4 ms·

I will forever mark the name, Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek editorial staff in my mind as a toxic journalist and TMZ-styled publication after this event. G

by jsnk 13y ago

I will forever mark the name, Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek editorial staff in my mind as a toxic journalist and TMZ-styled publication after this event. Granted, I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal by breaking this story. I don't think it's wrong for Goodman to attempt to contact Satoshi's relatives over the phone. What really crossed the line for me was Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek's decision to post the photo of the house, with the car's plate info on it. Why would you do this? What relavence if any did this have to the story? Showing of the house with car license plate resulted in identifying his address really easily. Let's face it. She wouldn't have done this to Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos even though they are far more famous, rich and public. She did this to this guy only because he's reclusive and powerless.

maxerickson 13y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%27s_house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%27s_house Bad example.
- maaku 13y ago
  Bill Gates spends millions a year on personal security. What if this guy is not actually worth millions of dollars?
  - maxerickson 13y ago
    My point was more that wealthy, powerful people often don't even have the sort of privacy being talked about, it doesn't make sense to complain that their wealth and power would protect them.
  - fleitz 13y ago
    Then he has to suffer through the horror and agony of having someone knock on his door, and having the police escort them off his property. I'm not sure if he'll fully recover from that kind of trauma.
    - 12345678987 13y ago
      > having someone knock on his door, and having the police escort them off his property. That's the worst that will happen to him. Oh wait, people have reason to think he has est.~400 million in bitcoins. But it's okay, I'm sure he'll recover from this (https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/) kind of trauma, too.
    - maaku 13y ago
      He has hundreds of millions of dollars in untraceable (if you know what you are doing) e-currency, protected only by keys presumably on his person, in his house, or otherwise nearby. It's unfortunately not uncommon for strangers to be killed over a few thousand dollars cash. Apparently professional hit men charge only a little more than that. Are you really suggesting that the worst he might endure is annoying reporters knocking at the door?
boyaka 13y ago
Why are you discussing Leah's article when this article is discussing something completely different (the fact that Leah's article is wrong)? You can go to the post of the Newsweek article and get a billion comments exactly like yours. It is pointless to keep harping about it in every related discussion...
- declan 13y ago
  Good point. The story now is whether Dorian == or != Satoshi. I think there's more evidence for != than ==.
declan 13y ago
> I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal I wouldn't be so sure. Both may be subject to tort liability if Dorian Nakamoto != Satoshi Nakamoto. See my tweet: https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960 https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960 And a response by an attorney who works on Internet issues: https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281 https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281
- jsnk 13y ago
  Thanks for the info. I do hope this man has a case against Newsweek.
- waterlesscloud 13y ago
  There's also the question of obtaining his email address through a merchant he did business with. That seems like it would be borderline illegal.
  - nikcub 13y ago
    the entire story relied on pretexting. i'd love to see the email to the merchant, bet she didn't identify as a journalist.
    - fleitz 13y ago
      OMG she didn't identify as a journalist?!?1?!? That's it, it's a slam dunk case Newsweek is liable for bajillions of dollars. He sure didn't act like a secretively paranoid inventor of bitcoin. I bet newsweek would love to see his entire email history. He should probably sue them so he can see that email to the merchant and newsweek can read his entire email history, as well as subpoena various other people for their private emails with satoshi. This will be a winning legal strategy to protect his privacy.
- gamblor956 13y ago
  He has a colorable claim but no chance of winning. The founder of a cryptocurrency which now boasts of a >$1 billion market is legitimately a matter of the public interest, even if it's not the right guy. This principle has been established many times by people who were mistaken for criminal defendants (not always defendants with the same name), including the Boston U student who killed himself shortly before the Boston Marathon bombing.
dclowd9901 13y ago
You seem upset about this story, but as someone with no stake in Bitcorn or anything else related to this nonsense, I struggle to understand why you care so much who is outed as its creator?

by jsnk 13y ago

maxerickson 13y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%27s_house http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Gates%27s_house Bad example.

maaku 13y ago
Bill Gates spends millions a year on personal security. What if this guy is not actually worth millions of dollars?
- maxerickson 13y ago
  My point was more that wealthy, powerful people often don't even have the sort of privacy being talked about, it doesn't make sense to complain that their wealth and power would protect them.
- fleitz 13y ago
  Then he has to suffer through the horror and agony of having someone knock on his door, and having the police escort them off his property. I'm not sure if he'll fully recover from that kind of trauma.
  - 12345678987 13y ago
    > having someone knock on his door, and having the police escort them off his property. That's the worst that will happen to him. Oh wait, people have reason to think he has est.~400 million in bitcoins. But it's okay, I'm sure he'll recover from this (https://xkcd.com/538/ https://xkcd.com/538/) kind of trauma, too.
  - maaku 13y ago
    He has hundreds of millions of dollars in untraceable (if you know what you are doing) e-currency, protected only by keys presumably on his person, in his house, or otherwise nearby. It's unfortunately not uncommon for strangers to be killed over a few thousand dollars cash. Apparently professional hit men charge only a little more than that. Are you really suggesting that the worst he might endure is annoying reporters knocking at the door?

boyaka 13y ago

Why are you discussing Leah's article when this article is discussing something completely different (the fact that Leah's article is wrong)? You can go to the post of the Newsweek article and get a billion comments exactly like yours. It is pointless to keep harping about it in every related discussion...

declan 13y ago
Good point. The story now is whether Dorian == or != Satoshi. I think there's more evidence for != than ==.

declan 13y ago

> I don't think Leah McGrath Goodman and Newsweek did anything illegal I wouldn't be so sure. Both may be subject to tort liability if Dorian Nakamoto != Satoshi Nakamoto. See my tweet: https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960 https://twitter.com/declanm/status/441711365888040960 And a response by an attorney who works on Internet issues: https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281 https://twitter.com/SeanFlaim/status/441727448539873281

jsnk 13y ago
Thanks for the info. I do hope this man has a case against Newsweek.
waterlesscloud 13y ago
There's also the question of obtaining his email address through a merchant he did business with. That seems like it would be borderline illegal.
- nikcub 13y ago
  the entire story relied on pretexting. i'd love to see the email to the merchant, bet she didn't identify as a journalist.
  - fleitz 13y ago
    OMG she didn't identify as a journalist?!?1?!? That's it, it's a slam dunk case Newsweek is liable for bajillions of dollars. He sure didn't act like a secretively paranoid inventor of bitcoin. I bet newsweek would love to see his entire email history. He should probably sue them so he can see that email to the merchant and newsweek can read his entire email history, as well as subpoena various other people for their private emails with satoshi. This will be a winning legal strategy to protect his privacy.
gamblor956 13y ago
He has a colorable claim but no chance of winning. The founder of a cryptocurrency which now boasts of a >$1 billion market is legitimately a matter of the public interest, even if it's not the right guy. This principle has been established many times by people who were mistaken for criminal defendants (not always defendants with the same name), including the Boston U student who killed himself shortly before the Boston Marathon bombing.

dclowd9901 13y ago

You seem upset about this story, but as someone with no stake in Bitcorn or anything else related to this nonsense, I struggle to understand why you care so much who is outed as its creator?