I agree with TiagoTiago. And if the receiving addresses are known to belong to lost wallet.dat files then the coins will never be spent and those dirty blocks cannot be pruned.
it would be pretty easy to encode the offending data in the message part of a transaction, and the data (when concatenated together) could be verified as "evil" using a hash set database like the NSRL Software, or the NCMEC database, or HashKeeper.
http://computer-forensics.sans.org/blog/2010/02/22/extracting-known-bad-hashset-from-nsrl/
http://works.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=stephen_hoffman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HashKeeper
This means that you wouldn't need a program to decode it. It would be, as em3rgentOrdr pointed out, an illegal number. Write it in binary to disk, change the filename to jpg and anyone would be able to see it.
hmm. the success of this attack on the network relies on our inability to change the block chain, and the block chain's stability is what drives the trust that we have in the impossibility of double spending.
Topic: What if I stored child porn in the block chain? (Read 6182 times)
Reminds me of the concept of an "Illegal Prime" - a prime number that represents information forbidden to possess or distribute. Example:
Its binary representation corresponds to a compressed version of the C source code of a computer program implementing the DeCSS decryption algorithm, which can be used by a computer to circumvent a DVD's copy protection.
Quote
4 85650 78965 73978 29309 84189 46942 86137 70744 20873 51357 92401 96520 73668 69851 34010 47237 44696 87974 39926 11751 09737 77701 02744 75280 49058 83138 40375 49709 98790 96539 55227 01171 21570 25974 66699 32402 26834 59661 96060 34851 74249 77358 46851 88556 74570 25712 54749 99648 21941 84655 71008 41190 86259 71694 79707 99152 00486 67099 75923 59606 13207 25973 79799 36188 60631 69144 73588 30024 53369 72781 81391 47979 55513 39994 93948 82899 84691 78361 00182 59789 01031 60196 18350 34344 89568 70538 45208 53804 58424 15654 82488 93338 04747 58711 28339 59896 85223 25446 08408 97111 97712 76941 20795 86244 05471 61321 00500 64598 20176 96177 18094 78113 62200 27234 48272 24932 32595 47234 68800 29277 76497 90614 81298 40428 34572 01463 48968 54716 90823 54737 83566 19721 86224 96943 16227 16663 93905 54302 41564 73292 48552 48991 22573 94665 48627 14048 21171 38124 38821 77176 02984 12552 44647 44505 58346 28144 88335 63190 27253 19590 43928 38737 64073 91689 12579 24055 01562 08897 87163 37599 91078 87084 90815 90975 48019 28576 84519 88596 30532 38234 90558 09203 29996 03234 47114 07760 19847 16353 11617 13078 57608 48622 36370 28357 01049 61259 56818 46785 96533 31007 70179 91614 67447 25492 72833 48691 60006 47585 91746 27812 12690 07351 83092 41530 10630 28932 95665 84366 20008 00476 77896 79843 82090 79761 98594 93646 30938 05863 36721 46969 59750 27968 77120 57249 96666 98056 14533 82074 12031 59337 70309 94915 27469 18356 59376 21022 20068 12679 82734 45760 93802 03044 79122 77498 09179 55938 38712 10005 88766 68925 84487 00470 77255 24970 60444 65212 71304 04321 18261 01035 91186 47666 29638 58495 08744 84973 73476 86142 08805 29443.
Its binary representation corresponds to a compressed version of the C source code of a computer program implementing the DeCSS decryption algorithm, which can be used by a computer to circumvent a DVD's copy protection.
One way it could be done, would be for someone to aquire a good amount of BTC, then encode the data as annonymous donations to several innocent addresses, those transfers once validated become permanently embedded in the blockchain, right? Then after a month or so, after the data has become an essential part of the blockchain of the network, that person releases the program to aquire and decode the data and the knowledge about it on Freenet where no censorship can take it down.
honestly...who would wanna go and do something like that 
Hmmm let me think....
Government(s) and FEDs ?
honestly...who would wanna go and do something like that
Because of the default client now does not support any non-standard transactions (isStandard() function)
You'll still store non-standard transactions if someone else puts them in a block. You'll then have to transmit the transaction to anyone who requests that block from you.
Yes, the protocol still supports it, but the default client does not create such transactions. So it is not the "normal use" of Bitcoin to store binary data in it. Case closed.
Because of the default client now does not support any non-standard transactions (isStandard() function)
You'll still store non-standard transactions if someone else puts them in a block. You'll then have to transmit the transaction to anyone who requests that block from you.
It doesn't matter anymore if you put kiddie porn in chain or not.
Because of the default client now does not support any non-standard transactions (isStandard() function), and bitcoin is only specifically advertised & designed as currency by its creators, this case will be classified by courts the same as using a phone for coordinating a bank robbery would be.
The telephone operator cannot be held responsible for actions of a criminal which used the phone to do some evil.
Because of the default client now does not support any non-standard transactions (isStandard() function), and bitcoin is only specifically advertised & designed as currency by its creators, this case will be classified by courts the same as using a phone for coordinating a bank robbery would be.
The telephone operator cannot be held responsible for actions of a criminal which used the phone to do some evil.
