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[92.42.121.178]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id dw6sm30451404wib.12.2011.12.13.08.22.10 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=OTHER); Tue, 13 Dec 2011 08:22:11 -0800 (PST) From: Andy Parkins To: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net, Amir Taaki Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:22:00 +0000 User-Agent: KMail/1.13.6 (Linux/3.0.0-1-686-pae; KDE/4.6.3; i686; ; ) References: <1323731781.42953.YahooMailClassic@web120920.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> <1323791208.31194.YahooMailNeo@web121013.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> In-Reply-To: <1323791208.31194.YahooMailNeo@web121013.mail.ne1.yahoo.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="nextPart2373416.GlT41jfGsN"; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; micalg=pgp-sha1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <201112131622.08158.andyparkins@gmail.com> X-Spam-Score: -1.6 (-) X-Spam-Report: Spam Filtering performed by mx.sourceforge.net. See http://spamassassin.org/tag/ for more details. -1.5 SPF_CHECK_PASS SPF reports sender host as permitted sender for sender-domain 0.0 FREEMAIL_FROM Sender email is commonly abused enduser mail provider (andyparkins[at]gmail.com) -0.0 SPF_PASS SPF: sender matches SPF record 0.0 HS_INDEX_PARAM URI: Link contains a common tracker pattern. -0.1 DKIM_VALID_AU Message has a valid DKIM or DK signature from author's domain 0.1 DKIM_SIGNED Message has a DKIM or DK signature, not necessarily valid -0.1 DKIM_VALID Message has at least one valid DKIM or DK signature -0.0 AWL AWL: From: address is in the auto white-list X-Headers-End: 1RaV7V-0005nC-54 Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] Fwd: [BIP 15] Aliases X-BeenThere: bitcoin-development@lists.sourceforge.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.9 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:22:27 -0000 --nextPart2373416.GlT41jfGsN Content-Type: Text/Plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 2011 December 13 Tuesday, Amir Taaki wrote: > Maybe I wasn't clear enough in the document, but this is the intent with > the HTTPS proposal. I don't like the idea of a hard-coded mapping at all. We shouldn't be maki= ng=20 choices on behalf of server operators. It's up to them how they arrange th= eir=20 domain names and paths. I also agree that DNS is not the technology to use. DNS is a nightmare. > genjix@foo.org >=20 > Contacts https://foo.org/bitcoin-alias/?handle=3Dgenjix and the system > responds with a bitcoin address. Whether the system gives you a new > address from a pool of addresses, or contacts the merchant behind the > scenes is implementation defined. >=20 > I'll clarify it later. This is the relevant line: >=20 > string strRequestUrl =3D strDomain + "/bitcoin-alias/?handle=3D" + > pszEncodedNick; >=20 > Between HTTPS service and server service, I lean slightly towards HTTPS > (automatic encrypted connection, CAs + all benefits of DNS). But still > interested in arguments in favour of a server service (daemon answering > queries). Why bother with an encoding scheme at all? If the address genjix@foo.org always maps to https://foo.org/bitcoin-alias/?handle=3Dgenjix Then forget the hardcoding of "https" the hardcoding of "bitcoin-alias" and= =20 "?handle=3D" and the original email-looking "genjix@foo.org". Just use the= URL. =20 Then the author of the service can use whatever they want. "Can I pay you 10 BTC?" "Sure, send it to 'https://bitcoinalias.foo.org/genjix/'" While I might implement my alias server like this: "Sure, send it to 'https://google.com/bitcoin/?andyparkins'" "Sure, send it to 'https://parkins.co.uk/" =2E.. or any other URL they want -- any of which suit might suit me and my= =20 webserver better than whatever mapping would otherwise be hard-coded. The= =20 world is already very familiar with URLs so this is no more scary than the= =20 email address. What's more, the email address form looks _too much_ like a= n=20 email address, and will only lead to confusion ... "send it to genjix@foo.o= rg" =20 "so I use outlook express for that, right?" "erm, no, you put it in your=20 bitcoin client". The URL form could easily be made to detect a browser connecting rather tha= n a=20 bitcoin client (and this is an area that would benefit from a standards=20 document -- define the headers and user agent triggers that an alias server= =20 expects) and give them better instructions. https can be specified as the default, so "https://" can be optional when= =20 they're typing. If, in the future, bitcoin gets a distributed peer-to-peer= =20 alias system, then a new URL type can be added easily "bcalias://andyparkin= s"=20 might automatically find my node in the network and query it for an address= =20 (or whatever). All of the above is exactly why OpenID chose to use URLs for ID. Andy =2D-=20 Dr Andy Parkins andyparkins@gmail.com --nextPart2373416.GlT41jfGsN Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name=signature.asc Content-Description: This is a digitally signed message part. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.10 (GNU/Linux) iEYEABECAAYFAk7ne6kACgkQwQJ9gE9xL22tDACfaix7dRiXPos9D0AlMjWFudpc p0UAnRa7zpQHWCuwQnX8vH4uwQnNHq9l =Lz35 -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --nextPart2373416.GlT41jfGsN--