Monthly Archives: July 2011

Bitcoin is Subject to Traffic Analysis

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Bitcoin is not securely anonymous. The publication of all spends creates a data pool that allows a motivated monitor to infer money flow facts about some users, and given the small number of key intermediaries would allow them to infer even more.

This is a straight-forward passive analysis of public data that allows us to de-anonymize considerable portions of the Bitcoin network. We can use tools from network analysis to visualize egocentric networks and to follow the flow of Bitcoins. This can help us identify several centralized services that may have even more details about interesting users. We can also apply techniques such as community finding, block modeling, network flow algorithms, etc. to better understand the network.

An Analysis of Anonymity in the Bitcoin System: Bitcoin is not Anonymous. Spotted via Slashdot, Bitcoin Is Not Anonymous.

Posted in Cryptography | Comments Off on Bitcoin is Subject to Traffic Analysis

Telex, Coming to a Planet Near You

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

James Grimmelmann’s neat description of the Telex project and its implications is the most interesting thing I’ve read today this week this fortnight in some time.

Must reading for anyone interested in crypto policy, free speech, or internet freedom generally.

Posted in Cryptography, Internet, Law: Free Speech | Comments Off on Telex, Coming to a Planet Near You

Annotating PDFs — the Missing Function?

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

The NYT has an article on a subject I’ve been forced to care about, since my office is now effectively more-or-less paperless (it is actually almost fileless, but for most purposes why have paper if you can’t keep it?): How to live without a printer.

The key recommendation in Getting By Without a Computer Printer is pretty obvious:

You can limit contact with your printer by becoming more familiar with PDFs

But the problem with .pdf’s is that I don’t know how to annotate them. I know how to take notes in the margin of a paper document. How do I replicate this virtually, easily, and visibly on a .pdf?

Posted in Sufficiently Advanced Technology | 8 Comments

News of the Weird

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

A woman is suing JetBlue for making her prove to them that she was wearing underwear.

The strange thing about this story is that it didn’t happen in Florida.

Oh wait. It was a flight from LaGuardia to Florida. So that’s OK then.

Posted in Law: Right to Travel | Comments Off on News of the Weird

Cynical. But Wrong?

Posted on July 23, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

Jonathan Schwarz offers a very cynical contrast in Barack Obama Is Powerless Before the Majesty of the Law, contrasting (1) Obama’s acceptance of the (IMHO correct) advice of (all of?) his lawyers that he should not rely on an interpretation of the 14th Amendment that would have allowed him to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally with (2) Obama’s rejection of the (IMHO correct) advice of (most of) his lawyers that he lacked the authority to bomb Libya unilaterally.

Schwartz’s conclusion: “Of course, as people with a sophisticated understanding of the law know, there’s a huge difference between ignoring the debt ceiling and bombing Libya. For instance: Obama wants to bomb Libya.”

To be fair, the consensus on the 14th Amendment issue is probably wider than on the War Powers issue, but even so.

Posted in Law: Constitutional Law, Politics: US | 2 Comments

Shorter Obama Press Conference

Posted on July 22, 2011 by Michael Froomkin

“I tried repeatedly to surrender to the House GOP, but they wouldn’t take even my most abject surrender. I have summoned them back to the White House tomorrow morning in another attempt to force them to accept it. If worst comes to worst, and they will not accept my surrender, I am prepared to accept theirs, but I really don’t like it, and will use the opportunity to campaign against Democratic values in the next election.”

Posted in 2012 Election, Econ & Money | 15 Comments