e-gold founders avoid jail

I am glad to hear that Douglas Jackson and associates manage to avoid jail and get probation, community service and a fine instead.

I still think it’s extremely unfair that a service as innovative as e-gold were punished like this. Apparently so does the US District Judge Rosemary Collyer:

According to cnet:

U.S. District Judge Rosemary Collyer said the men deserved lenient sentences because they did not intend to engage in illegal activity. Even though, Collyer said, the U.S. Justice Department wanted to use the cases to show “this new day of Internet crime is going to be…vigorously prosecuted,” that alone was not enough reason to incarcerate the defendants.

While the courts don’t always do the right thing in this country, I am glad to see that they still serve their function as a safety valve against over zealous government.

Look at the situation the financial system is in right now. It is based on ancient technology and an ancient operating system. The government is throwing trillions of dollars against an unsound system and sending the Patriot Act against innovators.

E-Gold were one of the players, who truly attempted innovation in the financial space. Douglas Jackson’s genius and insight in his quest for sound money is seen in that even after all of this has happened to them, they core value of e-gold still hasn’t changed much.

For more read this article I wrote earlier e-gold innovated and were finally brought down. Also read the DGC Magazine interview with Douglass Jackson here.