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>The drumbeat of hires crescendoed in November when Ripple, [...] added Ben Lawsky to its board. He earned a tough reputation as New York’s top financial watchd

>The drumbeat of hires crescendoed in November when Ripple, [...] added Ben Lawsky to its board. He earned a tough reputation as New York’s top financial watchdog by pushing banks to scrutinize client transactions for illicit dealings. >[...]Lawsky’s jump to Ripple was particularly notable because he helped pioneer regulation of cryptocurrencies. He introduced the BitLicense, a requirement for digital currency companies that wanted to operate in New York. What a bunch of white washing. Imagine a parallel universe were the DMCA and the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act made online service providers responsible for the content that their user's posted and being called a "pioneer". Lawsky rose the specter of unsubstantiated "terrorism" fears to create onerous, outdated, maladapted Bitcoin regulations. Shortly after that he quit his job as a regulator and then setup a firm to collect fees for helping "guide" firms through the regulations he just created. Corruption / rent seeking / anti-competative behavior. Bank lawyers even told Lawsky to shut bitcoin down[1] [1]https://twitter.com/MarcHochstein/status/922611866848804864 https://twitter.com/MarcHochstein/status/922611866848804864

user5994461 9y ago
Well, content providers are responsible for the content they distribute so that's not a good comparison.
- psyc 9y ago
  They have certain limited responsibilities, but are on the whole not liable. In layman's terms, they're mostly not responsible, otherwise the RIAA could have bankrupted the whole internet years ago. http://technology.findlaw.com/modern-law-practice/understanding-the-legal-issues-for-social-networking-sites-and.html http://technology.findlaw.com/modern-law-practice/understand...
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I think you over estimate the actual power of and financial backing of the riaa..Google/apple could just buy most of the members in cash and call it a day. they are a small dog with a big bark
    - icebraining 9y ago
      They are now. The DMCA, which created the safe harbor provisions, is from '96.
bmelton 9y ago
Agreed. There's a movie called "Banking on Bitcoin" currently on Netflix that I recently watched, and while it's got plenty of libertarian rhetoric, it showcases well the transition of "Bitcoin's going to fund terrorism" to "Hey, y'know those regulations I wrote to prevent Bitcoin terrorism? I'm the only one that knows them, so hire me for cryptocurrency regulatory guidance".
- victor22 9y ago
  Can you believe Ripple actually hired Benjamin Lawsky? https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-welcomes-new-board-member-benjamin-lawsky/ https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-welcomes-new-board-member...
ssdd 9y ago
Wow! He is really want to suck as much profit as possible out of his position. No wonder people like him makes so much money.

user5994461 9y ago

Well, content providers are responsible for the content they distribute so that's not a good comparison.

psyc 9y ago
They have certain limited responsibilities, but are on the whole not liable. In layman's terms, they're mostly not responsible, otherwise the RIAA could have bankrupted the whole internet years ago. http://technology.findlaw.com/modern-law-practice/understanding-the-legal-issues-for-social-networking-sites-and.html http://technology.findlaw.com/modern-law-practice/understand...
- paulie_a 9y ago
  I think you over estimate the actual power of and financial backing of the riaa..Google/apple could just buy most of the members in cash and call it a day. they are a small dog with a big bark
  - icebraining 9y ago
    They are now. The DMCA, which created the safe harbor provisions, is from '96.

bmelton 9y ago

Agreed. There's a movie called "Banking on Bitcoin" currently on Netflix that I recently watched, and while it's got plenty of libertarian rhetoric, it showcases well the transition of "Bitcoin's going to fund terrorism" to "Hey, y'know those regulations I wrote to prevent Bitcoin terrorism? I'm the only one that knows them, so hire me for cryptocurrency regulatory guidance".

victor22 9y ago
Can you believe Ripple actually hired Benjamin Lawsky? https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-welcomes-new-board-member-benjamin-lawsky/ https://ripple.com/insights/ripple-welcomes-new-board-member...

ssdd 9y ago

Wow! He is really want to suck as much profit as possible out of his position. No wonder people like him makes so much money.