CarelessDotData: 'The state is not going to do dastardly things' with your privates

This was the week when MtGox - Bitcoin exchange extraordinaire - had a major meltdown. The digital currency exchange shut up shop, which its website suggested was because it was about to be acquired, but documents circulating the internet said had something to do with the alleged theft of 750,000 Bitcoins worth millions of …

[Suricou Raven]

Conspiracy theories.

I'm expecting some people to argue that the NSA/CIA/GCHQ/Other 'got to' the writer and pressured him into helping with some character assassination. A month ago, I'd have dismissed these as paranoid ramblings. After all the recent revelations though, about the NSA's policy of manipulating online debate and deliberately spreading stories attacking those they believe hostile to US interests? I'd consider such accusations entirely plausible.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Conspiracy theories.

I'd consider such accusations entirely plausible.

I don't. Two more likely explanations:

- The ghostwriter wasn't paid much, or has yet to be paid from revenues that never materialised.

- Assange(™) IS as described, which, given how he has been behaving, is not an unrealistic assumption.

These explanations are not mutually exclusive, so I suspect it's actually both...

[Al fazed]

Talk about smoke screens

Whether those untrustworthy bastards are intending to do dodgy stuff with the data or not, doesn't really come into it from where I am standing.

Why ?

Well the first premise of useful data is that the data is actually correct and secondly, it must be comprehensive. The appropriate saying here goes, "Garbage in, garbage out." if I remember correctly.

Well as far as I am aware, most of my cannabis smoking friends have never told their GP or dentist or anyone else, that they smoke cannabis like a trooper, daily, and some of 'em do do other "things" - at the weekend (honest) which shall remain nameless for the sake of the NSA and GCHQ peeps reading this. As these are "chemicals", it seems to me that knowledge of such stuff should fall within the scope of what the NHS might consider "useful" information. But, if none of this data ever enters into that soddin' big fuckoff database that they are planning to exfiltrate to their mates in Insurance and "legal" drug industry sectors, I ask, "What fucking use will the data be ?"

I expect that the cogniscenti amongst you will have the same answer as me.

So UK Tax payers fork (off) out a few more sheckells for a Go vermin led datascrape that will have one of at least two possible outcomes, (1) the information gleened from said data will produce information that is a load of crap, or (2) the intended "Buyers" will assume that the data is, er, "incomplete" and consequently not worth a US cent.

If you consider that in many US States currently, cannabis is no longer illegal, therefore you can mention it to your doctor and he can write you a prescription for some Accupulco Gold or whatever. Yet here we are still under the sway of the J Edgar Hoover belief that smoking tobacco is much better for you and smoking cannabis will ultimately lead to the end of your professional career.

The whole idea is a lot of nonsense, designed only to fill the exceptionally deep pockets of our corrupt govermins mates, ie; tha same ones who regularly build Information Systems wot don't work for our wonderful UK Over lards.....

Give me a break. ALF