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> [..] Monero, which is designed to be far more difficult to trace than Bitcoin, whose blockchain has proven to sometimes allow powerful forms of financial trac

> [..] Monero, which is designed to be far more difficult to trace than Bitcoin, whose blockchain has proven to sometimes allow powerful forms of financial tracking. Powerful forms of financial tracking? God damn journos these days are fucking idiots.

rand846633 5y ago
Insulting a whole profession because of some apparent mistakes of an individual seems quite idiotic as well.
- dna_polymerase 5y ago
  People usually do this knowing full well that there are counterexamples, yet the general case warrants the strong oversimplification. With journalism we've seen the profession decline in expertise and standards over the past decades. Mostly because too many publications hire anyone who is willing to generate articles that generate clicks.
  - wpietri 5y ago
    The industry has declined not because of hiring policies, but because we in the tech industry blew it up and because capitalism and journalism are not totally compatible anyhow. I am also not fond of click-driven headlines and articles. But this is not a new problem; when newspapers were mainly purchased individually, exciting headlines were used to drive sales. Now that companies get paid by the view, guess what! Organizations that prioritize revenue-generating views will survive. If we don't like that, yelling at them won't help. And blaming random things like hiring policies especially won't help. We need to figure out how to get sufficient money into journalism in ways that rewards the kind of journalism we want. Personally, between Patreon and subscriptions, I spend a couple grand a year on that. What are you doing to solve the problem?
  - rand846633 5y ago
    True. You could also make the argument that journalism has declined because people will click on anything.
agreenberg 5y ago
Author of the article here. Can't help but ask: Do you not believe that Bitcoin's blockchain sometimes allows powerful forms of financial tracking? Are you aware there's a whole industry that of companies designed to do exactly this?
- celticninja 5y ago
  What is powerful about it compared to standard financial tracking? What would less powerful financial tracking look like? Sounds like hyperbole to make it sound more exciting rather than an accurate description of the process.
  - anonyxyz 5y ago
    What's powerful about it is that it's available to literally anyone as opposed to only financial institutions.
  - agreenberg 5y ago
    Sure, traditional finance is also subject to powerful forms of financial tracking. (Though in some respects, Bitcoin is even less private: https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blockchain/ https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blo...) Monero is designed not to be, and that is pretty clearly the contrast I'm describing here.
  - wpietri 5y ago
    The standard financial tracking of cash, which is almost none? The standard financial tracking of a single bank account, which requires a subpoena? The standard financial tracking for a single person, which requires many requests to different data-holders and then a fair bit of work to unify it? In contrast, Bitcoin has a public global pseudonymous ledger. No warrants needed, a copy is freely available. Letting you trace flows of money from account to account instantly with no vendor issues and no judge to convince. Sounds powerful to me! The article's phrasing is both correct and reasonable. And the reason to not explain every detail in a general-audience article is that most people don't care about the details. If they did, they wouldn't be reading general-audience material, but more specialized stuff.

rand846633 5y ago

Insulting a whole profession because of some apparent mistakes of an individual seems quite idiotic as well.

dna_polymerase 5y ago
People usually do this knowing full well that there are counterexamples, yet the general case warrants the strong oversimplification. With journalism we've seen the profession decline in expertise and standards over the past decades. Mostly because too many publications hire anyone who is willing to generate articles that generate clicks.
- wpietri 5y ago
  The industry has declined not because of hiring policies, but because we in the tech industry blew it up and because capitalism and journalism are not totally compatible anyhow. I am also not fond of click-driven headlines and articles. But this is not a new problem; when newspapers were mainly purchased individually, exciting headlines were used to drive sales. Now that companies get paid by the view, guess what! Organizations that prioritize revenue-generating views will survive. If we don't like that, yelling at them won't help. And blaming random things like hiring policies especially won't help. We need to figure out how to get sufficient money into journalism in ways that rewards the kind of journalism we want. Personally, between Patreon and subscriptions, I spend a couple grand a year on that. What are you doing to solve the problem?
- rand846633 5y ago
  True. You could also make the argument that journalism has declined because people will click on anything.

agreenberg 5y ago

Author of the article here. Can't help but ask: Do you not believe that Bitcoin's blockchain sometimes allows powerful forms of financial tracking? Are you aware there's a whole industry that of companies designed to do exactly this?

celticninja 5y ago
What is powerful about it compared to standard financial tracking? What would less powerful financial tracking look like? Sounds like hyperbole to make it sound more exciting rather than an accurate description of the process.
- anonyxyz 5y ago
  What's powerful about it is that it's available to literally anyone as opposed to only financial institutions.
- agreenberg 5y ago
  Sure, traditional finance is also subject to powerful forms of financial tracking. (Though in some respects, Bitcoin is even less private: https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blockchain/ https://www.wired.com/story/bitcoin-drug-deals-silk-road-blo...) Monero is designed not to be, and that is pretty clearly the contrast I'm describing here.
- wpietri 5y ago
  The standard financial tracking of cash, which is almost none? The standard financial tracking of a single bank account, which requires a subpoena? The standard financial tracking for a single person, which requires many requests to different data-holders and then a fair bit of work to unify it? In contrast, Bitcoin has a public global pseudonymous ledger. No warrants needed, a copy is freely available. Letting you trace flows of money from account to account instantly with no vendor issues and no judge to convince. Sounds powerful to me! The article's phrasing is both correct and reasonable. And the reason to not explain every detail in a general-audience article is that most people don't care about the details. If they did, they wouldn't be reading general-audience material, but more specialized stuff.