http://bitcoinmagazine.net/some-measure-of-anonymity/
Mielenkiintoinen artikkeli Bitcoinin anonymiteetistä. Se ei tosiaankaan ole niin anonyymi kuin kuvitellaan. Jos haluaa oikeasti käyttää sitä anonyymisti, tulee monenlaisiin asioihin kiinnittää huomiota.
Muutamia keskeisiä pointteja tästä artikkelista:
[i]“Bitcoin is commonly referred to as an anonymous currency, but that’s not inherently true and the technicalities of the issue have been the topic of much debate. The fact of the matter is, in order to maintain anonymity online, and in life, awareness and caution must always be practiced, every step of the way.”
“In regards to Bitcoin, the identity of an address owner is only anonymous as long as the owner works to maintain their privacy. Bitcoin addresses and transactions are all kept in the clear, publicly available for anyone to see and trace. This is by design and is absolutely essential to the decentralization of the system. Publishing an address somewhere on the Web along with personal information, like a name, is the easiest way to draw an immediate connection between an address and it’s owner and see all related transactions, past and future. If an interested party deems a transaction or user worth investigation, it’s easy to determine where the coins in question have circulated, possibly linking to an account containing personal information.”
“For maximum privacy: use strong encryption for local data, connect to the Internet through a secure channel and use an offline wallet or brain wallet. As of the current release, the standard Bitcoin client often sends coins from any and possibly all addresses that a user has connected to that wallet, however there is a third-party patch that gives users the option of which address to send coins from. Take extra steps to ensure no data is left behind on your local machine by using a linux live boot distro and/or virtual machine. In order to have a reasonable expectation of anonymity when using Bitcoin, the initial acquisition of the Bitcoins must be anonymous and great care must be taken with every subsequent transaction. Sometimes it’s best to stick to traditional means and meet traders in-person, with a laptop and accessible Wi-Fi.”
“In especially sticky situations, where specific coins could lead to dangerous assumptions, there are Bitcoin laundry services (or “tumblers”). The concept is pretty straight-forward, coins sent through the tumbler are exchanged for different coins and sent on to another address of the sender’s choice, minus a small percentage as a fee. This is unlike money laundering in the fact that it doesn’t serve to aid in reintegration of illicit funds into a legitimate system but it does make the transaction almost impossible to track. Most eWallet services also offer this functionality to users who use them, exchanging deposited coins for entirely different coins upon transfer.”[/i]
Omat bitcoininsa saa aika tehokkaasti kierrätettyä ja anonymisoitua sillä, että laittaa ne joksikin aikaa johonkin nettilompakkoon, jossa järjestelmä ei merkkaa tietyille bitcoineille tiettyjä omistajia. Mitä kauemmin rahojaan siellä pitää sitä varmemmin ne sekoittuu. Esimerkkejä näistä palveluista, jos sellaista kaipaa, on mm. Easywallet, Instawallet ja Bitcoinfog.