Controversial computer scientist and self-proclaimed “creator of Bitcoin” Craig Wright today hinted that Apple was violating copyright laws.
When asked on Twitter Friday if Apple might be “in breach of copyright” for storing the Bitcoin white paper on its computers, the Australian computer scientist responded by saying: “Yes.”
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This week news dropped that the largest cryptocurrency’s explanatory paper was stored on Apple machines—unbeknownst to many Mac users.
Just by punching in a simple command into the Terminal, one can find a copy of Bitcoin’s foundational text on MacOS operating systems (Apple has a history of hiding files on its products for users to find.)
Australian programmer and lawyer Wright has long claimed that he is Bitcoin’s pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. He has repeatedly said that Bitcoin spin-offs derived from the cryptocurrency are in breach of his intellectual property rights because he came up with the original blockchain.
And today, he appeared to be making the point that Apple was sharing his alleged seminal work without asking for permission first.
But Wright has also long been criticized for making such a claim and not having the proof to back it up: To do so, he’d have to show that he has the private keys to Satoshi’s Bitcoin address.
Wright’s lawyers told Decrypt in 2020 that he didn’t have them.
Decrypt today asked Wright whether he would try and sue Apple for breach of copyright but did not immediately receive a response.
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In February, Wright lost a claim in a UK court to protect the Bitcoin blockchain by copyright. He also hinted in December that he was no longer interested in convincing people that he created the world’s biggest digital asset.
Wright is also supports Bitcoin SV: a Bitcoin spin-off that emerged in November 2018 when Bitcoin Cash—another fork and currently the 30th biggest cryptocurrency—split in two.
Bitcoin SV proponents (Wright is perhaps the loudest cheerleader) call Bitcoin SV “the original Bitcoin” but it been delisted from a number of major exchanges.
Wright is no stranger to the courts: Reuters reports that he is currently in the process of suing 15 Bitcoin developers to retrieve around 111,000 BTC after he lost the encrypted keys to access them when his home computer network was allegedly hacked.
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