3 ms·

Here is one: without a block chain to prove you developed something first you have to write it in an engineering log, in your handwriting and pay a fortune to s

Here is one: without a block chain to prove you developed something first you have to write it in an engineering log, in your handwriting and pay a fortune to store that some place safe, probably environmentally secured, etc. With a block chain you can pay 1 sat (ie less than 1/100 penny) to have your git hash stamped forever into the blockchain. You can then pay nearly nothing to have it safely stored until you need to prove it, at which point you have very, very good evidence to prove you had what you claimed, when you did. You can also stamp the git hash into your twitter, (you can, as of this writing, delete but not edit tweets), but that assumes you are counting on Twitter to be around 30+ years.

theamk 8y ago
... or sign it using cryptographic timestamp service, and keep certificate? Use multiple timestamp services if you want more assurance. see also: https://www.globalsign.com/en/blog/what-is-timestamping-how-does-it-work/ https://www.globalsign.com/en/blog/what-is-timestamping-how-... see also free services: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25052925/does-anyone-know-a-freetrial-timestamp-server-service https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25052925/does-anyone-kno...
- tomjen3 8y ago
  There are more than one way to do it, of course, but you are relying on them never to lose control of their private keys.
knorker 8y ago
I'll agree that this makes it easier. But why? Have you ever, in your life, needed to do this? Do you know anyone who has? Have you heard of anyone who has? This problem sometimes comes up in thought experiments, and sometimes involves convoluted solutions such as bouncing signals off of celestial bodies to produce a time delay. I have never needed to do this. And either way the actual cost for society to do this with blockchains is huge, in energy. You're not paying it, but the cost is there. Or you could just do it the traditional way: Put it on pastebin. Hell, put it on a couple of cloud services, who will likely have logs about upload times. Maybe there are cases, where you want to guard yourself against someone reinventing your industry secret and claiming IP theft saying you copied them. It won't help against a patent lawsuit, I'm pretty sure, since you didn't publish. And publishing is the trade you make with society in order to get monopoly for 18-20 years via a patent. But more importantly: This NEVER needs to be a blockchain. This is not a use for a blockchain. There is nothing chain about it. You just want your blob signed. You could build a service in a weekend that does nothing but sign "I saw the following hash on 2018-05-24: 82390182903120", and run it for no cost (not 0.5% of world electricity). Send your hash to 100 places and boom, done.

theamk 8y ago

... or sign it using cryptographic timestamp service, and keep certificate? Use multiple timestamp services if you want more assurance. see also: https://www.globalsign.com/en/blog/what-is-timestamping-how-does-it-work/ https://www.globalsign.com/en/blog/what-is-timestamping-how-... see also free services: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25052925/does-anyone-know-a-freetrial-timestamp-server-service https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25052925/does-anyone-kno...

tomjen3 8y ago
There are more than one way to do it, of course, but you are relying on them never to lose control of their private keys.

knorker 8y ago

I'll agree that this makes it easier. But why? Have you ever, in your life, needed to do this? Do you know anyone who has? Have you heard of anyone who has? This problem sometimes comes up in thought experiments, and sometimes involves convoluted solutions such as bouncing signals off of celestial bodies to produce a time delay. I have never needed to do this. And either way the actual cost for society to do this with blockchains is huge, in energy. You're not paying it, but the cost is there. Or you could just do it the traditional way: Put it on pastebin. Hell, put it on a couple of cloud services, who will likely have logs about upload times. Maybe there are cases, where you want to guard yourself against someone reinventing your industry secret and claiming IP theft saying you copied them. It won't help against a patent lawsuit, I'm pretty sure, since you didn't publish. And publishing is the trade you make with society in order to get monopoly for 18-20 years via a patent. But more importantly: This NEVER needs to be a blockchain. This is not a use for a blockchain. There is nothing chain about it. You just want your blob signed. You could build a service in a weekend that does nothing but sign "I saw the following hash on 2018-05-24: 82390182903120", and run it for no cost (not 0.5% of world electricity). Send your hash to 100 places and boom, done.