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?"

Comments

Personal Details

[Anonymous Coward]

Outing anybody without their permission, especially in circumstances such as where someone has done nothing wrong is incredibly unethical.

Re:Personal Details

[Raumkraut]

Thought experiment: Remember that guy at Tiananmen Square? If you're not Chinese, you probably know who I mean. Would you consider it "ethical" for an American newspaper to publicise his new identity, location, family, etc.?
What if it then turns out that wasn't the guy after all? Do you consider it "ethical" to publicise all the details about some random citizen, and - at the very best - turn their life upside down, just because some journalist thinks they're probably someone important, due to finding some circumstantial evidence?

"In the public interest" is not the same thing as "interesting to the public".

Considering that the story is apparently wrong

[_xeno_]

Considering that apparently they didn't actually discover the "real" Satoshi Nakamoto after all, I'd have to go with "no, they shouldn't have revealed anything."

Even if it's accurate

[Rick in China]

Which it doesn't seem to be... I think it's absolutely wrong to out someone who is actively trying to remain out of the spotlight - publishing personal information or photos without their permission. It's very different if it's a wanna-be famous actor or singer or whatever, a loud outspoken public figure type, then -- fair game -- but a recluse? Let people have some f'in privacy, ffs.

Abhorent

[rahvin112]

I found the story abhorent. Them showing up on his porch and confronting him as he was coming through the door with cameras like he's some criminal was equally disgusting.

He's not famous, he's not a public figure, he's just some random guy they wrote a big story about and then confronted him like he's a movie star and they were paparazzi scum. I think newsweek and the people involved should burn in hell for what they did. When I read the story and saw the photo's and video I almost gagged at the complete lack of any kind of morals the people involved have for doing this. I will not be offering them any kind of future business because of this. Just like I don't frequent TMZ because of their paparazzi BS, I won't be reading NewsWeek anymore.

No of course not

[Crashmarik]

It's really not even a question that should have to be asked. Here is a man who wasn't seeking the limelight and this idiot reporter stole something from him he will never be able to fully recover.

NO

[jmd]

As Eleanor Roosevelt said: Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
Lets get back to discussing Bitcoin..... the idea.

Re:But He Isn't

[TechyImmigrant]

> shouldn't a good researcher have looked into that?

What makes you think she's a good researcher? She writes for Newsweek for Christ's sake.

Re:But He Isn't

[darkain]

No real way to verify it, but there is a surefire way to discredit it!

https://twitter.com/mikko/stat...

Re:But He Isn't

[wonkey_monkey]

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?

Oblig Monty Python

[OutOnARock]

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!!!

Re:But He Isn't

[JaredOfEuropa]

Coincidences happen. There's a guy sharing my first and last name (my last name is very uncommon; it's spelled in an unusual way), went to the same university and faculty, and wrote his master's thesis on a subject close to my line of study. He's about my age, too. People often mistake us on LinkedIn, and I get asked sometimes about certain papers he wrote (he remained in academia). Sometimes it takes some effort to convince people that I am not the other guy.

I'm just glad he's not a criminal... or founder of a cryptocurrency.