
      BEWARE: apparently gnutaler.org is a fake website taler.net is the correct one! source: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/taler/2018-01/msg00009.html http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/taler/2018-01/msg00009.htm...
      - vog 9y ago
        Whoops, wrong URL. Sorry for the confusion! https://taler.net/ https://taler.net/ (Too bad I can't edit my original comment anymore here on HN. I find it disgusting to have helped spread a scam website and not being able to fix that afterwards.)
    - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
      Paging dang, can you fix this?
  - banachtarski 9y ago
    So as a non-cryptocurrency suppporter, what's the point then? Making things distributed necessarily makes it slower and harder/more expensive to regulate (let alone operate). Not to mention the high volatility which is the primary thing that gives a currency any value (hence, why the US Dollar is considered the reserve currency of the world: its stability). At some point, a duck is a duck. This duck is a fun experiment and someone discovered how to combine proof of work (old concept) with quorums (old concept) and a distributed ledger (old concept) that altogether gave the illusion of something unique and usable. I'm seeing worse usability on all fronts, no endgame in sight (except to move to a new currency when transaction fees get high), little to no regulation, and a worser world in general. It's also ecologically irresponsible (centralized currencies will _always_ be more efficient by definition). I don't care that I can make a quick buck by preying on people's FOMO, the whole movement is fueled by seemingly emotional, albeit baseless, arguments and bravado.
- DennisP 9y ago
  It's perfectly consistent if they're minarchists rather than anarchists. Or Occupy Wall Street types, for that matter.
draw_down 9y ago
> do anyone prosecute this kind of hacks? Like who, the crypto police? Pretty neat how crypto tosses away the tools of the state but then wants them back, but of course only when convenient. We don’t need your stupid fiat currency! ... oh but can we borrow your justice system for our own ends? ... The one we don’t want to help pay for?
bradleyjg 9y ago
Maybe if the whole thing is dropped neatly with a bow on someone's desk at a cybercrime unit of the central police in the country where the perpetrator lives. But probably not. It's not so much because authorities don't consider it a crime, like stealing WoW gear, but because of the difficulties in investigating and prosecuting the case vs the total losses.
rsync 9y ago
"do anyone prosecute this kind of hacks? or just because is a token without legal status is like stealing Sheldon's gear in WOW." Actually, I do lean towards the notion that stealing/embezzling/defrauding iotas/bitcoins/cuervocoins is legally equivalent to looting gold in WoW. I see nothing in this news/thread today about "Iota" (which I have never heard of until today) that makes me consider it serious, legal business. It approaches the seriousness of WoW from below.

by kylell 9y ago

abusoufiyan 9y ago

considering how rabidly most cryptocurrency supporters denounce the government and the banking system and wall street and evil regulations, you would think they would be livid at the idea of a government(!) prosecuting people for anything related to cryptocurrency.

quickthrower2 9y ago
Yeah but then they should be livid at the idea of the government prosecuting people period.
JustFinishedBSG 9y ago
A statist is just a libertarian who had his crypto stolen :)
josephagoss 9y ago
I'm a cryptocurrency supporter but I'm not anti tax or anti government. I genuinely think that decentralized trust based systems such as blockchain have a place in our world even alongside government. With that said, I would like to believe that if caught, these types of seed hacks could be prosecuted. (If viable)
- vog 9y ago
  > I'm a cryptocurrency supporter but I'm not anti tax or anti government. The GNU Taler project might be interesting to you, then. It is based on design decisions that are refreshingly different from classic crypto currencies (who implement more an anarcho-capitalism mindset). Because of those design differences, I'm not sure if it should be considered a crypto currency or not. (They themselves do not.) Website: https://gnutaler.org/ https://gnutaler.org/ Presentation at SHA2017: https://taler.net/videos/sha2017taler.webm https://taler.net/videos/sha2017taler.webm
  - paulrd 9y ago
    BEWARE: apparently gnutaler.org is a fake website taler.net is the correct one! source: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/taler/2018-01/msg00009.html http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/taler/2018-01/msg00009.htm...
    - vog 9y ago
      Whoops, wrong URL. Sorry for the confusion! https://taler.net/ https://taler.net/ (Too bad I can't edit my original comment anymore here on HN. I find it disgusting to have helped spread a scam website and not being able to fix that afterwards.)
  - pbhjpbhj 9y ago
    Paging dang, can you fix this?
- banachtarski 9y ago
  So as a non-cryptocurrency suppporter, what's the point then? Making things distributed necessarily makes it slower and harder/more expensive to regulate (let alone operate). Not to mention the high volatility which is the primary thing that gives a currency any value (hence, why the US Dollar is considered the reserve currency of the world: its stability). At some point, a duck is a duck. This duck is a fun experiment and someone discovered how to combine proof of work (old concept) with quorums (old concept) and a distributed ledger (old concept) that altogether gave the illusion of something unique and usable. I'm seeing worse usability on all fronts, no endgame in sight (except to move to a new currency when transaction fees get high), little to no regulation, and a worser world in general. It's also ecologically irresponsible (centralized currencies will _always_ be more efficient by definition). I don't care that I can make a quick buck by preying on people's FOMO, the whole movement is fueled by seemingly emotional, albeit baseless, arguments and bravado.
DennisP 9y ago
It's perfectly consistent if they're minarchists rather than anarchists. Or Occupy Wall Street types, for that matter.

draw_down 9y ago

> do anyone prosecute this kind of hacks? Like who, the crypto police? Pretty neat how crypto tosses away the tools of the state but then wants them back, but of course only when convenient. We don’t need your stupid fiat currency! ... oh but can we borrow your justice system for our own ends? ... The one we don’t want to help pay for?

bradleyjg 9y ago

Maybe if the whole thing is dropped neatly with a bow on someone's desk at a cybercrime unit of the central police in the country where the perpetrator lives. But probably not. It's not so much because authorities don't consider it a crime, like stealing WoW gear, but because of the difficulties in investigating and prosecuting the case vs the total losses.

rsync 9y ago

"do anyone prosecute this kind of hacks? or just because is a token without legal status is like stealing Sheldon's gear in WOW." Actually, I do lean towards the notion that stealing/embezzling/defrauding iotas/bitcoins/cuervocoins is legally equivalent to looting gold in WoW. I see nothing in this news/thread today about "Iota" (which I have never heard of until today) that makes me consider it serious, legal business. It approaches the seriousness of WoW from below.