USTR's Anti-Transparency Rules For TAFTA/TTIP Documents Published

US Marshals Have A Classic CC/BCC Error And Reveal Bidders For Silk Road's Bitcoins

from the protecting-your-privacy dept

Thu, Jun 19th 2014 8:33pm — Mike Masnick

Oh those wacky US Marshals. As you may have heard, they recently began to auction off the Bitcoins seized when Silk Road was shut down (though, some may argue it's a little early given that the trial over the site hasn't happened yet). However, the US Marshals then pulled off one of the oldest email errors around, including the list of possible bidders in the "cc:" field instead of the "bcc:" field. This is like a 1990s-era mistake. The Marshal Service has apologized, noting that the email was just sent to people who had emailed in questions about the auction (so, not necessarily bidders), but it still seems like a pretty big faux pas.

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Filed Under: auction, bitcoin, bitcoins, email, privacy, silk road, us marshals

16 Comments

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That One Guy (profile), 19 Jun 2014 @ 7:18pm

A little early?

Trial hasn't even happened yet and they're already diving up the spoils as though the guilty verdict had already been handed out, no guesses how the ruling on that one is going to go, no matter what evidence or lack thereof gets provided.
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- Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2014 @ 8:49pm
  
  Re:
  'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.
  
  'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first�verdict afterwards.'
  
  'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!'
  
  'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.
  
  'I won't!' said Alice.
  
  'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.
  
  �� Lewis Caroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, 1865
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- monkyyy, 19 Jun 2014 @ 9:08pm
  
  Re:
  Its news that the state makes a huge profit off "evidence" stealing?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2014 @ 3:15am
    
    Re: Re:
    That's nothing, you should have seen how high they get off the other things they seize.
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zip, 19 Jun 2014 @ 8:57pm

a contest we could do without
It seems like the US Marshals don't want to give the IRS an easy win in this week's episode of the most incompetent federal agency contest.
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J Edgar, 19 Jun 2014 @ 9:21pm

Who I fear most
Who do I fear most? Criminals with badges. Government isn't even trying to keep the illusion of freedom and democracy going anymore. Actually, it's not really fear, it's anger, and that's bad news for them when a just a few million of us finally tire of eating sh#t...and I can tell you first hand, it's a hell of lot more than people realize. We have no real representation and LE routinely robs and murders the people with paid vacations as punishment. Winter is coming.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Jun 2014 @ 10:05pm

This auction is so funny. It is obvious about collecting names. I believe the Marshal service thinks these coins are virtual game money from a real life Zelda drug adventure. In San Jose, Calif. the cops used to sell hydroponic kits during the spring and hope to get some busts in the fall. LMAO
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- GEMont (profile), 20 Jun 2014 @ 3:28pm
  
  Re:
  In Vancouver, Canada, its long been policy to arrest hemp growers and then immediately release them after taking their gear, pot and money, so that the cops can bust them again in 3 months time. Its probably the Vancouver cops' best un-taxable, unrecorded income source.
  
  Let's face it folks. The Government and its agencies are simply the biggest and richest "gangs" in town.
  
  They stopped battling the MAFIA once they discovered they could make more money by partnering up with them.
  
  Politics is the slickest form of Organized Crime, because, its legal.
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Tired, 19 Jun 2014 @ 11:16pm

They don't have to prove them anything. The bitcoin wallet was seized in connection with a drug raid. Therefore they are seized goods and federal seizure laws apply. Even if they are found innocent, even if it were proven they were accused falsely in the first place, the government would cite felony seizure laws, shrug and say "Sucks to be you, citizen."

This is corruption in our government. A violation of the 4th amendment in the name of "Justice", one that this amendment was specifically created to prevent.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2014 @ 2:43am

If the US Marshals make mistakes using a simple email program. I wonder what kind of mistakes they are making while scooping up all cellphone calls in a 5 mile square radius, using Stingrays.

Oh well, if anyone tries to sue over the bcc error, they'll just deputize the secretary.
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Chris-Mouse (profile), 20 Jun 2014 @ 2:52am

No surprise that the US government would make a 1990's era computer mistake. They've always been a couple of decades behind the times when it comes to technology.
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- Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2014 @ 3:54am
  
  Re:
  We might be at 21st-century competence if a certain Newtwit didn't axe the OTA in the 90s.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Jun 2014 @ 2:54am

Have they made any assurances that buyers won't get busted for possesing "drug money" or having transactions with a "criminal wallet"?

I guess a buyers wallet can be forfeited when it is used with an obviously criminal wallet...
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DannyB (profile), 20 Jun 2014 @ 6:23am

Accident?
Maybe it wasn't an accident?
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- Michael, 20 Jun 2014 @ 6:36am
  
  Re: Accident?
  Sure. It could be that they wanted to make sure there were a lot of copies and everyone knew where they were - just in case the IRS lost their copy.
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Jacks, 20 Jun 2014 @ 9:51pm

I wouldn't give them a dollar per coin simply by the way they came by them.
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