So it is complete FUD - no normal Bitcoin client works like this at all.

You'd need some specially created Bitcoin client that uses something like OP_RETURN data as an executable (and I don't believe there even is such software in existence unless Kaspersky created it just to published this FUD article).

You have checked with pings to be sure about that (as even up to 100 milliseconds might not be noticed if you are just judging by eye)?

Also - I'm not 100% certain but I think that VPNs that use UDP actually tend to run faster than those using TCP (but less reliably of course) so if your VPN doesn't seem slower than going direct then it is perhaps more likely that it is using UDP.

If that is the case it might simply be that your VPNs software "emulation" of TCP via UDP works more reliably than *actual TCP* (so the issue would in that case just be due to the 3G poor quality connection losing packets).

The other possibility is that your country is screwing with your internet (like the Great Chinese Firewall does) which would be the simplest explanation for VPN working more reliably than a direct connection. If that is what your problem is then you really have little choice except to use the VPN or a tunnel.

I am calling FUD as sure you can embed arbitrary data in the blockchain but "so what"?

You can embed arbitrary data in .jpg's (steganography) - does that make it dangerous to view a .jpg (or more relevant to the OP to even store it on your computer)?

Unless they are talking about a bug in Bitcoin Script (which clearly they are not) then it really is just FUD (and Kaspersky have lost all credibility in my view with this).

I guess it could indicate an issue with the 3G device's connectivity (maybe it is just losing a lot of packets due to poor signal).

Your VPN software might be using UDP rather than TCP which perhaps could explain why it appears to work better via the VPN (but quite a bit slower I would think if this was the case).

Hmm... both were 3G or one 3G and one ADSL (or other)?

Maybe (if he is using the same ISP) - if you have more than one internet provider (by using say a 3G internet USB device) then you could try via the different ISP (without the VPN).

If it works perfectly via 3G but not via your normal ISP then it is far more likely to be due to IP blocking.

@theymos - I've noticed when pinging since the IP change there is a "non-specific reverse DNS" entry:


This might cause the forum to have troubles emailing users (unrelated to the OP but just thought I'd mention this).

The pings indicate it simply is unable to access the server which perhaps is due to timeouts if your internet connection is slow (although I guess DDoS protection might block pings).

Also note that although you might not be doing anything suspicious if another user with a very close IP address is up to no good then DDoS blocking could affect you also.

Chinese banks already do (as do their equivalent of PayPal) so to be more correct perhaps "western banks" should be in the OP title.

I have found from personal experience that if you transfer funds from one province to another then it cannot be reversed (if the funds have already been withdrawn from the other end for sure although am not sure whether reversal would be possible if the funds haven't).

Edit: Also I am pretty sure that SWIFT transfers cannot be reversed.

No - what happened was that I was unable to "quote" any other post (gave an error) and then no-one was able to see any new posts via the Watchlist - so I locked it as there was simply no point to the topic.

Interesting how that happened maybe.

Well - interesting that I was unable to "quote" any posts nor see any of them from the Watchlist (and as no further posts have occurred then seemingly no-one else can see replies also).

If I was into conspiracy theories I would think that "ad-sig" mods had somehow accomplished this feat.

Maybe this is a new bug - as I can't even see your post when I click on Watchlist (it is simply not showing up and complaining that the topic has "gone" if I hit the "quote" button).

I have never seen this before in self-moderated topics (and the topic is in my watchlist).

Perhaps it is related to the topic having being moved?

(I am well aware how to manually do "quotes" but interestingly now no replies are happening - so my guess is that something has gone "funny" with this topic or you all got immediately bored with it - if it is the latter then I'll lock it shortly)

Then your statement "everything is for money" is clearly incorrect in my case.

(I'd quote you but the forum software is not allowing me to - which is kind of strange)

Here is an interesting thing - now I am unable to hit the "quote" button on any of the posts above.

Why is that?

(it says the post is not there)

My own sig contains no link to any commercial website or any way I can actually obtain funds so to imply that is an "ad-sig" is stretching things to a rather ridiculous level (to be expected of trolls though).

Everything is for money? Then explain why I code?

(hint - what is "open source" really about)

Admittedly I can't back up my 99% claim (so it could be vastly exaggerated) but I would be very surprised if the percentage of useless posts was under 50% (am not sure how we can prove this though).

Personally I am opposed to people getting paid to post at all but maybe that is also because I don't get paid to code (yet put in generally a hundred hours per week of coding effort).

And yes - I won't continue a discussion with an ad-sig poster any further (he is welcome to create an alt to join the other topic - but like most lazy ad-sig posters he won't bother).

It has been tried several times but unfortunately they get attacked by the ad-sig posters (which is why you have to self-moderate them) and by the mods themselves (yes - unfortunately most of the mods have ad-sigs).

The whole "ad-sig" this has IMO become a major blight on this once useful forum (that is now mostly full of useless posts).

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1019792.0

Although there are some "ad-sig" posters that make decent posts the problem is that IMO that is about 1% at most (so the rest of us have to put up with a huge amount of rubbish to allow a small percentage of people who aren't posting rubbish "to make money").

It's actually hard to even understand why a forum dedicated to "open source software" even does this.

Would you guys really support that bitcoin.org was filled with ads and that all Bitcoin clients would display ad sigs in them also? (of course not - you'd scream bloody murder if they did that).

So rules in this topic are simple.

If you have an ad-sig I delete your post - so if you are an ad-sig poster and want to defend ad-sig posting then you can simply create a brand new account with no ad-sig and post away.

BTW - a sig that is not part of any ad-sig campaign is generally not considered an "ad-sig" (for those who want to argue minutia) although that will very much depend upon any links that the sig might have.

The point of this topic?

I believe that ad-sig posters make posts to make money (and generally make very poor quality posts). For those that want to "prove" that they don't then simply "drop your ad-sig" (or create a new alt) and prove it.