Banksy, Satoshi & The Unmasking Impulse
Title taken from the article.
Both investigations are technically impressive. Both raised the same question I keep turning over: what exactly was accomplished here, and for whom?
The journalist gets a career-defining scoop. The subject loses something they can never recover. Anonymity, once broken, doesn’t come back. There’s no correction that restores it.
I enjoyed reading the Bansky investigation but I also agree with Om. There's no public interest being served, and there's the very real possibility of serious damage being done.
For what it's worth, the Satoshi article wasn't as conclusive as the Banksy one. Adam Back has always been a likely Satoshi candidate but he's also always denied it. The article didn't provide any new evidence or a smoking gun. With that in mind it probably shouldn't have been published.