Just like you'll wait until physical cash has mugger protections before using it?
A credit/debit card when stolen, regardless of physical or electronic purloining, is backed by a set of consumer protection laws, regulations and policies -- some obviously required by government but some provided without legal obligation. Further a bank account, a brokerage account or any number of real money stores are insured against theft and loss (bankruptcy). BTC are not.
Parent post didn't mention physical cash. He mentioned credit cards, which have chargeback/purchase protection, and bank accounts, which have deposit insurance.
Paper dollars are designed to protect against counterfeit. That's all. To protect against muggers requires either a) sacrificing the desirable properties of paper dollars, or b) use of a separate security layer (vaults, safes, holding little at a time on you, etc). In no case are those limitations a failing of the paper dollar itself.
They likewise don't themselves protect against someone convincing you to give them your paper dollars under false pretenses. Same points apply: to handle that threat, you rely on laws, trust networks, escrows (like credit card arbitration) etc. Still not a problem with the dollar, just outside its threat model.
I made the previous comment in the hopes of compressing that point into one sentence. Perhaps I failed, but at no point did I misattribute a position to the GGP. "Your position implies X" != "you are advocating X" ... even and especially if you're not advocating X!
Your response was that physical cash offers no consumer protection.
So you either misunderstood or misrepresented the original point.
My point was that they can do this to bitcoin too.
What did I misunderstand?
Putting a fortune into Mt. Gox or someone similar is like burying your cash in someone else's backyard. You don't need mugger protection, you need common sense.
The Federal Government has up to $100,000 for deposits.
Banks themselves will provide funds bank in case of fraud, to increase consumer confidence.
Credit Cards have a number of consumer guarantees (for example, did you know if you purchase an item with a credit card, the credit card company will extend the warranty of the item in many cases--read the fine print).
As another commenter said, yes I'm "paying" for that insurance by giving up some amount of control, but I think before BitCoin or another decentralized currency can reach critical mass, it will need service providers to offer similar protections.
My opinion, anyway.
Indeed. But you wouldn't fault the paper dollar itself for failing to have the protections of the vault, just as you shouldn't fault the Bitcoin itself for failing to have he protections of escrow, nor compare a paper apple to a vaulted orange.
Yes, 3rd party services will help with the trust issue in the Bitcoin ecosystem. They are still not a failing of Bitcoin per se, just as lack of built in mugger protections is not a failure of the paper dollar per se.
I am my own mugger protection.
My mugger protection is throwing my wallet south, and running north.
Otherwise you'll die tired.
What if your kid was with you?
Your girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other?
You just gonna take off running and hope for the best?