Feedback-ID: i525146e8:Fastmail
Date: Tue, 14 Jun 2022 11:34:36 -0400
From: Peter Todd <pete@petertodd.org>
To: "Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One Victim of Many" <gmkarl@gmail.com>,
 Bitcoin Protocol Discussion <bitcoin-dev@lists.linuxfoundation.org>
Message-ID: <YqiqjPternXI1AZ6@petertodd.org>
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In-Reply-To: <CALL-=e4xA_SVfZp=nLgWRRPon3-6Ke0TE2J0qQrNFGQd7FOsqA@mail.gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Why OpenTimestamps does not "linearize" its
 transactions
Precedence: list


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On Tue, Jun 14, 2022 at 08:45:43AM -0400, Undiscussed Horrific Abuse, One V=
ictim of Many via bitcoin-dev wrote:
> > The basic service that a timestamp service provides is =E2=80=9Cthis co=
ntent (or at
> > least a digest of this content) existed at least as early as this
> > timestamp.=E2=80=9D It says nothing about how long before the timestamp=
 the content
>=20
> OTS needlessly adds the requirement that the user publicize their .ots
> files to everybody who will make use of the timestamp.
>
> This does not provide the service you describe. It would be trivial to
> include enough cryptographic information in the original OP_RETURN, so
> as to obviate the need for publicizing the .ots file.

That approach does not scale. Via merkle trees, the OpenTimestamps system
routinely timestamps tens of thousands of messages with a single transactio=
n:

https://petertodd.org/2016/opentimestamps-announcement#scalability-through-=
aggregation

Client-side validated .ots files are a necessary requirement to achieve this
scalability.

FWIW the most I've personally done is timestamped 750 million items from the
Internet Archive with a single transaction.

> If I send my .ots file to another party, a 4th party can replace it
> with their own, because there is no cryptographic pinning ensuring its
> contents. This changes the timestamp to one later, no longer proving
> the earliness of the data.

They can also simply delete their copy of the data, making it impossible to
prove anything about it.

--=20
https://petertodd.org 'peter'[:-1]@petertodd.org

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