Question

Find an article related to technology your topic/question of choice that has a belief that you strongly disagree with. For example, if you feel that bitcoin and cryptocurrencies SHOULD NOT be regulated, you should find an article that takes the stance that there SHOULD be regulations.

Write a summary of the article. Instead of discussing the side of the argument you actually believe, you are going to write a summary of the belief that you strongly disagree with. With the example discussed above, you would right a neutral and impartial summary of why the author of the article feels there should be regulations on cryptocurrencies, what they are, and why.

Part 2C: You will now write about the position you actually hold on the topic. Use the article as a point of reference. With the example discussed above, this would be the space you write about how you feel cryptocurrencies should not be regulated and why. Even though this is how you really feel, try to be neutral, impartial and unbiased in your presentation of the information.

The goal of this assignment is to try and write two neutral summaries based on opposite points of view of the same issue. This is not easy! But, as you will find, this will strengthen your overall writing. If someone is NOT able to tell which position you actually hold after reading both of these articles - you have succeeded! Your summaries should be 250 words each (total assignment word count of 500 words), double-spaced and include APA in-text citations

Answer 1

In my opinion, however, prevention and mitigation technologies will never work well enough. There’s only one way to slay this beast. We must make all cryptocurrency as we know it today illegal. Here’s why.

Permissionless vs. Permissioned Blockchain- At the heart of Bitcoin, and by extension most if not all altcoins (cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin), is the notion of a permissionless blockchain. With a permissionless (generally known as ‘public’ or ‘open,’ with few exceptions) blockchain, anyone can create an address and interact with the network – purchasing coin, selling coin, or mining coin.The public approach draws a stark contrast with permissioned blockchain (generally ‘private’ or ‘closed,’ again with a few exceptions). “The permissioned Blockchain is a closed and monitored ecosystem where the access of each participant is well defined and differentiated based on role,” explains Devon Allaby, COO of Design Farm Collective. “They are built for purpose, establishing rules for transaction that align with the needs of an organisation or a consortium of organisations.”

The Problem with Permissionlessness- The problem with permissionless, public blockchains is that anybody can sign up as a miner – which means that there’s nothing stopping criminals from doing so. Not all mining enterprises are criminal, of course. There are plenty of people building mining businesses that are perfectly on the level. But that being said, there are many different criminal pursuits that can leverage mining. Tax evasion. Money laundering. Funding terrorism or other illegal activity not directly related to cryptocurrency. But the most nefarious of all criminal motivations: illicit cryptomining.

Why Illicit Cryptomining is So Devious- Infiltrating our computers and networks is dead simple – all it takes is one phishing victim, one visit to a malicious web page, or one person downloading a fake app from an app store, and bam! The hacker is inside.Infiltration is a familiar first step to most corporate cyberattacks, which follow the Cyber Kill Chain – infiltrate, install malware, move laterally to a valuable target, establish a command and control (C&C) link back to the hacker, and then exfiltrate the data or funds that are the target of the attack.Hackers follow this pattern when their goal is to steal something (in other words, ‘exfiltrate data’). As a result, cybersecurity vendors have been focusing on detecting and disrupting the steps in the Kill Chain.Cryptomining, in contrast, breaks this mold. The software technically isn’t malware – after all, plenty of people mine cryptocurrency on purpose. There’s no need to find a valuable target, since any computer with processor cycles to spare will do.And there’s nothing to exfiltrate. As long as the compromised computer can reach the Internet, the threat actors can cash in on their mining activity.The most devious aspect of illicit cryptomining, however, is the fact that it can run undetected indefinitely. After all, nothing’s being stolen except excess processor cycles and a bit of electricity. In this world of far scarier threats, illicit cryptomining will always rank rather low on the list of priorities.Until, of course, it brings your entire network to its knees.

Cryptocurrency Ethics and ‘Know Your Miner’- To combat money laundering, regulatory agencies around the globe require companies to ‘know your customer’ (KYC). In theory, if all participants in a transaction have sufficient details about the parties they’re doing business with, then it will be far more difficult for criminals to launder their ill-gotten gains.Because anyone can become a cryptocurrency miner, it would only be logical for the same regulatory bodies to institute a ‘know your miner’ policy.

How to Fix the Problem- Corporations will certainly try to prevent illicit cryptomining, but such efforts are doomed to be a losing battle – first, because it’s dead simple to mount such attacks, and second, fighting such threats will remain a low priority for the foreseeable future.That leaves ‘know your miner’ – which can only work on permissioned blockchains.

Perhaps a cryptocurrency-based approach like Ripple that some people consider ‘semi-permissioned’ can solve this problem. (Ripple’s XRP altcoin and other permissioned or semi-permissioned cryptocurrencies are an area of active innovation and controversy ).However, as long as permissionless-based coins have value, illicit miners will favor those over Ripple and its brethren anyway.The cryptocurrency world, therefore, will have two choices: switch entirely from permissionless to permissioned (or perhaps semi-permissioned) or shut down entirely.

Of course, many of the aspects of blockchain that excite the cryptocurrency world depend upon permissionlessness. Without it, all we have is a secure distributed database technology – which might very well come in handy for real business purposes, but falls short of supporting the excitement around cryptocurrencies today – including the buzz around initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Corporations will certainly try to prevent illicit cryptomining, but such efforts are doomed to be a losing battle – first, because it’s dead simple to mount such attacks, and second, fighting such threats will remain a low priority for the foreseeable future.That leaves ‘know your miner’ – which can only work on permissioned blockchains.The cryptocurrency world, therefore, will have two choices: switch entirely from permissionless to permissioned (or perhaps semi-permissioned) or shut down entirely.Of course, many of the aspects of blockchain that excite the cryptocurrency world depend upon permissionlessness. Without it, all we have is a secure distributed database technology – which might very well come in handy for real business purposes, but falls short of supporting the excitement around cryptocurrencies today – including the buzz around initial coin offerings (ICOs).