[Cryptography] Another Bitcoin issue (maybe)

[ianG]

On 14/02/2014 08:27 am, Theodore Ts'o wrote:
> P.S.  Is discussions of bitcoin in or out of scope of this mailing 
> list?  Apologies in advance if the moderators consider it too far 
> afield of the ML's charter.


This is a wider problem than just this ML.  What has become apparent
over time is that crypto without application is worthless
pontification.  Yes, crypto libraries, I'm looking at you.

Without a top-down driving need, there is no grounding what we do.
You have to have something to secure.  So some sense of discussing
apps is needed.

Then, Bitcoin.  It is the bleeding edge of crypto work today.  It's
growing fast, it uses a lot of crypto, is is about money, which is the
#1 app for crypto, and it uses and loses a lot of it.

Without the tight feedback of attacks, crypto doesn't advance.  Even
when there is fraud, the fraud needs to be direct in your face to get
the attention of the developers.  This is the difference between
bitcoin and SSL.  Theft in the one matters, the other is subject to
all sorts of personal vagueries.



iang