----- Forwarded message from Jeffrey Paul <[email protected]> ----- From: Jeffrey Paul <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 18 May 2011 01:09:49 +0200 To: Peter Thoenen <[email protected]> Cc: lodewijk andré de la porte <[email protected]>, Eugen Leitl <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]>, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [silk] Bitcoin X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.1084)
On 18 May, 2011, at 01:00 , Peter Thoenen wrote: > I'm not so sure > that's true. Given the network at all times knows the amount of nodes out > there (hence the 50%+1 rule for consensus) it would be trivial for a NSA > (Nation State Actor, not TLA) to stand up 50%+1 virtual nodes fast enough to > gain consensus and usurp the currencies (tokens) if I understand correctly the > mechanism for determining legitimate tokens from the EconTalk interview. Am I > missing something here? You are. The moment that they stop doing that, the legitimate network overtakes it and restores order. It would have to be a sustained attack until all users of the network had abandoned it. Furthermore, it is really only a minor denial-of-service, because solving 100% of the blocks going forward only allows you to deny confirmation of the transactions of others, and to double-spend your own pre-existing coins. The moment the attack stops, the legitimate network would begin catching up, and would soon overtake it. -jp -- ======================================================== Jeffrey Paul -datavibe- [email protected] +1 (800) 403-1126 http://sneak.datavibe.net 5539AD00 DE4C42F3 AFE11575 052443F4 DF2A55C2 "Virtue is its own punishment." ======================================================== ----- End forwarded message ----- -- Eugen* Leitl <a href="http://leitl.org";>leitl</a> http://leitl.org ______________________________________________________________ ICBM: 48.07100, 11.36820 http://www.ativel.com http://postbiota.org 8B29F6BE: 099D 78BA 2FD3 B014 B08A 7779 75B0 2443 8B29 F6BE
