[Cryptography] Our leader opines on cryptocurrencies

[Tom Mitchell]

On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 1:31 PM <jamesd at echeque.com> wrote:

> On 2019-07-22 5:35 am, james hughes via cryptography wrote:
> >> On Jul 20, 2019, at 8:32 PM, jamesd at echeque.com
> >> Assume the processing is
>

I think the overloading of blockchain, cryptocurrency, proof of work and
blockchain contracts is getting murky.

I do not see Facebook building a bitcoin tool with proof of work. I see them
building a bank where credits are bought or given and transactions are
simplified in a distributed
system. BTW:  For FB and banking very strong encryption ensures "the bank"
will end up with free
cash as strong keys are lost (impossible to recover).

A distributed escrow system as it were.   The digital proof of work bit is
going to melt the planet and is
going to track electricity costs when 100 years ago gold was the key
exchange.

Governments worry because money is the last hook for law enforcement (Al
Capone).
The current cost of a disinformation campaign is quite low as the Jigsaw
project at Google discovered.
https://www.wired.com/story/jigsaw-russia-disinformation-social-media-stalin-alphabet/
Blended with clickbait sites these activities are self funding so even
tracking transactions as small as $50
might not have a chance of proving anything absent parallel
reconstruction.  Serial numbers of cash can
be tracked at ATM systems by adding OCR cameras.  Teller transaction
systems could OCR scan each bill.

I keep reminding myself that the attack message "*Tora Tora Tora" *was in
the clear
and the diplomatic message great for movies and drama..... Robert Hanyok,
retired historian at the
National Security Agency, said that even in hindsight, there was no way the
code breakers could have
predicted an attack on Hawaii from what they uncovered.

https://www.insidescience.org/news/decrypting-japanese-cipher-couldn%E2%80%99t-prevent-pearl-harbor

Perhaps law enforcement is looking for a grudge weapon ($$) to prosecute
crime after the fact but trying to justify it
as a prevention tool.

So back to cryptography...
What blockchain contract and transaction systems have value and which can
be abused
by criminals?
Can these distributed chains be seen but not disambiguated by law and
security folk?
Can blockchain traffic and data be masked in https traffic from a hacked
server or even a farm of IOT devices.


          T o m    M i t c h e l l ( o n   N i f t y E g g )
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