自由主义者和无政府主义者将比特币视为充分体现互联网免费精神和几乎不受法规监管的先锋，但是比特币同样存在邪恶的一面。比特币的秘密是独一无二的，它超越了网络犯罪的范畴，对于现实社会来说，人们往往不能理解其中的奥秘，从而无法预估这个互联网时代产物带给我们的威胁。
前不久“丝绸之路”网站遭受DDoS攻击而下线成为众多媒体关注的头条。“丝绸之路”是一个基于互联网的黑市，交易者以匿名的身份购买各种各样的非法商品。该网站建立在一个黑暗网络上，只能通过洋葱头进行访问。
最吸引人的地方还不是那些商品，而是交易货币——既不是美金，也不是欧元，而是比特币。比特币是一种分散的电子货币，完全不受任何政府的控制和干预。最近，比特币交易价格高达260美金，经过一次震荡之后，价格又跌到150美金一个。自由主义者和无政府主义者将比特币视为充分体现互联网免费精神和几乎不受法规监管的先锋，但是比特币同样存在邪恶的一面。
很多网络盗窃行为从比特币——这个“加密的货币”获得灵感，这些网络犯罪分子入侵计算机偷窃关键的数据，通过比特币来销赃。比特币的秘密是独一无二的，它超越了网络犯罪的范畴，对于现实社会来说，人们往往不能理解其中的奥秘，从而无法预估这个互联网时代产物带给我们的威胁。
举例来说，想想比特币对国家和国际的反洗钱工作的破坏吧。对于反洗钱来说，法律用来阻止犯罪、恐怖和其他类似行为之间的资金流转。但是这些法律依赖国家与国家、网络与网络之间切实的现金交易证据（或极少数银行银行间的划账）。然而，比特币的规定却减少了洗钱行为被发现的风险。
依托类似Mt.Gox这样的交易平台，犯罪分子可以以市价购买比特币，然后以较高的价格贩卖到其他地方，运作金钱交换生意。即便在比特币价格不景气的时候，他们同样可以通过匿名的P2P网络进行金钱交换。
“丝绸之路”赋予了比特币更为黑暗的色彩。尽管根据该网站当前的规定，不允许交易诸如被盗的信用卡、炸药等具有破坏性的商品，允许销售类似商品网站的出现不过是时间问题。到那时，西方社会枪支控制的法律将成为一纸空文。枪支可以被拆解为零件，通过邮政系统快递到买家手里。甚至像炸药这样的原料都可以买到。
如何通过法律的手段阻止上述情况的发生呢？最简单也是最有效的方法就是在其市场和渠道成熟之前就取缔掉。也许类似“丝绸之路”这样的“黑暗网络”不太容易取缔，但是军火交易网站相对来说比较容易被渗透和肢解。
第二种手段是管理电子货币交易。制定法律来规定银行的交易，以及通过政府和私营企业的一致行动将比特币驱逐出货币交易市场。其实很简单，只要规定银行拒绝比特币的交易就可以了。即便比特币仍旧可以交易，但是这种交易是单向的，即只能流出，不能再流入银行系统即可。
最后的办法是扩大各国警察在国内和国外网络上的权力。虽然公众对政府染指互联网通信有一种发自内心的厌恶，但是最终安全的获益较一定成本的自由来说要大的多。
不管怎样，不能再放任基于互联网商业系统的野蛮生长，相应的法律法规必须要跟上了。
Source: Shadow currency: how Bitcoin can finance terrorism
This week, the “underground” website known as “the Silk Road” made headlines when a DDoS attack brought the website’s servers crashing down. The Silk Road is known as the black market of the internet, a site where the anonymous browser can obtain a wide range of illegal substances. The site is accessible only through a Tor network (a software protocol that reroutes traffic through hundreds of servers and computers to conceal identities).
Most interestingly enough, the Silk Road’s transactions are not in dollars or euros, but in Bitcoins. Bitcoins are a decentralized electronic currency that is free from government control or interference. Recently, Bitcoins have traded as high as $260 USD, before a crash brought them back down to roughly $150 USD per coin. Libertarians and anarchists hail Bitcoin as the herald of a free, internet-based economy with minimal regulatory interference, but Bitcoin has a potentially sinister side as well.
This “crypto-currency” has already been the inspiration for several online robberies where cyber-thieves hack into a computer to steal the vital electronic information at the heart of Bitcoins. Beyond cyber-larceny, the secrecy of Bitcoin poses unique, and even frightening security challenges for a world that has yet to fully understand the problems posed by the internet age.
For example, consider the various national and international anti-money laundering statutes. These laws seek to prevent the illegal flow of currency between criminals, terrorists and other unsavory characters. But these laws require that there are actual shipments of cash between countries and criminal networks (or at the very least funds transfers between banks).
The Bitcoin protocol promises to remove the fundamental risk in money laundering: the risk of interception and detection. By using a monetary exchange like Mt.Gox, criminals can buy Bitcoins at the market rate and then they can sell to a confederate across the world at a higher price, effectuating the exchange of money. Even if Bitcoin performs poorly, it nevertheless provides an opportunity to exchange money via the anonymous P2P network.
The Silk Road can make Bitcoin even more insidious. While the Silk Road, as site policy, forbids the sale of destructive items (stolen credit cards, explosives, etc.), it could be a matter of time before a similar website arises. Then, the firearms laws of the Western world will become virtually useless. Guns can be disassembled, and their parts shipped piecemeal through the postal service. Even substances like Tannerite could be bought and shipped across the globe, providing new opportunities for destructive capacity. If this alone is not enough to compel attention to the growing black market on cyberspace, consider the following.
Bitcoin can make security and law enforcement measures less effective by simply removing the possibility of detection. Terrorist cells or lone wolf operators can get supplies and currency by using the anonymous underbelly of the internet. Government agents are able to detect terrorists through logistical networks (Usama bin Laden was found through his courier). Counter-terrorism, for better or worse, succeeds when it hashumannetworks to exploit. Terrorists need accomplices, handlers, recruits, and suppliers. Sooner or later, one of the individuals in this vast network becomes frightened or disillusioned with the cause and becomes a government informant. Remove the extended logistical network that exposes terrorists to investigation at a critical juncture (where their plans are neither theoretical nor well-supplied enough to implement) and there may be grievous results.
So what legal paths can be utilized to make sure such a development does not occur? The easiest and most effective way to deal with this threat is to make sure that it never comes into fruition. The Silk Road is difficult to take down given its place within the “Deep Internet”, but an arms-trading counterpart may be more susceptible to infiltration and dismemberment.
The second option spells doom for electronic currencies. Much like domestic laws that flag large banking transactions, governments and the private sector can collude to run Bitcoin out of the currency market. Simply put, laws could be passed that force banks to reject bitcoin transactions. Thus, even if Bitcoins continue to be traded, there is no way to turn them back into real currency. The final approach would require nations to expand the police power of domestic and foreign intelligence agencies on the web. While there is a visceral aversion to government personnel infiltrating internet communications, the ultimate security benefits may outweigh the cost to certain freedoms.
Bitcoin promises to usher in a new age in economic development. Ultimately, Bitcoin’s founder Satoshi could try this grand experiment again if Bitcoin fails. Regardless of what may happen, the raw power of internet-based economic systems is not going away any time soon. It is now time that the law catches up.
Photo Credit: bradipo
留言评论（旧系统）：