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On 2016-03-23 23:08, spike wrote:<br>
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<pre><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:windowtext">Bitcoin hipsters please: while I was camping, I heard a Hollywood hospital was hacked and its files held for ransom. It paid a fraction of the demand, but did it in bitcoin. Is this true? If so, does not bitcoin enable kidnapping? And would not it create special opportunity targets of the families of people known to hold bitcoins?<o:p></o:p></span></pre>
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Yup, Hollywood Presbyterian was hit by ransomware:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/15/ransomware_scum_tear_up_tinsel_town_hospital_demand_record_36m/">http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/02/15/ransomware_scum_tear_up_tinsel_town_hospital_demand_record_36m/</a><br>
And now a hospital in Kentucky got hit the same way:<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/03/kentucky-hospital-hit-by-ransomware-attack/">http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/03/kentucky-hospital-hit-by-ransomware-attack/</a><br>
<br>
It is the (relative) untraceability of bitcoin that makes it useful
for this kind of attack. Kidnappers and extortionists have always
had trouble getting payment to work, but using digital money and
software that act as smart contracts this has become much easier.
The problem was discussed by Tim May and the other
ur-cryptoanarchists on this very list back in the paleozoic 1990s. I
recently reviewed that work for my paper on assassination technology
(assassination markets were one of the "classic" dark ideas, and
have actually been realized sort of - they likely do not work, but
people have set up darknet markets for it). It is an interesting
problem for independent cryptocurrencies and smart contract systems
to avoid being too useful for this kind of crime. <br>
<br>
(Also overheard today: a friend suggesting to Robin that he was
Satoshi. Robin argued that he would have used Lisp instead of C.)<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Anders Sandberg
Future of Humanity Institute
Oxford Martin School
Oxford University</pre>
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