Quote
Assume I publicly release and announce a program to decode the child porn from the block chain, such that everyone knows and can easily confirm that there's child porn in the block chain.
Publicly announce where?
Publicly announce it here and one of the moderators will delete it faster than you can type 'rm'.
Announce it on your own website and I'd encourage the legal authorities and/or your ISP to shut you down.
Announce it in IRC chat or via a Freenet/TOR/i2p hidden service and I would personally encourage everybody to shun and /ignore you... and very few people will hear your announcement, anyway.
I suppose you could try to get a journalist or government interested in causing trouble for bitcoin to publicly announce it. If you did, I would ask as loudly as I could why the journalist or government is complaining about innocent bitcoin users instead of trying to track you down and prosecute you.
First: I am not a lawyer.
Second: No. http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/drug_crimes/unwitting_possession.htm
Second: No. http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/drug_crimes/unwitting_possession.htm
I'm not necessarily talking about unwitting possession. Assume I publicly release and announce a program to decode the child porn from the block chain, such that everyone knows and can easily confirm that there's child porn in the block chain.
There is no such thing as data that cannot be converted into some other data if I get to choose the algorithm.
Obviously if I publish the algorithm that does this there will be public outcry against Obama and google, since I got the picture from them.
Obviously if I publish the algorithm that does this there will be public outcry against Obama and google, since I got the picture from them.
Assume that the algorithm is something generic like "Find the transaction with this hash and handle its data as a JPEG image", such that a reasonable person can tell the child porn is stored in the block chain and not in the decoding program.
Fair enough I suppose.
It all comes down to how willing people are to hurt us when we haven't hurt anyone. Does it really matter if we did the non-offense they accuse us of or whether they make up that we did a real crime? Either way they make the rule, they level the charge, they arbitrate the dispute, they enforce the judgement.
I'm not going to get violent with them, so it's pretty much completely in their court (haha, pun intended).
First: I am not a lawyer.
Second: No. http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/drug_crimes/unwitting_possession.htm
Second: No. http://criminal-law.freeadvice.com/drug_crimes/unwitting_possession.htm
I'm not necessarily talking about unwitting possession. Assume I publicly release and announce a program to decode the child porn from the block chain, such that everyone knows and can easily confirm that there's child porn in the block chain.
There is no such thing as data that cannot be converted into some other data if I get to choose the algorithm.
Obviously if I publish the algorithm that does this there will be public outcry against Obama and google, since I got the picture from them.
Obviously if I publish the algorithm that does this there will be public outcry against Obama and google, since I got the picture from them.
Assume that the algorithm is something generic like "Find the transaction with this hash and handle its data as a JPEG image", such that a reasonable person can tell the child porn is stored in the block chain and not in the decoding program.
but there will be an outcry against Bitcoin and similar systems claiming they allow child porn, terror financing, etc.
every new technology can be used to facilitate crimes. as long as the societal benefits of the technology outweigh the negative effects, there will be no outcry.
for example, I never remember any outcry against mobile phones when they took off, even though they allow terrorists to communicate far more efficiently.
Using steganography, you could put child porn pretty much anywhere, for instance in Wikimedia. It would be much more efficient than using bitcoin.
What if I make a program that takes this data:
And decodes it into child porn? Does owning this picture send us all to FPMITAP?
There is no such thing as data that cannot be converted into some other data if I get to choose the algorithm.
Obviously if I publish the algorithm that does this there will be public outcry against Obama and google, since I got the picture from them.
And decodes it into child porn? Does owning this picture send us all to FPMITAP?
There is no such thing as data that cannot be converted into some other data if I get to choose the algorithm.
Obviously if I publish the algorithm that does this there will be public outcry against Obama and google, since I got the picture from them.
im sure it's not a problem when 4chan is full of the stuff but govts allow it to run eventhough 'anons' are disruptive
Such a thing would force bitcoin's developers to focus on the pruning of the blockchain, upsetting the development timeline, but would not spell an end to Bitcoin itself. A pruned blockchain couldn't be considered a vector for child porn.
Full network nodes can't prune unspent transactions, so the attacker could just not ever spend the image-transaction.
Such a thing would force bitcoin's developers to focus on the pruning of the blockchain, upsetting the development timeline, but would not spell an end to Bitcoin itself. A pruned blockchain couldn't be considered a vector for child porn.
It's probably not illegal, but it might become a controversial. The 10kB limit on transactions would allow a low-resolution image to be included in a single chunk. Maybe generators would agree to purge it by re-doing some blocks (though this is probably not sustainable).
This is another benefit of having a "backbone" of generators: only the generators would have to deal with the legal risk, while normal users wouldn't actually be possessing any illegal data.
This is another benefit of having a "backbone" of generators: only the generators would have to deal with the legal risk, while normal users wouldn't actually be possessing any illegal data.
If I encoded some child porn in transaction amounts or something, and stored it in the block chain, and released a program to decode and display it, would that make it illegal for anyone to use Bitcoin (since possession of child pornography is illegal)?
I don't think so, but it would make you a felon just about anywhere.
but there will be an outcry against Bitcoin and similar systems claiming they allow child porn, terror financing, etc.
Jump to: