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Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2015 12:49:45 -0500
From: Peter Todd <pete@petertodd.org>
To: Matt Whitlock <bip@mattwhitlock.name>
Message-ID: <20150120174944.GC29353@muck>
References: <20150120154641.GA32556@muck> <2236907.ZtrNgikFVR@crushinator>
	<656E7756-5F0B-4594-B9F1-8CC68C7A5EE5@bitsofproof.com>
	<30930479.sqHpaOe3cY@crushinator>
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In-Reply-To: <30930479.sqHpaOe3cY@crushinator>
Cc: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] The legal risks of auto-updating wallet
 software; custodial relationships
Precedence: list


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On Tue, Jan 20, 2015 at 12:47:04PM -0500, Matt Whitlock wrote:
> On Tuesday, 20 January 2015, at 6:44 pm, Tamas Blummer wrote:
> > Knowing the private key and owning the linked coins is not necessarily =
the same in front of a court.
> >=20
> > At least in german law there is a difference between =E2=80=98Eigentum'=
 means ownership and =E2=80=98Besitz=E2=80=99 means ability to deal with it.
> > Being able to deal with an asset does not make you the owner.
>=20
> So what we're telling the newbies in /r/bitcoin is plain wrong. Bitcoins =
*do* have an owner independent from the parties who have access to the priv=
ate keys that control their disposition. That's pretty difficult to reconci=
le from a technological perspective.

The law concerns itself with what should be done, not what can be done.

Bitcoin the technology doesn't have a concept of "ownership" - that's a
legal notion, not a mathematical one.

--=20
'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org
00000000000000001a5e1dc75b28e8445c6e8a5c35c76637e33a3e96d487b74c

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