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Should Newsweek Have Outed Satoshi Nakamoto's Personal Details?

Nerval's Lobster writes "Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman spent months tracking down the mysterious founder of Bitcoin, "Satoshi Nakamoto," a name that everybody seemed to believe was a pseudonym for either a single individual or a shadowy collective of programmers. If Satoshi Nakamoto, former government contractor and model-train enthusiast, is actually "Satoshi Nakamoto," Bitcoin founder, then he's sitting atop hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-currency. Does the article's exhaustive listing of Nakamoto's personal details place his security at risk? Many in the Bitcoin community think so, and poured onto the Web to express that opinion. The Newsweek article has raised some interesting questions about the need for thorough journalism versus peoples' right to privacy. For example, should Goodman have posted an image of Nakamoto's house and car, even though information about both would probably be relatively simple to find online, anyway?"

4 of 276 comments (clear)

  1. Re:But He Isn't by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    She writes for Newsweek for Christ's sake.

    And there was me thinking He just wanted us to live a good life and be nice to our neighbours. Who knew?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  2. Re:But He Isn't by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Could be a triple bluff: he picked some random name in the phone book so that people would think he's that guy trying to double-bluff them.

  3. Oblig Monty Python by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Brian: I am not the messiah!!!

    Crowd: Only the true messiah would deny he is the messiah.

    Brian: Ok, I'm the messiah!

    Crowd: HE'S THE MESSIAH!!!

  4. Oblig Monty Python by OutOnARock · · Score: 5, Funny

    Brian: I am not the messiah!

    Crowd: Only the true messiah would deny he is the messiah.

    Brian: Ok, I'm the messiah.

    Crowd: HE'S THE MESSIAH!!!