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Has there yet been any attempted legal action against someone who has "exploited" a software contract? I mean, most of the smart-contracts crowd seem to be of

Has there yet been any attempted legal action against someone who has "exploited" a software contract? I mean, most of the smart-contracts crowd seem to be of the opinion that whatever a software contract permits must be its intent as well, but I don't imagine that conviction would prevent them from filing suit once they'd lost money.

busterarm 8y ago
In general, doing research in the US is a bad move because of the CFAA.
- phyzome 8y ago
  Yes, although international lawsuits and criminal charges are also a thing.
- gammateam 8y ago
  "Researching" a smart contract just means broadcasting a transaction to a node in the network. There are over 15,000 Ethereum full nodes, you can hit one not in the US from your own reported location not being in the US. The gas you use in your address also needs to be unlinked from your identity too. So basically over tor just shapeshift like $5 worth of Monero to an ethereum address you just created. A transaction with a specific set of instructions will execute the smart contract program on any of the 15,000 nodes in the network.
gammateam 8y ago
Yeah code is law so far. You will want to unlink the transaction and reintegrate later just to avoid the challenge. The disagreement with your actions might not come from the state, after all.
- askmike 8y ago
  Except when it's not, for example ETH vs ETC.
  - gammateam 8y ago
    and zero courts were necessary to express that opinion, which is the point here.
askmike 8y ago
I might be stretching the definition of legal: After a big project (the DAO) was hacked a group of governing people ruled in something similar to a court ruling that the money should go back to the people who put it in. Enforcement was done by having everyone agree that the money doesn't belong to the hacker anymore. Though you can't convince everyone that "people are the law" in a system where "code is law". Which is why the Ethereum network split and people who refuse to agree stick to something called Ethereum Classic (an alternate reality where the hackers still own the funds).

busterarm 8y ago

In general, doing research in the US is a bad move because of the CFAA.

phyzome 8y ago
Yes, although international lawsuits and criminal charges are also a thing.
gammateam 8y ago
"Researching" a smart contract just means broadcasting a transaction to a node in the network. There are over 15,000 Ethereum full nodes, you can hit one not in the US from your own reported location not being in the US. The gas you use in your address also needs to be unlinked from your identity too. So basically over tor just shapeshift like $5 worth of Monero to an ethereum address you just created. A transaction with a specific set of instructions will execute the smart contract program on any of the 15,000 nodes in the network.

gammateam 8y ago

Yeah code is law so far. You will want to unlink the transaction and reintegrate later just to avoid the challenge. The disagreement with your actions might not come from the state, after all.

askmike 8y ago
Except when it's not, for example ETH vs ETC.
- gammateam 8y ago
  and zero courts were necessary to express that opinion, which is the point here.

askmike 8y ago

I might be stretching the definition of legal: After a big project (the DAO) was hacked a group of governing people ruled in something similar to a court ruling that the money should go back to the people who put it in. Enforcement was done by having everyone agree that the money doesn't belong to the hacker anymore. Though you can't convince everyone that "people are the law" in a system where "code is law". Which is why the Ethereum network split and people who refuse to agree stick to something called Ethereum Classic (an alternate reality where the hackers still own the funds).