From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com ([172.29.43.191] helo=mx.sourceforge.net) by sfs-ml-1.v29.ch3.sourceforge.com with esmtp (Exim 4.76) (envelope-from ) id 1VdlV2-0002Yr-1M for bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net; Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:37:12 +0000 Received-SPF: pass (sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com: domain of bitpay.com designates 74.125.82.45 as permitted sender) client-ip=74.125.82.45; envelope-from=jgarzik@bitpay.com; helo=mail-wg0-f45.google.com; Received: from mail-wg0-f45.google.com ([74.125.82.45]) by sog-mx-1.v43.ch3.sourceforge.com with esmtps (TLSv1:RC4-SHA:128) (Exim 4.76) id 1VdlV1-0001AR-0s for bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net; Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:37:12 +0000 Received: by mail-wg0-f45.google.com with SMTP id z12so3898020wgg.0 for ; Tue, 05 Nov 2013 10:37:04 -0800 (PST) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20130820; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date :message-id:subject:from:to:cc:content-type; bh=dk76aACNFt2/TWe3r8JDZ/qn+19hqWd3wGKtTHW60BE=; b=CA/KDjYHB+yA/BmCtYWyP+sIec1QaCMB0JQuNbhvygd0usuDqRYTjBfzMIR592dXM8 KSaIciPr1i9RjXnEUUJEKFq6xtsRdJ2Fgor9UsNyQiCVzRm2TtRsKoRUWDKpiNiG1Eii CPornBKBXao8cignwZs+i4PavTe50tMShzzzhzA4oCGrGLVj/UXW5se8YK0r7rv/J+Kt 2UC5J9sAbwUCFfwUVY5FAgD00TiwmFSfy2XQcafyJ1Pd5DBGhrnM8edeXlp8OXco0Fjg 027L7VhFN24SRsTNq4Xxf3mnYHQy3qs8sAyfsXmFU1Xv6CNc+0Y9Y2WxLt6nFgHEuqKI g8gg== X-Gm-Message-State: ALoCoQnW/SDtKCggGLINgmKj0/dxpTA+pLq8tthKWhmVJL0d0rFjKjZEIrXNSDvr0OuGixQ9zzRk MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Received: by 10.194.21.225 with SMTP id y1mr2654741wje.60.1383676624851; Tue, 05 Nov 2013 10:37:04 -0800 (PST) Received: by 10.194.164.164 with HTTP; Tue, 5 Nov 2013 10:37:04 -0800 (PST) In-Reply-To: References: <20131105170541.GA13660@petertodd.org> <20131105171445.GA13710@petertodd.org> Date: Tue, 5 Nov 2013 13:37:04 -0500 Message-ID: From: Jeff Garzik To: Alessandro Parisi Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 X-Spam-Score: -1.6 (-) X-Spam-Report: Spam Filtering performed by mx.sourceforge.net. See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details. -1.5 SPF_CHECK_PASS SPF reports sender host as permitted sender for sender-domain -0.0 SPF_PASS SPF: sender matches SPF record -0.1 DKIM_VALID_AU Message has a valid DKIM or DK signature from author's domain 0.1 DKIM_SIGNED Message has a DKIM or DK signature, not necessarily valid -0.1 DKIM_VALID Message has at least one valid DKIM or DK signature 0.0 URIBL_BLOCKED ADMINISTRATOR NOTICE: The query to URIBL was blocked. See http://wiki.apache.org/spamassassin/DnsBlocklists#dnsbl-block for more information. [URIs: bitpay.com] X-Headers-End: 1VdlV1-0001AR-0s Cc: Ittay , Bitcoin Dev , =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Emin_G=FCn_Sirer?= , Gavin Andresen Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] BIP proposal - patch to raise selfish mining threshold. X-BeenThere: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 05 Nov 2013 18:37:12 -0000 On Tue, Nov 5, 2013 at 1:07 PM, Alessandro Parisi wrote: > I agree with Ittay: when bugs are found, they must be fixed ASAP, expecially > when they affect a sensitive sw such as Bitcon; in IT security, every flaw > that is exploitable in abstract, is going to be exploited in real, sooner or > later, also taking into account the increasing parallel computing power; > beware of false sense of security That is quite ignorant. Bitcoin is far more complex than standard IT security "fix ASAP" mantra. Distributed consensus is a new field of computer science, and blindly applying standard logic to bitcoin will quickly result in large problems. Every fix has the chance of changing the game theory or economics of bitcoin. A change to the core consensus protocol within bitcoin -- mining -- is even more game-theory- and economically-critical to the core system. Changes thus have more impact, where any change potentially reduces bitcoin's value to zero in the worst case. Bitcoin is akin to medical device or avionics software. We cannot just change at will, without significant research, analysis and testing. "It is a bug, it must be fixed ASAP" is ignorant and dangerous. Further, this is at present a THEORETICAL problem, and the solution presented has some obvious flaws, that would make our current, WORKING SYSTEM more fragile, and less secure. -- Jeff Garzik Senior Software Engineer and open source evangelist BitPay, Inc. https://bitpay.com/