Topic: So what happens if I violate the block chain ? - page 2. (Read 4998 times)

Can't. your node has to keep a copy of the block to give to other nodes when they ask for it. every block past that point relies on that hash, and that hash relies on the merkle root, and that merkle root relies on the hash of the transaction data. And that's just the first thing I can think of. BitcoinQt/bitcoind probably can't run with a corrupt block and there could be other problems.
I don't know much about "light" clients, but there could still be ways to make those nodes download that transaction.

The data would be written in blk00x.dat in plain format. It would be like appending a jpeg to the end of a file and then writing some more stuff on top of that. very easy to extract.

apart from anything else, all they need is an excuse, and they would have it. and don't forget about the negative press that would make it easier.

Probably nothing.  If it became a problem someone would likely release a patch to the client or standalone utility which would prune the tx from a user's local copy of the blockchain.  Of course I doubt it would even go that far.  Most child pornography laws specify what is considered an image.  A non-viewable binary representation of an image likely doesn't qualify.

I mean if it did then one could for example write a piece of software which takes uses a ebook copy of the Bible (or insert random book here) as input and based on instructions in the software display an image depicting child abuse.   Would that make the Bible (or insert random book here) child pornography?

Just a thought that went through my mind today. The bitcoin network is supposed to be decentralized, and specifically designed so that it would be impossible to "shut down" or to prevent transactions from being free, right ?

The bitcoin protocol also allows for arbitrary data to be inserted into both the "scriptSig" and "scriptPubKey" fields, as long as the fee is high enough and the size of the transaction doesn't exceed the maximum block size (10 MB).

So what if I'm a nice enough person to download a few child pornography pics or other illegal content and I include it into a transaction with a high enough fee ?

a lot of people get pissed off that a block is taking 10 times as long to download, then once the block is downloaded they forget about it. a number of blocks later someone who's watching for strange transactions figures out what happened and tells people. by that time the pics or whatever illegal information is embedded in the blockchain and exist on thousands of computers (only bitcoiners' computers, I might add, which will tie bitcoin to illegality in a very strong way for a good long while)

Now every bitcoiner's computer can be legally seized and there is legal mayhem for a while. People are afraid of being connected to bitcoin, and of receiving payments on a block chain that can be abandoned at some point in the future and have their transactions reversed.

Price tanks, I make a heap of money by going short beforehand.

This is by no means the end result of that scenario, just the part I can see. I don't even see a way to fix this problem without compromising the system in some way.

The most interesting part to me in all this is that we will actually discover how "decentralized" and "free" bitcoin is.


What do you all think ?

P.S. Happy halving day to you all ! (and you'd all better hope noone does this to the 210,000th block)