Claims that Node Operators May be Charged with Serious Offences.

By @gummybadger for The Distributed Post

Some media outlets are having a field day claiming that Bitcoin will not just need to become illegal in nearly every jurisdiction across the planet, but that it already is illegal. They claim that anyone who has ever downloaded the full blockchain of Bitcoin could be prosecuted under international laws for having possession of and distributing data pertaining to the abuse of a minor. Admittedly, they don’t word it so accurately.

These headlines are sensational and misleading.

Cryptocurrency fear, uncertainty and doubt, they are quickly learning, brings in clicks and also viewership due to the masses of fresh and unexposed newcomers entering the cryptosphere. They haven’t seen the FUD cycle roll on, so they are a media advertising bonanza. Viewers will click on anything they think will give them some important information to help predict a market, especially if they think their investment is “ïn jeopardy”.

The result are headlines like below. They are exaggerated, hyperbolic, and full of misinformation.

The above news.com.au article is from an Australian based online news site. This article opens with the poignant paragraph…

"THE JUGGERNAUT THAT IS BITCOIN HAS BEEN ROCKED BY A CHILD PORN SCANDAL, AFTER ILLICIT CONTENT WAS FOUND IN ITS BLOCKCHAIN. RESEARCHERS IN GERMANY SIFTED THROUGH MORE THAN 1000 FILES IN THE LEDGER SYSTEM THAT PROVIDES THE BACKBONE FOR BITCOIN, AND DISCOVERED 99 PER CENT OF THEM CONTAINED HUNDREDS OF LINKS TO CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, AMONG OTHER OUTLAWED CONTENT."

Let’s look at those astonishing figures. 1000+ files, 99% of which contain hundreds of child pornography links. You’d be shocked!

Keep these figures in mind when we look at a more measured article by Cointelegraph. Let’s take a look at the story from a less hyperbolic, headline grabbing mentality.

Bitcoin’s design includes several methods to insert arbitrary, non-financial data into its blockchain in both intended and unintended ways. Augmenting transactions with short pieces of arbitrary data is beneficial for a wide array of applications. These range from superficial in value to the utmost importance to our very freedom. They include: to attest the existence of digital documents at a certain point of time as a digital notary service, to realize distributed digital rights management, adding identifiable voting flags to transactions enables miners to vote on proposed features, the archiving of historical data or censorship-resistant publication which helps protect whistleblowers or critical journalists.

There are also many risks associated with this open public ledger concept. These range from: copyright violations, malware, privacy violations, politically sensitive content, and the highly relevant matter of illegal and condemned content.

A joint study titled “A Quantitative Analysis of the Impact of Arbitrary Blockchain Content on Bitcoin” conducted by Germany’s Goethe and Aachen Universities found a total of eight files containing sexual content, 5 of which were mild in nature. The remaining 3 are said to be “Objectionable for almost all jurisdictions”.

According to the Cointelegraph article they are dead links. They no longer provide access to any illegal material.

Could the vast number of people that have downloaded the blockchain really be prosecuted? The simple logistics of rounding up and prosecuting 10,000 node owners, seems a bit disproportionate given that it is highly unlikely the node operators would have the required technical capability or the resources to access this data due to the high difficulty in decoding it.

(Please continue reading this article at The Distributed Post)(https://thedistributedpost.com/2018/03/26/claims-that-node-operators-may-be-charged-with-serious-offenses/)