4 ms·
Yes, but that's not what "Total erasure of data" means. The project's goals are hard and noble. It would be better to under-promise and over-deliver than to ma
by ynniv 3y ago
Yes, but that's not what "Total erasure of data" means.
The project's goals are hard and noble. It would be better to under-promise and over-deliver than to make everyone question their claims. Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man at this point, but there are already too many caveat emptors in computing. They could have said "better" erasure of data.
- wharvle 3y agoIt's a handy feature to have in the protocol if you're operating detached networks using it, and can control all the clients. If you're using it as internal infrastructure. Which, personally, is the only way I've ever been interested in using these sorts of things. You're right that it's nigh-meaningless for a public cluster.
- ynniv 3y agoOk, but where exactly is that when the FBI is pulling Bitcoin private keys out of files accidentally synchronized to iCloud Files? These are hard problems.
- wharvle 3y agoI don't understand your concern. Guaranteed (if you control the clients, for ordinary values of "guaranteed", not, like, mathematically-rigorous ones) deletion is a handy feature if you need to be able to comply with regulations, or just want to be sure you're not wasting disk space on stuff you intended to delete, without having to do extra work. Attackers are a whole other matter, and their existence doesn't make the feature pointless, for the above reasons.
- ynniv 3y agodeletion is a handy feature if you need to be able to comply with regulations This is a good point, and "GDPR compliant erasure of data" would be a great way to explain it. As a user I can guess what that means, and as an engineer it doesn't sound like magic.
- detourdog 3y agoWhat is the point of noting trying to accomplish hard and noble things. I'm sure there are plenty of people willing to take shortcuts. I appreciate people trying to do something hard and noble.
- ynniv 3y agoMe too! But let's be honest about how things work.
- detourdog 3y agoI thought I was. I don't think it has much to do with the way the world works. I think it might have more to do with how one works the world. There are plenty of people that don't want to try the impossible but the impossible should be explored.
- rklaehn 3y agoPrefix pruning is a very different approach than tombstones. An update will actually remove data, and not just mark the data as removed. Maybe "total erasure of data" is a too strong promise, but the fact that you can not force nodes that you don't control to unsee things is common knowledge, so in my opinion this does not need a qualifier.