5 ms·

Len Sassaman memorialized in the Bitcoin block-chain

68 points by trotsky 15y ago

lep 15y ago
I wonder if he will talk about it in this lecture [1]. [1]: http://events.ccc.de/camp/2011/Fahrplan/events/4555.en.html http://events.ccc.de/camp/2011/Fahrplan/events/4555.en.html
- jf 15y ago
  Yes, he will. He will also be talking about it at Blackhat.
X-Istence 15y ago
Could someone explain what this means?
- dfc 15y ago
  Who Len was or what the blockchain is? Len Sassaman was a very prominent member of the cypherpunk community who recently passed away. The blockchain is the record of all transactions that the bitcoin network has processed. The blockchain is how bitcoin clients know who sent how many bitcoins and to whom.
  - kiba 15y ago
    Can you explain what Dan Kaminsky is trying to do with the Genesis block? Edit: corrected for improper terminology. I understand now.
    - dfc 15y ago
      I do not know what the genesis blockchain is.
    - soult 15y ago
      You are mixing two different terms here: The blockchain is a list of transactions that are linked to each other using cryptographic functions. Each block in the chain links to it's parent block. The genesis block is the first block created, it has no parent block. As proof that Bitcoin wasn't started before a specific date, the block references a The Times headline ("Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"). Dan Kaminsky figured out a way to embed ascii text into the block chain. I did not try to find out how he did it, but he probably created some transactions that include those strings. If you want to find out more about how he did it, he will give a talk at the Chaois Communications Camp related to Bitcoin.
  - X-Istence 15y ago
    I knew who Len Sassaman was. I did not know how the blockchain worked, or how Dan Kaminsky and Travis Goodspeed added this tribute to it.
- incant 15y ago
  (Presumably) Dan Kaminsky and Travis Goodspeed modified a bitcoin miner so that when it found a block, it would embed this tribute inside one of its unused field. (or rather, it embeds it in the transaction that is created as a part of generating a new block, the "coinbase".)
kiba 15y ago
Um, this is not part of the bitcoin block-chain? The bitcoin blockchain started way back in 2009. Nice try? Perhaps this guy is Satoshi Nakamoto? I am confused.
- tlrobinson 15y ago
  The block chain is always growing. This was recently added to it.
  - kiba 15y ago
    Edit: Never mind, I understand.
- trotsky 15y ago
  Sure it is. You can verify it yourself. [tsl@pepper ~]$ strings -n 20 ~/.bitcoin/blk0001.dat | tail -3 :TXXXWw,_ "), ,wWT: ::TTXXWWW lXl WWT: ----END TRIBUTE---- [tsl@pepper ~]$ The bitcoin blockchain contains a record of every verified transaction that's happened to date - it needs this information to verify new transactions. Sometime in the last 500 blocks or so, Kaminsky and Goodspeed used a trick to embed this memorial inside a transaction, which is then dutifully stored by all bitcoin clients.
  - rphlx 15y ago
    One wonders how the creators intend to scale a system where every user needs the entire past state of every coin..
    - drivebyacct2 15y ago
      How else are you going to guarantee the irreversibility and proof in such a system? The block chain was very much a careful design consideration. Every user doesn't even need the full set of transactions. I buy and sell bitcoins and have only run the desktop client for a few minutes to see what it looked like.
    - wcoenen 15y ago
Astrohacker 15y ago
I verified it by typing in the command. The ASCII Bernanke is truly hilarious.
Groxx 15y ago
That's quite the memorial. And that ASCII Bernanke is STARING INTO MY SOUL O_O.
cop359 15y ago
" coauthor and cofounder and Shmoo and so much more. " A typo immortalized?
- jackolas 15y ago
  Could be because of the width constraint (could be self imposed)
  - jf 15y ago
    The method that Dan Kaminsky used is subject to a width constraint in Bitcoin.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
georgemcbay 15y ago
This is veering off the original topic, but isn't the ability to embed arbitrary text into the blockchain a bit problematic? Suppose a nefarious actor embedded text under current copyright (that s/he did not own) into the chain? (or other data, though presumably text is the only medium where a possibly significant violation seems likely given the size limitations).
davidu 15y ago
It's a nice tribute to Len. Len's indirectly the reason I live in San Francisco today, and why I moved here without a job after graduating college. Through Len I met people who are my close friends in the hacker community today. The last time I heard from Len was four days before his death, and sadly, there was no indication that there was anything amiss. I'm not sure of the exact circumstances of Len's passing, and I'll probably never really know. Instead, I'll just say that for all of you reading this today -- if you suffer from depression or feel a deep darkness over you, please seek help. Depression is a disease, and it can be treated. So while it may seem hopeless, or that nobody knows of the deep burden you carry, give it a chance. There was a time you felt good, even if it's hard to remember right now, and there's a way to get back to that place. RIP Len. ;-(
kragen 15y ago
It's a lovely tribute to Len. It's perhaps worth pointing out that he was not a fan of Bitcoin. Here are some of his Bitcoin-related Tweets over the last few weeks of his life: @glynmoody I wasn't happy with EFF's original acceptance of bitcoin, but I agree with you that their reasons for reversing course are "eh." https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/83095852104695809 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/83095852104695809 @znmeb Ah, then you'd be missing the people advising their mothers to put their life savings into Bitcoin while they still can get in on it. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82850601876205568 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82850601876205568 @mentalguy The question is, though, just how much of Bitcoin's success is due to irrational exuberance? I think most of it. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82754572958961664 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82754572958961664 mentalguy RT @mentalguy Also, if I had a significant BTC balance, I'd have kept it in PDF417 in a safe deposit box, not on someone's servers. Retweeted by lensassaman https://twitter.com/mentalguy/status/82552784876089344 https://twitter.com/mentalguy/status/82552784876089344 In reply to Mary Gardiner wishing the damn "kids would get off her lawn": @hypatiadotca As a cypherpunk entering middle age, I have one word in response to that: Bitcoin. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82638700185530368 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82638700185530368 @jonmatonis has your opinion of bitcoin's anonymity (or rather, lack off) finally changed? https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/84184691892166656 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/84184691892166656 Ugh, another stupid article claiming "anonymity is inherent in Bitcoin." Dear reporters: please stop sucking. | http://j.mp/iU2paU http://j.mp/iU2paU https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81431725510635521 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81431725510635521 @dredeyedick That only works if you want to leave the inflated value of Bitcoin on the table; otherwise you must cash out before the crash. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81121594373709825 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81121594373709825
- streptomycin 15y ago
  Those tweets read like someone who had a levelheaded view of Bitcoin, as compared to a minority of irrational Bitcoin fanboys. A Bitcoin bubble is a real issue. Volatility is a real issue. Anonymity is a real issue. Despite those issues, Bitcoin is still really cool.
JeremyBanks 15y ago
Wait 'till somebody encodes child porn in the block-chain... BitCoin will be illegal a week. Pirated material works too, but that would probably be legislated against a bit more slowly.
- templaedhel 15y ago
  This ASCII is child porn. I can tell by some of the characters, and having seen many unicodes in my day.
  - drdaeman 15y ago
    yEnc or Base64-encoded JPEG image?

