[Cryptography] Keeping Malware from Using Security Hardware

[Ray Dillinger]

On 3/18/25 09:08, Chris Frey wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 17, 2025 at 09:57:24AM +0000, iang via cryptography wrote:
>
> And technically, that means being able to halt transactions, pending
> resolution. So I concur, lack of disputable transactions is a design flaw,
> if you're intending the chain to do business.
> This has nothing to do with the payment system.  If I pay cash
> at the local variety store for a packet of crisps and they turn out
> to be moldy, I go back for a refund.  There is nothing in cash itself
> that enforces a refund, yet we get along just fine without it.

The thing is the local variety store cannot simply cease to exist the 
instant it becomes known that you're looking for a refund. You have a 
way to access the seller, both by the property that they have a 
hellacious amount of money invested in and where they don't want to have 
their future business impaired, and by their market, because you can 
access people coming into the store and let them know about your dispute.

The local variety store has, in effect, posted a bond by paying for the 
real estate they occupy, and when you go back to seek a refund, you have 
some power over them because your activity can reduce the real-world 
value of that bond - especially if you're not the only one complaining.  
More to the point you have access to the seller's real-world identity 
and if they blow you off you can lawyer up.

A one-hundred-percent free 'nym on the other hand has no bond. The 
"storefront" that 'nym represents can be replaced for free. If your 
complaint reduces its value even by one thin dime, but you have no 
access to anything the seller values, then it can simply disappear and 
the seller conjures a new one to replace it.


Bear