E-Gold: Feds Shut Down Only Real Competitor to Their Bogus Fiat Money System

[notThe1]

E-Gold: Feds Shut Down Only Real Competitor to Their Bogus Fiat Money System
In a sparsely decorated office suite two floors above a neighborhood of strip malls and car dealerships, former oncologist Douglas Jackson is struggling to resuscitate a dying dream.

Jackson, 51, is the maverick founder of E-Gold, the first-of-its-kind digital currency that was once used by millions of people in more than a hundred countries. Today the currency is barely alive.

Stacks of cardboard evidence boxes in the office, marked “U.S. Secret Service,” help explain why, as does the pager-sized black box strapped to Jackson’s ankle: a tracking device that tells his probation officer whenever he leaves or enters his home.

“It’s supposed to be jail,” he says. “Only it’s self-administered.”

Jackson, whose six-month house arrest ends this month, recently met with Wired.com for his first in-depth interview since pleading guilty last year to money laundering-related crimes, and to operating an unlicensed money transmitting service. His tale is one of countless upstarts and entrepreneurs who approached the internet with big dreams, only to be chastened by sobering realities. But his rise and fall also offers a unique glimpse at the web’s frontier halcyon days, and the wilderness landscape that still covers much of the unregulated and un-policed web, where fraud artists prospect for riches alongside pioneers, and sometimes stake, and win, a claim on their territory.
http://waronyou.com/topics/e-gold-feds-shut-down-only-real-competitor-to-their-bogus-fiat-money-system/

[stefan segal]

E-Gold: Feds Shut Down Only Real Competitor to Their Bogus Fiat Money System
In a sparsely decorated office suite two floors above a neighborhood of strip malls and car dealerships, former oncologist Douglas Jackson is struggling to resuscitate a dying dream.

Jackson, 51, is the maverick founder of E-Gold, the first-of-its-kind digital currency that was once used by millions of people in more than a hundred countries. Today the currency is barely alive.

Stacks of cardboard evidence boxes in the office, marked “U.S. Secret Service,” help explain why, as does the pager-sized black box strapped to Jackson’s ankle: a tracking device that tells his probation officer whenever he leaves or enters his home.

“It’s supposed to be jail,” he says. “Only it’s self-administered.”

Jackson, whose six-month house arrest ends this month, recently met with Wired.com for his first in-depth interview since pleading guilty last year to money laundering-related crimes, and to operating an unlicensed money transmitting service. His tale is one of countless upstarts and entrepreneurs who approached the internet with big dreams, only to be chastened by sobering realities. But his rise and fall also offers a unique glimpse at the web’s frontier halcyon days, and the wilderness landscape that still covers much of the unregulated and un-policed web, where fraud artists prospect for riches alongside pioneers, and sometimes stake, and win, a claim on their territory.
http://waronyou.com/topics/e-gold-feds-shut-down-only-real-competitor-to-their-bogus-fiat-money-system/

Not the 1...I think there will be rough and tumble legal fight over this competition of using alternate counters for dollars.

Bartering is legal...ie...trading service for service or goods, but it only seems to work in small scale operations, whereas the internet, doesn't even register small scale. Scaled up, the mechanism which enables interaction within large bartering groups is the 'work unit' which is accepted by all members...ie...a currency.

This is a gray area, as our dollars state very threateningly: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.".

Interesting wording...it doesn't say: 'legal tender that can or might be used, but legal tender for all debts...'. It can be easily concieved that "all", means total...leaving no debt behind sort of thing, rather than simply noting that this tender has the capacitity to satisfy any and all debts.

One of the strongest motivators for the butch war in Iraq, is the fact that Hussain switched his oil sales from dollars to euros, and profited by this change noteably...other countries were considering changing their pallets of oil-dollar security deposits into euros also.

Oil is priced in US dollars...hence, countries who buy oil, must supply a couple of pallets of petro dollars to insure their bids in the market. If the euro were to surplant the dollar for oil...and consequently, as the world currency, then all those petro dollars would come back into our marketplace causing runaway inflation and ruin.

That Hussain made money...lots of money, in his bet, he had to be crushed as an example to the world. Had he lost money insted, then we wouldn't be in Iraq "spreading democracy".

I mention this to underline how seriously the government takes outside competition...it is very dangerous to compete with the USD.

I suspect that. like Russia, the people will develop a twin tier market place...one which is taxed and the other which will be considered as the 'black market'.

I think this is a good thing, and I hope it develops hugely...not in the sense of 'too big to fail', but 'too big to jail'...everyone. Something like prohibition, only wider spread...where everyone is a criminal.

Black markets are better at providing some things than the taxed market, due to tariffs, blockades, rationing...any number of caps and prohibitions. These imbalances spread the base of regular folks going into so called criminal acts.

We are all taxed by our currrency...when they crank up their presses, they tax everything their legal tender touched...even the dollars hidden under the mattress. In this we are as sheep...sheared at other's will for as much or as little as they deem adequit.

Stefan

[SeedyROM]

E-gold had too many scam artists who stoe money and gave nothing in trade. They rarely investigated and refunded money when claims were made. Banks and credit card companies have lost billions. E-Gold could be fixed and run more like Paypal if they chose to serve their customers. Google E-gold scam and you'll be reading for weeks.

If I lost $55k I'd be pissed!!!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078503/
A $55,000 Net scam warning

Think you’re too smart to be fooled? So did this veteran Internet user

He’s a veteran Internet user, and an accomplished dentist. He has a friend in the FBI, and they have discussed Internet crime. Bruce Lachot is not your typical Net scam victim. But in November, just after the birth of his third child, Lachot decided his family needed a larger car. He was tempted by a great deal on a new BMW M5, and optimistically wired money to the German seller. Now, Lachot finds himself out $55,000, with no new sedan, and no chance to recover the money, a victim of one of the most successful and widespread Internet scams to date.

LACHOT AGREED TO SHARE his tale with MSNBC.com because it might prevent others from suffering the same fate. Many victims of the widespread scam have been silent, Lachot thinks, which in the end only helps the criminals.

“With most people, they feel embarrassed, they think ‘I don’t want to let anybody know.’ Well, I feel I’m a pretty smart guy, but I’m a trusting soul, and I got burned. Got burned very bad. This sets me way back, but luckily, it’s not going to kill me. It’s an expensive lesson.”

Lachot was the victim of a fake escrow site, a sophisticated scam that actually turns victims’ skepticism against them. Suspicious Internet auction buyers have long been instructed to use escrow services to insert an added layer of safety and security into their high-priced transactions. Typically, escrow services act as a third-party go-between: buyers send money to the escrow company, which holds the funds until the seller delivers the merchandise. Both buyer and seller are protected — unless the escrow firm is really controlled by the seller. That’s basically how Lachot lost $55,000.


The rest is on the site.