68 points by trotsky 15y ago

lep 15y ago

I wonder if he will talk about it in this lecture [1]. [1]: http://events.ccc.de/camp/2011/Fahrplan/events/4555.en.html http://events.ccc.de/camp/2011/Fahrplan/events/4555.en.html

jf 15y ago
Yes, he will. He will also be talking about it at Blackhat.

X-Istence 15y ago

Could someone explain what this means?

dfc 15y ago
Who Len was or what the blockchain is? Len Sassaman was a very prominent member of the cypherpunk community who recently passed away. The blockchain is the record of all transactions that the bitcoin network has processed. The blockchain is how bitcoin clients know who sent how many bitcoins and to whom.
- kiba 15y ago
  Can you explain what Dan Kaminsky is trying to do with the Genesis block? Edit: corrected for improper terminology. I understand now.
  - dfc 15y ago
    I do not know what the genesis blockchain is.
  - soult 15y ago
    You are mixing two different terms here: The blockchain is a list of transactions that are linked to each other using cryptographic functions. Each block in the chain links to it's parent block. The genesis block is the first block created, it has no parent block. As proof that Bitcoin wasn't started before a specific date, the block references a The Times headline ("Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks"). Dan Kaminsky figured out a way to embed ascii text into the block chain. I did not try to find out how he did it, but he probably created some transactions that include those strings. If you want to find out more about how he did it, he will give a talk at the Chaois Communications Camp related to Bitcoin.
- X-Istence 15y ago
  I knew who Len Sassaman was. I did not know how the blockchain worked, or how Dan Kaminsky and Travis Goodspeed added this tribute to it.
incant 15y ago
(Presumably) Dan Kaminsky and Travis Goodspeed modified a bitcoin miner so that when it found a block, it would embed this tribute inside one of its unused field. (or rather, it embeds it in the transaction that is created as a part of generating a new block, the "coinbase".)

kiba 15y ago

Um, this is not part of the bitcoin block-chain? The bitcoin blockchain started way back in 2009. Nice try? Perhaps this guy is Satoshi Nakamoto? I am confused.

