Author: Michael English Date: To: tails-dev Subject: Re: [Tails-dev] Set coin selection to "privacy" by default in
Electrum
Anonym,
Please Cc me with any replies. For some reason, I am unable to subscribe
to the list.
Anonym: > Note that I haven't chimed in with my opinion yet. :) I think intrigeri
> is just careful: privacy features are routinely exaggerated in their
> efficacy and can easily have many unexpected effects; for instance,
> playing with such parameters often introduces fingerprintability
> ("this user seems to have enabled the non-default feature X, which
> Tails enables, so +1 indication that this is a Tails user"). It's
> hard to weigh weigh such advantages and disadvantages against each
> other, especially when the domain (blockchain) is not well-known,
> which at least is the case for me (intrigeri has read up in the past
> weeks for other reasons, so he's definitely in a better position to
> evaluate).
Increased fingerprintability is not at all relevant here. Consider
adding uBlock Origin to the Tor Browser as an example of increasing the
fingerprint left by Tails users. Websites could check whether a client
using Tor is blocking ads to narrow down that the user is a Tails user.
The coin selection that I recommend changing happens entirely offline.
No remote servers are involved in the creation of a new transaction.
Once the transaction is broadcast to the Bitcoin network, the
fingerprintability actually goes down as the transaction looks more
generic. Remember that all transactions will have inputs and outputs
that appear the same to the network. The change here is selecting inputs
that reveal less about the user’s total bitcoin balance.
> So, if the decision comes down to me, I'd delegate to our community.
> That's also hard. Now we have two voices in favour, none against,
> and some probably good arguments for those that know how the
> blockchain works. If we can get some argument why enabling this
> feature won't have nasty consequences (e.g. increased
> fingerprintability) and get some more people to join in support for
> this change, I'd do it. I am afraid this is the best I can do.
Is anyone else in favor or against this change? My attempt is to make
privacy a default option in Tails.
