Subject: Re: [bitcoin-dev] Updating the Scaling Roadmap

From: Paul Sztorc <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2017 20:21:09 -0400

On 7/11/2017 7:12 PM, Tao Effect wrote:
> Paul,
>
> There is a difference between replying to an email, and addressing the
> issues that were brought up in it.
>
> I did read your reply, and I chose not to respond to it because it did
> not address anything I said.

In that case you should clarify, which is exactly what you are doing now.

>
> Here's an example:
>
>> It would not be accurate to say that miners have "total" control. Miners
>> do control the destination of withdrawals, but they do not control the
>> withdrawal-duration nor the withdrawal-frequency.
>>
>> So, if miners wish to 'steal' from a sidechain, they _can_ initiate a
>> theft, but they can not change the fact that their malfeasance will be
>> [a] obvious, and [b] on display for a long period of time.
>
> Here, you admit that the security of the sidechains allows miners to
> steal bitcoins, something they cannot do currently.

If that were the case, then DC would need to be a hard fork. It so
happens that it is *not* the case -- if users choose to deposit to an
anyone-can-spend output, then miners can take the Bitcoins, which *is*
something that miners can do currently.

>
> You next tried to equate three different types of theft, what you
> called "Classic Theft", "Channel Theft", and "Drivechain Theft", saying:
>
>> I do not think that any of the three stands out as being categorically
>> worse than the others
>
> To anyone who understands bitcoin, there is a very clear,
> unmistakeable difference between double-spending ("Classic Theft"),
> and *ownership* of the private key controlling the bitcoins.
>
> Similarly, to anyone who understands bitcoin, there is also a very
> clear, unmistakeable difference between censorship ("Channel Theft"),
> and *ownership* of the private key controlling the bitcoins.

I am not sure what you are disagreeing with. The three thefts involve
different attacker resources and behaviors, and in that way they are
different. But in all three cases the user has lost the BTC they would
have otherwise owned, and in that way they are not different.

And users are under no obligation to use DC, just as they are under no
obligation to open a LN channel (or use P2SH, etc).

>
> I am not sure how else to respond to that email, given that none of
> the issues were really addressed.
Other than your complaint about being freely given the option to upgrade
to software which will give you the option to freely opt-in to a
different security model that you can otherwise ignore, feel free to
bring up any other issues you feel need to be addressed.

> Drivechain is an unmistakeable weakening of Bitcoin's security
> guarantees. This you have not denied.
That is false. I do deny it. Per the logic of the soft fork, the
security properties are at best unchanged (as I think almost everyone
else on this list would acknowledge). And even for those users who
opt-in, I feel the risk of theft is low, as I explain in the very
passage you've quoted above.

And please try to avoid going off-topic -- this is supposed to be about
the idea of a new roadmap.

Paul