Several points, which I disagree with, relating to darksend integration and anonymity protections.
I'm satisfied from my own research, but I didn't see any response to the questions raised...
IMO, it's good that questions have been raised now rather than later because some people do not understand that anonymity is not something that is like a switch 0 or 1 but rather a matter of degree.
Darkcoin aims to be way more anonymous than bitcoin, but that's still a degree. Given the right resources (like controlling half the devices out there by forcing manufacturers to implant them with backdoors, controlling the entire internet and telcos, having computer farms analyzing every single pattern of network activity or economic activity over the internet and a cryptocurrency network) this degree may not be enough to be called NSA-proof unless you operate with your own devices, networks etc. I mean people just now realize that what was once a crazy conspiracy theory (that laptops had cameras so that the government can watch you through them) is in fact a reality.
But the degree of anonymity attained could be enough for making transactions anonymous for something like 99.99% of the lesser equipped entities, agencies, oppressive governments, local police, third parties like hackers who want to steal money from your crypto account etc etc. You may not be able to attain NSA-proof status (due to tremendous degree of infiltration in hardware, software, networks etc) without making the entire ecosystem NSA-proof, from the devices used, to every single line of software used etc etc.
The same applies for privacy also. We can never attain full privacy when there is so much surveillance but we can always try to improve it by concealing whatever can be relatively easy to conceal - just like TOR tried with the IPs, even if the NSA gained ground eventually due to its resources and control of the network. I think this will be an ongoing battle where additional layers of privacy/anonymity can be introduced over time while the "agencies" will try the opposite. A battle lost is the one which was never given to begin with. And even if you can't beat the "goliath" (heavily equipped agencies) you can still beat the lesser guys (99.99% that won't be able to break through the anonymity layers).
