Newsweek’s controversial and much-maligned March 2014 cover story purporting to “reveal” the creator of Bitcoin, a crypto-currency favored among techies and hackers, dropped, flopped, and then — in true internet fashion — was quickly forgotten. But one person can’t stop thinking about ”The Face Behind Bitcoin,” which was widely criticized as having fingered an innocent man: that person is Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto, the California-based programmer Newsweek claimed was Bitcoin’s architect.
Nakamoto’s supporters are soliciting donations, via the site NewsweekLied.com, for a legal defense fund that will allow him to sue the magazine. From the site:
Dorian’s Legal Defense Fund is a separate effort, authorized and endorsed by Dorian, to raise money to hold Newsweek accountable for their article. A lawsuit against Newsweek will be very expensive. Dorian does not have the resources to pay the costs of such a suit, let alone attorneys’ fees. Monies raised by the Fund will be used to further Dorian’s legal claims against Newsweek; anything remaining will be given directly to Dorian for his expenses.
The Newsweek story was frustratingly vague, hedged by using words like appear and maybe, and left a lot open to interpretation. For his part, Nakamoto never actually copped to inventing Bitcoin, and in fact claims he hadn’t even heard of the cryptocurrency until his son asked him about it prior to the story being published.
