[ExI] Bitcoins Again

[Eugen Leitl]

On Wed, May 15, 2013 at 07:37:43AM -0700, spike wrote:

> It is dawning on America now that the list that really matters is the IRS
> enemies list.  The 16th amendment carries absolutely no limits to power that
> I can see.  We have the IRS targeting libertarians, and now both parties are
> flapping about, saying what an abuse of power is this.  But no one can show
> me in the constitution where it says the IRS is not allowed to audit anyone
> anytime for any reason.  The 16th amendment functionally overpowers the bill
> of rights, assuming you actually earn anything.  Using bitcoin will likely
> put you on the IRS's radar, and they have constitutionally unlimited powers.

Bitcoin isn't money (neither is gold, according to Bernanke), 
so as long as you don't cash out I don't see how IRS can be 
interested in virtual pet rocks.

And of course just because somebody decides to confiscate
your computer (hardware is cheap, if your data is in your
own cloud you can travel with a clean slate) it doesn't
mean that they can access your data.

Sure, in UK they can lock you up just because you can't
prove that something is not encrypted and not just a dump
from /dev/urandom and you can't prove that you don't have
a key.