You really, really should not have said that. It will probably come back to bite you. Even if it doesn't, why even take the risk in making a statement like that in today's climate?

I've gone beyond the point where any given act of self-censorship is more beneficial than speaking the truth of the situation.

My position: over the next few generations, adoption of decentralized technology will result in an enormously more peaceful and prosperous humanity then the centrally-controlled alternative. If we take the path of reliance on systems that are controlled by a few powerful organizations then we are at their mercy. The alternatives must exist for those who want to opt out.

I can obviously be accused of naivety, but if I'm open about my motives and my expectations it seems less likely to be accused of malicious intent.

Good luck, you’re really going to need it!

Hey now. Let's not shame people for speaking truth to power. This is a great forum for it.

Why?

Having only a handful of companies in the world exerting enormous control over online commerce is dangerous. The amount of data they control is staggering, especially when combined with data collected from other centralized platforms (social media, the banking system, government surveillance).

I don't like needing to ask permission to use those platforms in order to engage in something as fundamental as commerce. Alternatives need to exist, and OpenBazaar is the alternative to the tightly monitored and controlled online marketplaces.

The world needs a protocol and network for trade that no one company or government controls. That's OpenBazaar.

These corporations are so huge, because you buy stuff from them. That is the only reason. You bought and still buy stuff from them, because you preferred convenience and cheap stuff to integrity. Now they've grown so huge there is no way to control them. We will pay the price now, thanks.

We don't need another child-porn and weapons distribution channel.

The question is: can a distributed system match the value Amazon's service provides to the consumer?

Just because Amazon sucks, does not mean we need to retreat into full-on anarchy over this. Craigslist is also a marketplace and it isn't the behemoth Amazon is.

Also, Amazon provides a lot more than just a market-place. Everything from "inventory tracking to tax collection to credit card processing". These are no trivial features.

You could have started a regular, centralised, open market-place - by the community, for the community type of deal - and get the same benefits. Of course, selling "medicine" would be difficult.. but we all know that is not what this is about, right?

What about a network that people could control, but not governments or corporations? That's a technical challenge if I ever saw one.

That's true in the same sense that no one controls the internet.

People can control their own portion of the network, they can ban peers and report listings to search engine providers. They can create a custom client that will only see certain types of listings.

Distributed networks aren't a new phenomenon, no one controls them either. If someone could control them they they wouldn't be distributed anymore.

There are ideas for governance systems (voting or other mechanisms), but if the network is permissionless then there's really no way to have an effective governance system (that I'm aware of).

Also we monitor the network and the overwhelming majority is legal trade. If that changed at some point then it might be a different question.

That manner of legislative and regulatory flout is a heat-seeking company missile, and can only end with your eventual incarceration.

Abort thread. Talk to lawyer about further HN commentary. Your discussion here is plainly legally actionable by any investors concerned about your fiduciary responsibilities, and this page will almost certainly be printed out as an exhibit in several legal proceedings, some potentially criminal. I appreciate and respect the change you’re trying to drive, where you’re coming from, and your optimism, but you really, really need to understand the peril you’re in, as unfortunate as it is.

I’m dead serious. DPR got life without parole. They’re not messing around.

Repeat after me: I have no knowledge of illegal activity taking place on the platform, and condemn it.

FWIW and don't take it personally, but i do hope you are wrong and overreacting.

In fact, they are still thrown away from society. Just in a slower manner. That's some progress anyway.

See: literal millions of people marching in S Korean streets in recent years because their gov was corrupt.

Has anyone ever been prosecuted for making software, or using it, that was used by another in the commission of a crime? Perhaps there is existing law related to people who write and release software that was intended only for malicious use that could extended.

In the crypto/ICO space, the people getting into hot water have charges related to violation of finance and securities law.

Are you serious?

Yeah, he’s going to prison, but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong about the potential value of his platform, and it doesn’t mean his motives aren’t good. It probably does mean that idealism is a shitty defense in court though.

No he's not.

As I said in another comment, as far as I know, as long as they don't host any nodes with illegal content, they shouldn't get in trouble just for publishing the protocol, the client protocol and p2p servers code. Otherwise, the inventors of tcp/ip, http, bittorrent, telnet and more would be in prison. And no, just saying "I'm ok with people using it for evil" is not a reason to go to jail, 1st amendment comes into play here. Now, if they start relaying nodes with CP on it, even by accident, that's a difference story of course. My guess is that their software comes with only their safe node on it and people will use search engines to get nodes addresses with CP on them. If anything, this will give more work and trouble to Google, not OpenBazaar.

And like Tor, it's primarily a framework.

If I were doing it, I'd rather be anonymous. But then, I'm just very cautious.

If you're "anonymous" they could just charge you not just for your words in public, but for awful reasons and nobody will stand for you since you're just overall ciminal.

I'm going with the "be famous or be afraid" school of thought of your parent comment.

They did. The piratebay default search engine allowed people to find illegal content. That's why they got in trouble. If Google Chrome default search engine had CP and drugs on it, they'd get into trouble too. Anyone can use chrome to find CP but Google is ok because they don't enable it by default. As long as OpenBazaar default search engine does not contain anything illegal and forces people to use a different search engine to find illegal stuff, they will not get into trouble.

I don't think you're able or willing to delist content right?

I mean, this is damning: Illegality and immorality are different, and - speaking personally - I don't have an issue with the platform used for moral but illegal uses.

It does not just matter that something CAN be used for evil, it matters how likely it WILL be used for evil.

The nice thing about decentralization is that it forces government to be more surgical in their enforcement. State actors have all the tools necessary to identify and target individual bad actors. You have to be a real champion not to leak data or make a mistake over time. Bitcoin, for example, is much harder to hide than cash. In centralized systems it's just easier to be lazy and implement mass surveillance and absolute control - which a lot of people in the community disagree with.

Terrorism for example barely exists, and barely ever existed, but massive apparatuses that infringe on the liberties of billions of people have been implemented in the name of it.

Child porn, chemical/radioactive weapons trading, and assassination requests are the big 3 often cited - but really these too barely exist, and nations have more than enough resources to counter them with precision.

Where can I read about the Objectivist FBI phase?

Strictly speaking, that is marketing hyperbole on their part as the world already has a lot of protocols and networks for trade that no one company or government controls, otherwise stuff like international mail would have problems.