On Thu, 2011-12-15 at 13:59 -0600, theymos wrote: > Bitcoin already has code and a protocol for transactions to IP > addresses. Why not reuse that for dynamic address lookup? Just a few > changes are necessary to enable complete u...@server.com handling: I'm not against this, but I think its way overcomplicated when compared to the DNS or HTTPS methods. > - Extend the protocol so that "reply" messages can be signed by a fixed > public key > - Extend "checkorder" messages so they can specify an account to > send BTC to. Or standardize on how to put the account into the > message field. OK, not too debatable, but considering how terrible bitcoind's account handling is, the second might not be easy to get right... > - Enable DNS lookups for IP transactions. The DNS-only proposals could > also be used here to avoid having to use the IP transaction protocol > sometimes. The public key for signing "reply" messages can be gotten > from TXT records. This will be safe with DNSSEC and Namecoin. With > plain DNS Bitcoin could take a SSH-like approach and ask the user to > verify the public key the first time it is used, remembering it later. This is where I think this method becomes way overcomplicated. Not only do you have to update the IP-Transaction code, but now you have to implement the full DNS System that is the other option as well. Note that to make this secure, we have to have a full DNSSEC-capable resolver built-into bitcoind (there are libs, but it has to happen). Yes you can ask the user "does this fingerprint look right to you? Y/N" but that always opens you up to a ton of users getting screwed out of coins and I don't think it should be enabled, except in bitcoind, and since the main target of this whole alias system is bitcoin-qt users, well...
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