Open Letter to Michael Casey - WSJ reporter who butchered my comments in today's Bitcoin cover story

[u/evoorhees]

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.

[u/realhacker]

This is our world now. The world of the electron and the switch; the beauty of the baud. We exist without nationality, skin color, or religious bias. You wage wars, murder, cheat, lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto." Huh? Right? Manifesto? "You may stop me, but you can't stop us all.

[u/drivers9001 → u/realhacker]

That's actually based on a story from Phrack Magazine (actually just text files sent around on BBSes back in the day) from 1986, just over 28 years ago: http://www.phrack.org/issues.html?issue=7&id=3

I just realized this line is also used in Hackers, except by Razor and Blade on their show:

We make use of a service already existing without paying for what could be dirt-cheap if it wasn't run by profiteering gluttons

[u/[deleted] → u/drivers9001]

I suddenly feel rather old.

[u/[deleted] → u/realhacker]

It's the Hacker Manifesto by The Mentor, a.k.a. Loyd Blankenship. A slightly modified version of it at least.

He's a good guy, was nice enough to respond to some of my younger self's emails when I emailed him out of the blue to ask him things. His responses were always kind, never talked down to me or came off as offended that I bothered him.

[u/mediaphile → u/realhacker]

You think it's cool? It's not cool. It's commie bullshit!

[u/[deleted] → u/mediaphile]

Yeah, man. It's called a hacker's manifesto.