New .bit proxy. Just append .pe to URL.

[pitbull]

I've set up a proxy for .bit domains. You can visit any .bit domain by adding .pe to the end, so that example.bit becomes example.bit.pe. It's still under development, but working nonetheless.

Khal & phelix, would you mind sharing how you set up your proxy that did the same, and why you stopped it?

More info can be found @ namecoin.org/proxy

[phelix]

Cool. Works like a charm.

I have never set up a proxy service myself.

[georgem]

this doesn't work anymore, am I right?

with test.bit.pe I am redirected to fma.com (Future Media Architects)

Seems to be the case with every *.bit.pe subdomain.

Did they scoop your domain bit.pe or what?

[biolizard89]

this doesn't work anymore, am I right?

with test.bit.pe I am redirected to fma.com (Future Media Architects)

Seems to be the case with every *.bit.pe subdomain.

Did they scoop your domain bit.pe or what?

http://dot-bit.bit.pe/Main_Page doesn't redirect but it only displays partially for me.

That said, I'm not clear on why anyone would want to use a 3rd-party proxy for .bit, seeing as that defeats all the security and privacy advantages of .bit and actually makes it even worse than clearnet.

[gigabytecoin]

I have only been able to see some "future media architects" webpage when trying to access a .bit domain using .bit..pe

[AliceWonder]

I do not use namecoin, I use bitcoin (and sometimes post at their forum but not in a few months, same name I believe though it might have a number appended, probably 32 if it does)

First let me say I absolutely love the concept of distributed DNS that namecoin has. That is awesome.

I must however object to the promotion of the bit.pe DNS proxy. It is very dangerous.

Obviously the owner of bit.pe can do with it whatever they want, but namecoin should not be promoting it as a feature and in fact should discourage its use.

Whoever owns the bit.pe domain has the power to send those requesting subdomain.bit.pe any IP address they want. If users get use to adding .pe to the end of a .bit TLD so it resolves, that means than anyone who controlls the nameserver associated with bit.pe can do a man in the middle or phishing attack.

Maybe the administrator in charge of that domain is super admin and will never be hacked, but if it is ever hacked, it would allow the hackers to control what IP address is returned to the client.

Maybe the administrater in charge of that domain is even planning on this once use picks up. Trust No One.

It's a neat hack that allows .bit domains to resolve for the general public but it is very dangerous and this is not the kind of thing that should be endorsed by namecoin, and to be honest, i'm kind of shocked that namecoin is endorsing it. It doesn't give me a lot of faith in the security of namecoin that this obvious and serious social engineering flaw was not seen and pointed out from the start.

I do not mean to insult anyone, in my opinion namecoin is the one altcurrency I would consider using in addition to bitcoin and I do really like the concept of the distributed DNS, that is something desparately needed for a free Internet. But this .bit.pe domain is a bad idea that should not be encouraged.

Thank you for your time,

Alice Wonder

[biolizard89]

I do not use namecoin, I use bitcoin (and sometimes post at their forum but not in a few months, same name I believe though it might have a number appended, probably 32 if it does)

First let me say I absolutely love the concept of distributed DNS that namecoin has. That is awesome.

I must however object to the promotion of the bit.pe DNS proxy. It is very dangerous.

Obviously the owner of bit.pe can do with it whatever they want, but namecoin should not be promoting it as a feature and in fact should discourage its use.

Whoever owns the bit.pe domain has the power to send those requesting subdomain.bit.pe any IP address they want. If users get use to adding .pe to the end of a .bit TLD so it resolves, that means than anyone who controlls the nameserver associated with bit.pe can do a man in the middle or phishing attack.

Maybe the administrator in charge of that domain is super admin and will never be hacked, but if it is ever hacked, it would allow the hackers to control what IP address is returned to the client.

Maybe the administrater in charge of that domain is even planning on this once use picks up. Trust No One.

It's a neat hack that allows .bit domains to resolve for the general public but it is very dangerous and this is not the kind of thing that should be endorsed by namecoin, and to be honest, i'm kind of shocked that namecoin is endorsing it. It doesn't give me a lot of faith in the security of namecoin that this obvious and serious social engineering flaw was not seen and pointed out from the start.

I do not mean to insult anyone, in my opinion namecoin is the one altcurrency I would consider using in addition to bitcoin and I do really like the concept of the distributed DNS, that is something desparately needed for a free Internet. But this .bit.pe domain is a bad idea that should not be encouraged.

Thank you for your time,

Alice Wonder

Hi Alice,

First off, I agree 100% that using volunteer-run proxies is extremely risky, and that the administrator of this proxy did not appear to adequately disclose the risks. So, thank you for detailing the security issues in this proxy.

However, I must take issue with your claim that Namecoin as a project endorsed and promoted this proxy. The only mention of this proxy that I'm aware of is in this forum thread; this is hardly promotion. Of the two Namecoin senior members who commented in this thread, only one (phelix) said anything positive (and only said that it "works like a charm"); this does not seem to me to be endorsement, and certainly not of its security properties. On the contrary, I (the other senior member who posted) specifically said that this proxy "defeats all the security and privacy advantages of .bit and actually makes it even worse than clearnet." Can't get much more critical than that.

[AliceWonder]

I found out about the proxy on what I believe was the namecoin site, though I admit I could have drifted into a third party wiki - the page mentioned test.bit.pe as an example.

I'll try to find it again.

[AliceWonder]

This is the page where it appears -

http://namecoin.org/

Namecoin .Bit TLD Proxy
A proxy server has been set up to allow easier access to the .bit TLD from anywhere, as transparently as possible. Any .bit domain can now be visited in any browser, behind restrictive firewalls by appending ".pe" to the link: http://test.bit becomes http://test.bit.pe

All url's should work, as folder structures and file paths are proxied and passed along.

Why .pe?
Simple, the domain bit.pe was unregistered, and was the lowest-cost "bit" domain available.

Is namecoin.org run by the namecoin developers or a third party?

[biolizard89]

This is the page where it appears -

http://namecoin.org/

Namecoin .Bit TLD Proxy
A proxy server has been set up to allow easier access to the .bit TLD from anywhere, as transparently as possible. Any .bit domain can now be visited in any browser, behind restrictive firewalls by appending ".pe" to the link: http://test.bit becomes http://test.bit.pe

All url's should work, as folder structures and file paths are proxied and passed along.

Why .pe?
Simple, the domain bit.pe was unregistered, and was the lowest-cost "bit" domain available.

Is namecoin.org run by the namecoin developers or a third party?

namecoin.org is not run by the Namecoin developers to my knowledge (neither is namecoin.com); the only domains run by the Namecoin developers (as far as I know) are dot-bit.org and namecoin.info.