tlrobinson 15y ago
The block chain is always growing. This was recently added to it.
- kiba 15y ago
  Edit: Never mind, I understand.
trotsky 15y ago
Sure it is. You can verify it yourself. [tsl@pepper ~]$ strings -n 20 ~/.bitcoin/blk0001.dat | tail -3 :TXXXWw,_ "), ,wWT: ::TTXXWWW lXl WWT: ----END TRIBUTE---- [tsl@pepper ~]$ The bitcoin blockchain contains a record of every verified transaction that's happened to date - it needs this information to verify new transactions. Sometime in the last 500 blocks or so, Kaminsky and Goodspeed used a trick to embed this memorial inside a transaction, which is then dutifully stored by all bitcoin clients.
- rphlx 15y ago
  One wonders how the creators intend to scale a system where every user needs the entire past state of every coin..
  - drivebyacct2 15y ago
    How else are you going to guarantee the irreversibility and proof in such a system? The block chain was very much a careful design consideration. Every user doesn't even need the full set of transactions. I buy and sell bitcoins and have only run the desktop client for a few minutes to see what it looked like.
  - wcoenen 15y ago

Astrohacker 15y ago

I verified it by typing in the command. The ASCII Bernanke is truly hilarious.

Groxx 15y ago

That's quite the memorial. And that ASCII Bernanke is STARING INTO MY SOUL O_O.

cop359 15y ago

" coauthor and cofounder and Shmoo and so much more. " A typo immortalized?

jackolas 15y ago
Could be because of the width constraint (could be self imposed)
- jf 15y ago
  The method that Dan Kaminsky used is subject to a width constraint in Bitcoin.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

georgemcbay 15y ago

This is veering off the original topic, but isn't the ability to embed arbitrary text into the blockchain a bit problematic? Suppose a nefarious actor embedded text under current copyright (that s/he did not own) into the chain? (or other data, though presumably text is the only medium where a possibly significant violation seems likely given the size limitations).

davidu 15y ago

It's a nice tribute to Len. Len's indirectly the reason I live in San Francisco today, and why I moved here without a job after graduating college. Through Len I met people who are my close friends in the hacker community today. The last time I heard from Len was four days before his death, and sadly, there was no indication that there was anything amiss. I'm not sure of the exact circumstances of Len's passing, and I'll probably never really know. Instead, I'll just say that for all of you reading this today -- if you suffer from depression or feel a deep darkness over you, please seek help. Depression is a disease, and it can be treated. So while it may seem hopeless, or that nobody knows of the deep burden you carry, give it a chance. There was a time you felt good, even if it's hard to remember right now, and there's a way to get back to that place. RIP Len. ;-(

kragen 15y ago

It's a lovely tribute to Len. It's perhaps worth pointing out that he was not a fan of Bitcoin. Here are some of his Bitcoin-related Tweets over the last few weeks of his life: @glynmoody I wasn't happy with EFF's original acceptance of bitcoin, but I agree with you that their reasons for reversing course are "eh." https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/83095852104695809 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/83095852104695809 @znmeb Ah, then you'd be missing the people advising their mothers to put their life savings into Bitcoin while they still can get in on it. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82850601876205568 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82850601876205568 @mentalguy The question is, though, just how much of Bitcoin's success is due to irrational exuberance? I think most of it. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82754572958961664 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82754572958961664 mentalguy RT @mentalguy Also, if I had a significant BTC balance, I'd have kept it in PDF417 in a safe deposit box, not on someone's servers. Retweeted by lensassaman https://twitter.com/mentalguy/status/82552784876089344 https://twitter.com/mentalguy/status/82552784876089344 In reply to Mary Gardiner wishing the damn "kids would get off her lawn": @hypatiadotca As a cypherpunk entering middle age, I have one word in response to that: Bitcoin. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82638700185530368 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/82638700185530368 @jonmatonis has your opinion of bitcoin's anonymity (or rather, lack off) finally changed? https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/84184691892166656 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/84184691892166656 Ugh, another stupid article claiming "anonymity is inherent in Bitcoin." Dear reporters: please stop sucking. | http://j.mp/iU2paU http://j.mp/iU2paU https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81431725510635521 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81431725510635521 @dredeyedick That only works if you want to leave the inflated value of Bitcoin on the table; otherwise you must cash out before the crash. https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81121594373709825 https://twitter.com/lensassaman/status/81121594373709825

streptomycin 15y ago
Those tweets read like someone who had a levelheaded view of Bitcoin, as compared to a minority of irrational Bitcoin fanboys. A Bitcoin bubble is a real issue. Volatility is a real issue. Anonymity is a real issue. Despite those issues, Bitcoin is still really cool.

JeremyBanks 15y ago

Wait 'till somebody encodes child porn in the block-chain... BitCoin will be illegal a week. Pirated material works too, but that would probably be legislated against a bit more slowly.

templaedhel 15y ago
This ASCII is child porn. I can tell by some of the characters, and having seen many unicodes in my day.
- drdaeman 15y ago
  yEnc or Base64-encoded JPEG image?