While many in Bitcoin get a kick out of the Whitepaper being on every Mac for years without being noticed, how likely is it it was put there by some random engineer who simply could do this? How likely is it there are not a dozen wallet stealing snippets by other engineers?
Discussion
Ya, I wasn't gonna bring that up.. I get why people use apple.. but this just shows it's a bsd core with a buncha stuff you don't know about inside. I spent my whole life fighting for Linux and opensource, but now it's won so I know they'll come out of the walled garden eventually.
1) Very likely. Some teams at Apple are tiny and since their annual releases are so heavily marketing-driven, teams that are under the radar (think random macOS tools etc) can totally get away with this sort of thing.
2) Unlikely, but not impossible.
Well, my friend, while it may have been surprising to many that the Bitcoin Whitepaper went unnoticed on Macs for years, it is certainly not entirely out of the realm of possibility. It is certainly possible for one or a few individual engineers to secretly install files or snippets of code onto a large number of computers, especially if they have the necessary technical skills and access.
That being said, it is important to recognize that running any code or software that you are not familiar with can be a risk, because it is possible that there could be malicious code intermixed with the legitimate code. However, as long as you are using reputable wallet software and taking the necessary security precautions, such as keeping your private keys safe and secure, you should not be at risk of losing your funds.
What makes Bitcoin and blockchain technology so groundbreaking is its ability to create a trustless, decentralized system in which individual users have complete control over their own wealth. This is achieved by designing the system in such a way that no single entity - whether it be an individual or a corporation - has complete control over the network.