4 ms·

If you're giving someone access to a service that you can revoke (e.g. web hosting, VPN, etc), it doesn't seem like there's any practical risk in optimistically

by rictic 14y ago

If you're giving someone access to a service that you can revoke (e.g. web hosting, VPN, etc), it doesn't seem like there's any practical risk in optimistically giving someone access once you see the spend hit the bitcoin network. It's not infeasible to do that in a matter of seconds. If you're shipping something physical you're not going to be working on a timescale less than an hour anyways. Really the only time that I see Bitcoin's transaction processing speed being an issue is when you're doing a moderate to large transaction where waiting around would be inconvenient.

cookiecaper 14y ago
Someone can chain fake btc transactions to your system granting themselves an infinite supply of access on short-lived accounts if you accept an immediate validation.
- zhoutong 14y ago
  No one can ever fake transactions out of thin air. Bitcoin is cryptography. The requirement for confirmation is due to possible double spending, which will cost far more than a VPN account to do it successfully (to cheat a 0-confirmation system).
  - rictic 14y ago
    Yes. A reliable double spend attack would require many millions of dollars worth of machines, and would be noticeable and verifiable (you could provably say "hey I just got a double spend from this account for this amount"). This means that you're unlikely to get the money in that case (depending on what the community wanted to do in response) but you could reasonably expect to know if people are issuing double spends. I don't think it is in the interest of miners (the ones who have already invested, in sum, millions in mining machines) to collude for double spends except on incredibly valuable transactions, as it would undermine the value of Bitcoin, which they are profiting from and have significant investment in.
- scalable 14y ago
  This is a problem that can easily be dealt with if/when it arises.
ehsanu1 14y ago
Buying a download is another case - can't revoke that.
- rictic 14y ago
  True, there's something of a tradeoff to make there in terms of waiting vs risk. This is the case with existing payment systems to some extent as well, isn't it? Blizzard for example recently took some heat with regard to fully activating digital downloads of Diablo 3, saying that it typically takes around a day, but may take as long as 72 hours. Speculation was that this was a response to spammers fraudulently buying short-lived accounts (perhaps with stolen credit card numbers, or issuing chargebacks). 1] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/diablo-iii-digital-purchases-can-be-limited-for-up-to-72-hours/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/diablo-iii-digital-pur...

by rictic 14y ago

cookiecaper 14y ago

Someone can chain fake btc transactions to your system granting themselves an infinite supply of access on short-lived accounts if you accept an immediate validation.

zhoutong 14y ago
No one can ever fake transactions out of thin air. Bitcoin is cryptography. The requirement for confirmation is due to possible double spending, which will cost far more than a VPN account to do it successfully (to cheat a 0-confirmation system).
- rictic 14y ago
  Yes. A reliable double spend attack would require many millions of dollars worth of machines, and would be noticeable and verifiable (you could provably say "hey I just got a double spend from this account for this amount"). This means that you're unlikely to get the money in that case (depending on what the community wanted to do in response) but you could reasonably expect to know if people are issuing double spends. I don't think it is in the interest of miners (the ones who have already invested, in sum, millions in mining machines) to collude for double spends except on incredibly valuable transactions, as it would undermine the value of Bitcoin, which they are profiting from and have significant investment in.
scalable 14y ago
This is a problem that can easily be dealt with if/when it arises.

ehsanu1 14y ago

Buying a download is another case - can't revoke that.

rictic 14y ago
True, there's something of a tradeoff to make there in terms of waiting vs risk. This is the case with existing payment systems to some extent as well, isn't it? Blizzard for example recently took some heat with regard to fully activating digital downloads of Diablo 3, saying that it typically takes around a day, but may take as long as 72 hours. Speculation was that this was a response to spammers fraudulently buying short-lived accounts (perhaps with stolen credit card numbers, or issuing chargebacks). 1] http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/diablo-iii-digital-purchases-can-be-limited-for-up-to-72-hours/ http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2012/06/diablo-iii-digital-pur...