CEI Files Amicus Brief in Bitcoin Privacy Case

CEI filed an amicus brief in U.S. v. Coinbase, a case dealing with Bitcoin and user information. CEI’s brief argues that the IRS should not be able to subpoena Coinbase for private user information because people have property rights in data when they share it under contractual protections that limit its use.

CEI Vice President Jim Harper released the following statement on CEI’s interest in the case:

“Protecting privacy this way serves all kinds of interests, such as giving people a sense of control over their lives, protecting people’s physical and financial security, permitting people the greatest level of speech and action, and letting them transact business confidentially. The IRS’s overbroad subpoena was an attack on all these interests. The Court should quash it in its entirety.”

Read the brief here.