I thinks its because the addresses are only able to link to your real self once you make a link. (buy something and have it shipped to your address, deposit real money with a exchange that requires your identity, etc..)
however you could always make a new account on mtgox, send the coins to the exchange and send them out to another address you made, and I think, unless the exchange gives that transaction (That is internal to their network) to the authorities, you can begin to remove your-self from being traced.
The way I see it is this, you can determine how traceable you are in Bitcoins, you can't determine easily how traceable you are with native transactions (USD, AUD, EURO, etc...) This may help you hide better
Law enforcement agencies routinely unravel money laundering schemes that are much more sophisticated than this. You really think this'll stop them if they have a reason to investigate your funds?
Your right, I heard that sending coins through a several eWallet services, back and fourth then to a brand new address would require a massive operation to track you down. Could this easily be circumvented?
Probably because BTC are (sometimes) used in illegal transactions. It's an easy jump to assume that BTC are anonymous if the person doesn't fully understand the way the currency works.
My question is this: When hackers steal 400k BTC how do they get that money out of the 'bank'?
The last major theft resulted in the money being parked into some accounts as if the thieves need some time for this to either cool down, avoiding closer scrutiny, or to come up with a strategy to launder it.
Those funds are obviously hot at the moment to anyone who can navigate the transaction graph.
Looking at the photo, it looks like it actually says "Don't Be Tracked—Pay Cash."