4 ms·

Bitmessage uses proof-of-work to prevent spam. "When you send a message, your client must first compute a Proof of Work (POW). This POW helps mitigate spam on

by grubles 12y ago

Bitmessage uses proof-of-work to prevent spam. "When you send a message, your client must first compute a Proof of Work (POW). This POW helps mitigate spam on the network. Nodes and other clients will not process your message if it does not show sufficient POW. After the POW is complete, your message is shared to all of your connections which in turn share it with all of their connections." https://bitmessage.org/wiki/Proof_of_work https://bitmessage.org/wiki/Proof_of_work https://bitmessage.org/wiki/FAQ#How_does_Bitmessage_work https://bitmessage.org/wiki/FAQ#How_does_Bitmessage_work

ncza 12y ago
So what does a message actually cost in terms of dollars, power, time? How does it prevent low volume spam?
- cwyers 12y ago
  And that may prevent botspam, although I'm skeptical. But I seriously doubt it will have an effect on abuse (people stalking others, posting harrassing Tweets, etc.)
  - rcoder 12y ago
    This. The project homepage literally claims (as a good thing) that "...no one can censor you. No one can remove your posts. Your account cannot be blocked." So not only does this not help with abusive behavior, it states that abuse will live forever and be impossible to block or filter. /me shudders
    - smokeyj 12y ago
      Almost like the Internet. So spooky
      - rcoder 12y ago
        Rather different, actually. If I decide your inbound SMTP mail is spam, I can block it. Ditto for blog comments, XMPP contact requests, or really most any protocol in use on the public Internet b/c of course there will be griefers and spammers and all kinds of bad out there and we need tools to filter and protect against it. You have the right to say anything you want (though not without consequences). Conversely, I should have the right to literally not see/hear it once I've decided it is causing me harm. Claiming that your platform/protocol makes this impossible just sounds naive at best and nefarious at worst to me.

by grubles 12y ago

ncza 12y ago

So what does a message actually cost in terms of dollars, power, time? How does it prevent low volume spam?

cwyers 12y ago
And that may prevent botspam, although I'm skeptical. But I seriously doubt it will have an effect on abuse (people stalking others, posting harrassing Tweets, etc.)
- rcoder 12y ago
  This. The project homepage literally claims (as a good thing) that "...no one can censor you. No one can remove your posts. Your account cannot be blocked." So not only does this not help with abusive behavior, it states that abuse will live forever and be impossible to block or filter. /me shudders
  - smokeyj 12y ago
    Almost like the Internet. So spooky
    - rcoder 12y ago
      Rather different, actually. If I decide your inbound SMTP mail is spam, I can block it. Ditto for blog comments, XMPP contact requests, or really most any protocol in use on the public Internet b/c of course there will be griefers and spammers and all kinds of bad out there and we need tools to filter and protect against it. You have the right to say anything you want (though not without consequences). Conversely, I should have the right to literally not see/hear it once I've decided it is causing me harm. Claiming that your platform/protocol makes this impossible just sounds naive at best and nefarious at worst to me.