[EM] A secure distributed election scheme based on Bitcoin's Proof-of-Work protocol

[Duane Johnson]

> what unmet need does it address?

The Byzantine General's problem: http://paulbohm.com/bitcoin-decentralization/

Another way to look at the innovation in bitcoin is it provides a
"distributed notary service".

Duane

On Jun 17, 2011, at 11:25 PM, robert bristow-johnson
<rbj at audioimagination.com> wrote:

>
> On Jun 17, 2011, at 11:03 PM, Duane Johnson wrote:
>
>> > I consider bitcoin, if this is all the security it has, to be garbage proposed by incompetents.
>>
>> A fairly strong reaction to a new idea. If it is truly garbage, it will come to naught. But if not, perhaps there is something to be learned.
>
> i heard a story on NPR about it and haven't understood what it is really about.  what unmet need does it address?
>
> as far as e-transfer of money, i think that public-key encryption (with sufficient bits in the key) is good enough.  it's just an electronic way to send a check, which is merely an order to your bank to transfer some of your money to someone else.  with paper checks, the paper with your signature (that can be checked) is the physical instrument.
>
> with public-key, all they need to do is verify the signature by decrypting against your public key which is on record, and they know the bank order came from you, or your computer.
>
> i also think that everything else is a gimmick.
>
> --
>
> r b-j                  rbj at audioimagination.com
>
> "Imagination is more important than knowledge."
>
>
>
>