virtual_master wrote:phelix wrote:
On the other hand side I believe Namecoin/.bit is an improvement in terms of privacy compared to the legacy domain registration and browsing system.
Exactly.
So in this sense for those who are knowing only the legacy domain system and they are waiting an answer of YES/NO if it is anonymous to answer with YES (it is anonymous) is most closed to the truth. So I wouldn't call fraudulent those who are giving this short answer in some situations. For those who are aware of the full scale of deanonymization attacks which some globally acting companies and organizations can do, the best answer for them could be NO. It depends of the context of the discussion.
However no answer could give a 100% correct representation of the facts because the question is very complex.
phelix wrote:+1 to all the above
Browsing .bit domains should be viewed separately from using Namecoin itself. Anonymous browsing of .bit is rather difficult to achieve as of today, especially since FreeSpeechMe does not yet work with TorBrowser.
To give a more precise answer this could be a first step to differentiate between coin transactions like in Bitcoin and domain(or other name) operations or domain browsing.
Coin transactions are very similar with Bitcoin and they are a lot of topics about their anonymity so I wouldn't go in detail.
Domain and other name specific issues are more characteristic to Namecoin.
If we would like to determine the property anonymity of a system I would say it is not an additive value(like weight or length) so to speak about this property without comparing to other systems doesn't have sense at all. It is like hardness. Is bread hard ? Yes it is compared to butter but it is not compared to steel. Even if we would associate to the anonymity a value it would only mean that a system with a higher anonymity value is more anonymous but this value wouldn't say much alone.
However the situation is even more complex as we could cut the question in more details and we could find out that different systems could have a higher anonymity by an attack and lower by a different type of deanonymization attack.
Is egg harder then bread ? Outside yes but inside not.
Now how to make a short and best possible answer which could be valid for all ? Here we should take in consideration what is the specific purpose of Namecoin and which is the dominant domain/identity system.
Namecoin is definitely more censorship resistant but can be also more anonymous(if used properly) then the most other systems.
I think Domob's and Virtualmaster's reply comes very close to the answer if Namecoin is anonymous. So the honest answer if Namecoin is anonymous would be "yes" (assuming they are no pilot errors).
Additionally i want to add, that there is nothing between anonymous and not anonymous. Even in the case the real IP would be discovered, you would need the help of the government by asking the provider to reveal the person/organization behind it. This would be the case if they are assuming illegal activities in association with this IP address.
The most interesting thing is, that governments and people who live within these governments, doesn't have a unified law. This means, what is legal in one state is illegal in an other state, this is a general problem in the internet and the main problem. However they are laws which are nearly the same in every country and this is a good thing.
Whats does this mean? If a thing exists, it doesn't help to close the eyes or refuse talking about it in the hope it will vanish by doing so. So what is the real problem behind it ?
It think the answer is easy: the fear that Namecoin can be used for illegal activities by using it anonymous. I understand that this is an issue maybe, especially for people in the source development of Namecoin. The problem is that we all have to respect the freedom of speech and freedom of press as long it is legal. It doesn't help to make pressure and would only support the Streisand effect.
So how can we solve this? I could talk with the team helping at Facebook and maybe with the other social media operators just to remove the sentence "anonymous" from it - a minor thing and will take some time. But to underline it: Not talking about something, doesn't mean something does not exist. Also it could involve a bad taste talking about free speech and not supporting it really. Also it is a problem at all, because some people always say "this is a good thing" while other say "this is bad". This is a general "problem" in every democracy, which is solved by making elections, asking a statistically significant amount of people (speaking in terms of mathematics) and by orientating to the majority.
I would encourage an entry in the Namecoin Wiki: "Is Namecoin anonymous ?", giving a honest answer AND to add a disclaimer that the Namecoin development, doesn't encourage or support using it illegal. I could support this, by adding it on Facebook as well and talking with the other operators to support this idea. Would this be a good solution?
Additionally i would like to add, that i would be happy if we could work better together by using a more polite and respectful way, keeping in mind, that everybody tries his/her best.
By working together we have the chance to increase the strength of Namecoin development in general. If somebody wants to help: your are most welcome. From my side i am open to improvements, suggestions or helping by writing interesting articles with reliable information, though it's not easy (not to say nearly impossible) to satisfy everybody. For example if you think that we could help you by publishing articles, asking for funding the Namecoin development team: No problem, just ask for it and let us work together. Another idea would be a direct call for additional developers, which are interested in Namecoin source development.
I would like to see this improving in the future and i am sure we will get a good consensus, by staying polite and objective.
Thanks to all people by discussing this and especially Phelix for the invitation this discussion. On this way we have the chance to improve teamwork with the target to improve Namecoin at all. Chinese people prefer to say: every bad thing includes a good thing in it.
If it helps: here is a paper from Trend Micro, analyzing Namecoin >
http://www.trendmicro.com.au/cloud-cont ... omains.pdf
Regards,
Sudo.