Hearn's discourse is disingenous at best. From a forum thread in
reaction to this today:

"""
Cryptolocker is not Bitcoin's issue any more than it's Ford's issue if a
bank robber drives off in one of models.

If somebody should be thrown under the bus here it should be Microsoft
for being unable or unwilling to build secure operating systems.

Anyone who says they are worried about Cryptolocker's effect on Bitcoin
adoption is lying. By every objective measure: transaction rate,
blockchain.info wallets, frequency of conferences, exchange rate, etc,
growth is exponential and shows not the slightest sign of being
negatively affected by Cryptolocker.

This idea of a Cryptolocker backlash is a fake problem used to scare the
community into accepting a compromise that's against their best
interests. These plans have been in the works for years, as evidenced on
this very forum, and the proponents have just been waiting for a
suitable excuse the put their plans into effect.
"""

As for the kidnappings and executions, we already have models for that:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_market



On 11/15/2013 09:47 AM, Caleb James DeLisle wrote:
> I gave this a read and I think there is a very important point which people are missing.
> To his credit, Mike Hearn has a very good point, I identified this earlier on as the curse
> of Bitcoin. We are in an interesting period in history because for the first time, large
> scale ransom attacks are profitable. It doesn't by any means have to end with malware.
> I fear as time goes on, we will begin to see high profile kidnappings and executions
> because unlike anything we have seen before, Bitcoin makes people able to receive money
> without needing to be physically nearby to pick up the cash nor with any ability to freeze
> assets or reverse transactions.
>
> Greg Maxwell also has a very good point, if this blacklisting begins to affect the
> fungibility of Bitcoin, it will have a disastrous impact on the entire Bitcoin system,
> possibly even leading to it's demise.
>
> The traceability of Bitcoin has been long known and used in detection of crime. If you
> steal 10,000 BTC and sell it on mtgox, you may find yourself being asked a few questions.
> This is as it should be and this narrow control is the only thing standing between us and
> a Bitcoin fueled crime wave. If traceability begins to damage the fungibility of Bitcoin
> itself, there is a much darker and more evil possibility. There has been a certain amount
> of research into absolutely anonymous Bitcoin replacements. This research has been largely
> stalled simply because there is not enough interest in anonymity but the people have
> tasted a fungible transferable asset and that genie will not be put back in it's bottle.
>
> A world where kidnap and ransom works 100% of the time sounds like something out of a
> post-apocalyptic sci-fi novel. Everybody would have to hide their wealth because if they
> were known to have assets they would be targeted by the gangs. This is not even a world
> I would want to live in, let alone create, but the people working on these blacklist
> proposals seem blind to the pandora's box with which they are playing.
>
> Bitcoin will, as I have long predicted, last until it is replaced by something better.
> It is up to us to define what is better and I sincerely hope better doesn't mean
> "optimized for criminals".
>
>
> Thanks,
> Caleb
>
>
>
> On 11/15/2013 12:02 AM, molecular wrote:
>> On 11/13/2013 11:15 PM, Justus Ranvier wrote:
>>> http://bitcoinism.blogspot.com/2013/11/is-it-time-to-boycott-all-us-bitcoin.html
>>>
>> it's truly sickening.
>>
>> http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1qmbtu/mike_hearn_chair_of_the_bitcoin_foundations_law/
>>
>> I've been trying to calm the waves up to this point... don't know how long I can keep my calm.
>>
>>
>>
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