Re: [Trans] Putting illegal stuff in an append only ledger

[Tim Hollebeek <[e-mail]>]

For what it’s worth, for any arbitrary bit string X of length n and illegal content Y of length m, there exists a decompression function (“special instructions”) that converts the string X into Y.

 

When that function is encryption under a secret key that I will publicly reveal at a later point in time, good luck in detecting that and preventing me from adding it.

 

-Tim

 

From: Trans [mailto:[e-mail]] On Behalf Of Tao Effect
Sent: Wednesday, March 21, 2018 6:23 PM
To: Daniel Kahn Gillmor <[e-mail]>
Cc: Paul Wouters <[e-mail]>; [e-mail]
Subject: Re: [Trans] Putting illegal stuff in an append only ledger

 

IIUC, the webforum comments that these links point to argue that because
there is work required outside the blockchain to assemble the toxic
data, the data in question doesn't *just* reside in the blockchain.  Is
that right, or do you have another interpretation?

 

Yes, I (same person who wrote those comments), am arguing that there is a difference between an image, a video, etc., and scrambled bits of data that need _special instructions_ to *re-assemble* them into an image, video, etc., and that this should be self-evident.





I don't see how it follows from this particular situation that there
would be no way to put toxic data in the global append-only ledger that
Bitcoin depends on.  Do you think that there is some principled reason
why the blockchain can avoid ingestion of toxic data of any form,
whether it's (depending on your jurisdiction) CP or "intellectual
property" or blasphemy or hate speech or …?

 

I am arguing that /Bitcoin's/ blockchain is not designed to support such "toxic ingestion" of such content.

 

Does your argument for why the bitcoin blockchain is defended against
this hold for arbitrary global append-only datastructures, or is it
specific to bitcoin?

 

This is specific to Bitcoin and Bitcoin-like datastructures which simply do not allocate enough room for arbitrary data.

 

That they can be hacked into getting tiny pieces of arbitrary data to be stored in separate chunks, requiring re-assembly through special knowledge (e.g. a special tool and precise knowledge of which transaction to pass through that special tool), does not mean that these datastructures are somehow the entity to point to as carriers of "toxic data".

 

If you were to argue that they are, then you can equally argue that the entire Internet is illegal because it can be used, with specialized tools and specialized knowledge, to transport toxic data.

 

- Greg


--
Please do not email me anything that you are not comfortable also sharing with the NSA. 

 

On Mar 21, 2018, at 5:46 AM, Daniel Kahn Gillmor <[e-mail] <mailto:[e-mail]> > wrote:

 

On Tue 2018-03-20 19:12:04 -0400, Tao Effect wrote:



I don't think it's a real problem, just another week, another social
attack on Bitcoin from those who are heavily invested in seeing
Bitcoin die.

The reason why it's not a legitimate issue are here:

https://lobste.rs/s/walhsk/child_abuse_imagery_found_within_bitcoin#c_xf6oor

And here:

https://lobste.rs/s/walhsk/child_abuse_imagery_found_within_bitcoin#c_76hm8v

But that will not stop people from pretending it is.


IIUC, the webforum comments that these links point to argue that because
there is work required outside the blockchain to assemble the toxic
data, the data in question doesn't *just* reside in the blockchain.  Is
that right, or do you have another interpretation?

I don't see how it follows from this particular situation that there
would be no way to put toxic data in the global append-only ledger that
Bitcoin depends on.  Do you think that there is some principled reason
why the blockchain can avoid ingestion of toxic data of any form,
whether it's (depending on your jurisdiction) CP or "intellectual
property" or blasphemy or hate speech or …?

Does your argument for why the bitcoin blockchain is defended against
this hold for arbitrary global append-only datastructures, or is it
specific to bitcoin?

Regards,

         --dkg