Snowden, narcs and Swedish chips: Bitcoin loves them all

Published On June 28, 2013 at 16:16 BST | By John Law. Welcome to the CoinDesk Weekly Review 28th June 2013 — a regular look at the hottest, most controversial and thought-provoking events in the world of digital currency through the eyes of skepticism and wonder. Your host … John Law.
The name’s Hill. Benny Hill.

Secrets ain’t what they used to be. A spook of John Law’s acquaintance used to have the James Bond theme as their ringtone; after Edward Snowden’s traipse around the world, skipping merrily out of reach of the CIA, NSA and GCHQ, it’s probably been replaced by Benny Hill.

For those who like to peer into the future of bitcoin, though, the whole episode has been a lesson in quite why cryptocurrency solves a real need – the best, although not the only, way to tell whether an invention will succeed. In this case, the problem is simple logic. Snowden’s revelations show that the security services are very capable and happy to snoop on millions of people and especially those they categorise as aiding terrorism. In return, the authorities have branded Snowden an ally of terrorism. So, if you want to give Snowden practical support and the spooks find out, what does that do to the chances of ending up in the wrong sort of database? - Read more here: http://www.coindesk.com/snowden-narcs-and-swedish-chips-bitcoin-loves-them-all