Re: [tlug] [OT] Mt.Gox Debacle. Please Comment.

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

Benjamin Tayehanpour writes:
 > On 27 February 2014 11:53, Ulrike Schmidt <ulrike@example.com> wrote:

 > > Interesting, the people I see it promoting over here in Berlin seem to
 > > me to be politically far away from the right, rather more to the left,
 > > not criminal, and technically very fit.
 > 
 > I share this observation in Sweden. More left than not-left, not
 > criminal in any traditional sense of the word, and technically au
 > fait. Turnbull's the odd one out, how extraordinary!

Simon is correct (and his analysis is kanpeki), I should have used the
more precise "libertarian" rather than "far right".  I was misled by
my birth place (where the terms are not too far from equivalent) and
my home (where native libertarianism doesn't exist).

The libertarian ideal in question is "freedom from big banks",
although the logic is typically different on the left and the right.

But leaving politics aside and getting back marginally on topic:

As for "technically fit", be *very* careful there.  There's a huge
difference between the technology of computers, and the technology of
computer security.  I know very few that I would trust to help build a
site like Mt.Gox for me (including an unfortunately large proportion
of programmers and admins with security responsibilities :-( ).  The
scariest part is that they rarely know how much they don't know.

Specifically, I bet most of the folk you're talking about can cite
chapter and verse on the security of the "Bitcoin protocol", but few
of them have investigated the defenses of the exchanges they use, and
few keep their Bitcoin on CDs in a fireproof strongbox embedded in a
ton of concrete.  (I also wonder how much money they actually have
invested in Bitcoin -- remember it's more interesting what percentage
of Bitcoin is used illicitly than what percentage of Bitcoin users use
it illicitly.)

People talk on TV about how Mt.Gox was unforgivably sloppy.  But in
fact to someone with the security mindset[1], it takes only a cursory
inspection of information easily available on the Internet to realize
that they were *not* competent when they started, that there is *no*
recourse if they snafu, and therefore it is crucial to investigate
carefully before trusting them with your real money.  Oops, too late
... all of that is past tense now ...

Missing-Chris-very-muchly-y'rs,

Steve


Footnotes: 
[1]  Even at my apprentice level.  I wouldn't trust me to build a
secure site, for sure, but I least I know that.<wink/>