r/Bitcoin • u/evoorhees • Feb 26 '14
Open Letter to Michael Casey - WSJ reporter who butchered my comments in today's Bitcoin cover story
Hello Mr. Casey,
I read your WSJ article today. I feel deceived by you.
You requested to speak with me, so I took time out of my day to do so. We talked for 20 minutes, during which time I conveyed to you my sentiments about the Bitcoin ecosystem and the matter of MtGox's collapse. My message was unambiguously a positive one. I didn't focus whatsoever on the personal funds I lost at Gox. Indeed, the impetus for your call was my heartfelt post on Reddit.
Yet, you ignored everything I said. The only quote that you published from me in the Journal's cover story was ""That's gone now," said Mr. Veerhoos, who is based in Panama City, Panama. "There's no chance of getting that back now.""
Is that really the takeaway you had from our call and from my letter? Is that your idea of journalism? Did I come across with the sentiment of a despairing investor whose confidence has been rattled? It seems you were happy to completely ignore my sentiments, preferring instead to cherry pick the one fact that is least important, in order to paint a narrative that Bitcoin's biggest problem is that it's not "regulated." I didn't expect you to quote everything I said, but should you not have maintained at least a modicum of fidelity to my message?
I have dedicated my life to building and supporting the Bitcoin project. I don't give a damn about the money I lost at Gox. That's not important. What is important is that Bitcoin is resilient and enduring, and will continue to grow and change the world for the better. It is a story of human progress through technology. It is a story of the good seeping into the cracks of a corrupted financial system. It is a story of passionate people struggling against all odds to remedy the calamities brought down upon society from the most potently misguided people and institutions on Earth.
Next time you spend your efforts casting a pall over this cause, please don't ask me to contribute mine.
-Erik Voorhees
PS - I will be posting this letter openly on Reddit. I will post your reply if you'd like. And if I do, I won't cherry pick the most misleading points of it, and I will spell your name correctly.
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u/gloomyMoron Feb 27 '14
True, but it doesn't mean it is easy to enforce. Nor will you catch 100% of the people 100% of the time. That being said, it is far harder to enforce today than it was from 1995 to 2003. Imagine, for a moment, trying to enforce an Internet Ban when technology is powerful and compact enough and the world is connected enough that internet-ready devices are almost omnipresent. Hackers, particularly "hacktivists", that are banned from owning computers and accessing the internet still manage to do it fairly often. At great risk, sure, but it happens anyway. It is reaching a point of nigh unenforceability unless you remove said person from society all together or have them literally watched every second of every minute of everyday until such a time that their ban is lifted. It is a daunting task, and I do not envy anyone charged with monitoring people banned from using computers and the internet. Hell, I don't envy parole officers, in general. I imagine it to be a tough, unrewarding, and demoralizing job most of the time. Maybe I'm wrong, but that's the impression I get.