X-Git-Url: https://pere.pagekite.me/gitweb/homepage.git/blobdiff_plain/8e9084eb614922b0929c0d1053912772a24fbed6..48c733807a3c1d185209fc1a463df32577a33b4b:/blog/index.rss diff --git a/blog/index.rss b/blog/index.rss index 6b63d95f46..7470e29f0e 100644 --- a/blog/index.rss +++ b/blog/index.rss @@ -6,6 +6,91 @@ http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/ + + A fist full of non-anonymous Bitcoins + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_fist_full_of_non_anonymous_Bitcoins.html + http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/A_fist_full_of_non_anonymous_Bitcoins.html + Wed, 29 Jan 2014 14:10:00 +0100 + <p>Bitcoin is a incredible use of peer to peer communication and +encryption, allowing direct and immediate money transfer without any +central control. It is sometimes claimed to be ideal for illegal +activity, which I believe is quite a long way from the truth. At least +I would not conduct illegal money transfers using a system where the +details of every transaction are kept forever. This point is +investigated in an peer reviewed article in +<a href="https://www.usenix.org/publications/login">USENIX ;login:</a> +from December 2013, in the article +"<a href="https://www.usenix.org/system/files/login/articles/03_meiklejohn-online.pdf">A +Fistful of Bitcoins - Characterizing Payments Among Men with No +Names</a>" by Sarah Meiklejohn, Marjori Pomarole,Grant Jordan, Kirill +Levchenko, Damon McCoy, Geoffrey M. Voelker, and Stefan Savage. They +analyse the transaction log in the Bitcoin system, using it to find +addresses belong to individuals and organisations and follow the flow +of money from both Bitcoin theft and trades on Silk Road to where the +money end up. This is how they wrap up their article:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +<p>"To demonstrate the usefulness of this type of analysis, we turned +our attention to criminal activity. In the Bitcoin economy, criminal +activity can appear in a number of forms, such as dealing drugs on +Silk Road or simply stealing someone else’s bitcoins. We followed the +flow of bitcoins out of Silk Road (in particular, from one notorious +address) and from a number of highly publicized thefts to see whether +we could track the bitcoins to known services. Although some of the +thieves attempted to use sophisticated mixing techniques (or possibly +mix services) to obscure the flow of bitcoins, for the most part +tracking the bitcoins was quite straightforward, and we ultimately saw +large quantities of bitcoins flow to a variety of exchanges directly +from the point of theft (or the withdrawal from Silk Road).</p> + +<p>As acknowledged above, following stolen bitcoins to the point at +which they are deposited into an exchange does not in itself identify +the thief; however, it does enable further de-anonymization in the +case in which certain agencies can determine (through, for example, +subpoena power) the real-world owner of the account into which the +stolen bitcoins were deposited. Because such exchanges seem to serve +as chokepoints into and out of the Bitcoin economy (i.e., there are +few alternative ways to cash out), we conclude that using Bitcoin for +money laundering or other illicit purposes does not (at least at +present) seem to be particularly attractive."</p> +</blockquote><p> + +<p>These researches are not the first to analyse the Bitcoin +transaction log. The 2011 paper +"<a href="http://arxiv.org/abs/1107.4524">An Analysis of Anonymity in +the Bitcoin System</A>" by Fergal Reid and Martin Harrigan is +summarized like this:</p> + +<p><blockquote> +"Anonymity in Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic currency system, is a +complicated issue. Within the system, users are identified by +public-keys only. An attacker wishing to de-anonymize its users will +attempt to construct the one-to-many mapping between users and +public-keys and associate information external to the system with the +users. Bitcoin tries to prevent this attack by storing the mapping of +a user to his or her public-keys on that user's node only and by +allowing each user to generate as many public-keys as required. In +this chapter we consider the topological structure of two networks +derived from Bitcoin's public transaction history. We show that the +two networks have a non-trivial topological structure, provide +complementary views of the Bitcoin system and have implications for +anonymity. We combine these structures with external information and +techniques such as context discovery and flow analysis to investigate +an alleged theft of Bitcoins, which, at the time of the theft, had a +market value of approximately half a million U.S. dollars." +</blockquote></p> + +<p>I hope these references can help kill the urban myth that Bitcoin +is anonymous. It isn't really a good fit for illegal activites. Use +cash if you need to stay anonymous, at least until regular DNA +sampling of notes and coins become the norm. :)</p> + +<p>As usual, if you use bitcoin and want to show your support of my +activities, please send Bitcoin donations to my address +<b><a href="bitcoin:15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b&label=PetterReinholdtsenBlog">15oWEoG9dUPovwmUL9KWAnYRtNJEkP1u1b</a></b>.</p> + + + New chrpath release 0.16 http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/New_chrpath_release_0_16.html @@ -697,26 +782,5 @@ should not have privacy. It is people who need privacy.</p> - - Lets make a wireless community network in Oslo! - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_wireless_community_network_in_Oslo_.html - http://people.skolelinux.org/pere/blog/Lets_make_a_wireless_community_network_in_Oslo_.html - Wed, 13 Nov 2013 21:00:00 +0100 - <p>Today NUUG and Hackeriet announced -<a href="http://www.nuug.no/news/Bli_med___bygge_dugnadsnett_for_alle_i_Oslo.shtml">our -plans to join forces and create a wireless community network in -Oslo</a>. The workshop to help people get started will take place -Thursday 2013-11-28, but we already are collecting the geolocation of -people joining forces to make this happen. We have -<a href="https://github.com/petterreinholdtsen/meshfx-node/blob/master/oslo-nodes.geojson">9 -locations plotted on the map</a>, but we will need more before we have -a connected mesh spread across Oslo. If this sound interesting to -you, please join us at the workshop. If you are too impatient to wait -15 days, please join us on the IRC channel -<a href="irc://irc.freenode.net/%23nuug">#nuug on irc.freenode.net</a> -right away. :)</p> - - -