The steps shouldn't be too hard. Implementation probably requires some coding though.

1) Have the buyer create a private key, and send you the public key. If vanitygen has an option for producing the public keys along with addresses from private keys, this would be ideal. Even if it doesn't, IIRC vanitygen is written in python, so it shouldn't be too hard to modify it to print the public key along with the private key and address.

2) Have a program that generates private keys and public keys. Have it add the buyer's public key (the one he sent you) to each of your public keys before hashing it to get an address. Again, adding this step in the vanitygen code shouldn't be too difficult... hard-code his public key if necessary.

3) When you find an address that matches what the buyer wants, send him the private key that matches YOUR public key (the one you added to his to get the address.)

4) The buyer then adds your private key to his, does a little bit of math (step #4 of JoelKatz's instructions), and now has a new private key, one that you don't have and can't get, and can use it to get the address you found. A few lines of code would be all that's required to do this math, but you may have to provide the program to buyers.

Actually... there's probably a few bitcents in donations to be made from someone packaging all this into one or two simple little programs or vanitygen mods (not sure the vanitygen code's license approves of that though.)

That's sounds pretty odd.

Well, if you're willing to post enough personal info about the transaction (or send it to Jan) your coins can be tracked, which will provide clues as to what happened. Not that that would recover your coins if they were sent to the wrong address....

At the very least, the address the coins were sent from, and where they were sent to, would probably be needed.

Alternatively, have you tried copying the private key and importing it into another client?

There are a number of advantages to using local currencies. I think the disconnect here is that you seem to feel a community would try to ONLY rely on it's local currency. I doubt that would happen, and any community that tried it (short of one as big as NYC or a small European nation) would probably find it infeasible.

Just like nature favors biological diversity in an ecosystem to provide protection from some sort of systemic biological attack/threat, a large, free economy that is healthy should (and naturally would) spontaneously result in some degree of monetary diversity. Local currencies are one way of this occuring.

Now, as to whether a p2p digital currency susceptible to a 51% processing-powered attack is a good idea for a local currency, that's another issue entirely. If something similar is REALLY wanted, a few thoughts come to mind immediately:

(1) Some degree of centralization is probably required to make it work, and keep it local. Maybe create a system with, say 100 licenses (sold or given away to locals, whichever), which are unique keys required to mine valid blocks. Every X blocks, a minimum of Y% of the licensees must come together to produce a new set of 100 "license keys", so that if one or more are stolen/lost, the effect on the system is eventually removed, and so companies can leave/enter the PhoenixCoin mining business without worrying whether a previous miner kept a copy of their license key.

(2) With some degree of centralization in place, and a more local structure, you can probably alter the difficulty function so that initial confirmations occur much faster on average (maybe two minutes?) Even with that, as long as most of the license keys can be kept secure, it shouldn't take very many confirms to have a reasonable degree of confidence in a transaction's irreversibility.

(3) If you could also throw together an automated, open-source p2p exchange client facilitating PhoenixCoin <-> Bitcoin trade and eliminating fraud (by mutually locking the corresponding transactions, or even just through escrow via the PhoenixCoin miners) you'd probably encourage a lot of use in the currency right off.

Hmm. I'm actually quite interested to see if this could be pulled off.

You can check all pending/unconfirmed bitcoin transactions at bitcoincharts.com. Search for your address there and make sure the transaction was sent. If it's neither there nor in the blockchain, then there may be a problem.

No, it wouldn't (just think about it for a minute.)

That's the whole problem with these sorts of proposals.

This looks promising!

I notice they don't have a bitcoin donation address yet though.

Yep. Earthlings now have a near-foolproof way to send messages to their planet 47 years into the future. Great for "boomerang backups", leaving behind informational time capsules, or just confusing the heck out of your descendents with fake news broadcasts.

 

Or just wait here and re-record it in 47 years when it bounces off that... *whatever* sending our signals back....

http://www.rimmell.com/bbc/news.htm

Got my three copies yesterday. And yes, I have to say, overall great content. 

But I also have to mention that yes, I noticed page three, bottom right corner. Really guys? With everything else looking so polished and professional, you just HAD to go there, didn't you? *sighs*

Anyway, here's looking forward to issue #2.

Interesting, but it's not good enough.

That paper details a method whereby the sender of coins can easily defraud the recipient(s), and simply shrugs it off because the fraud would eventually be detected.

Take about $30 of it and get some of George's baklava. Seriously. It's that good.

http://mandrik.com

I got an order completed early this week for TracFone minutes that went very smoothly. It's convenient to be able to refill just by sending numbers back and forth online... Bitcoin was made for services like this.

Yeah. I could buy this.

Trace away. The blockchain is public.

But how exactly will the thief be positively identified? Is the intent to simply finger and prosecute the first person in the chain with an identifiable address who won't (or can't) give a "good" explanation as to how he wound up with "stolen" funds?

I can't believe there are prominent members of the Bitcoin community promoting this nonsense yet again.

This whole thing is moot, or even a can of worms too large to deal with, since we don't even know Bitcoinica had their coins stolen. So, for me, I'll start taking this talk seriously when the advocates of this "tainting" business give proof that coins were ever stolen in the first place.

But they know they can't.

Because Bitcoinica can't.

They can't prove that they themselves didn't just take the coins for whatever reason. They can't prove they aren't in collusion with the alleged thief. They can NEVER prove that they don't have the private key that the bulk of coins eventually gets sent to, to be stored away for 10 years and finally retrieved after this is long forgotten, and Bitcoin 2.0 has been developed to hide the source of a funds transfer.

That's not to say that no theft occurred. Nor is it to say that the alleged thief is guilty of no crime. And it's certainly not to say that asking money from some yokel claiming it's stolen has no moral implications.

But it's outright nonsense to take the position that anyone discovered to have bitcoins traceable back to a "theft" address needs to send them to whoever claimed they were stolen, or else suffer some consequence. If you take that position, you clearly don't realize what you're advocating.

Well-deserved in this case. Thanks again for the excellent service!

Sell vanity addresses.

It was recently discussed on the forums (I'd have to look it up) that it's not too difficult to have someone request a vanity address and you produce it in a way where you don't have access to the private key.

If you actually get this setup, let us know, there seems to be quite a demand for this.

I'll bet.

Too bad I can't make it to Porcfest.

Just have to throw in my review: I recently had some of George's baklava, and it was absolutely delicious. I shared with friends, and everyone who tried it loved it (well, a couple of folks only admitted to merely liking it, but funny enough they've been asking when I'm ordering more. )

I can't resist, I'm going to have to place another order....

Also: I tried it warm, and I tried it chilled. I should have trusted the baker on this, warm is good, but chilled is so much better.