What skill sets should non-professional BTC-ers try to acquire?

[OROBTC]

...

I have made no secret here that I am not a pro at anything re BTC.  I had to learn most of what I know (and think I know) myself, although I did get some help along the way from people by email (also PeterR here at bitcointalk).

I may have more time in 2016 to learn some technology, but all of this is hard for me.  I did very poorly in my computer programming in college decades ago.  My only real quantitative skills are SQL and statistics.  

So, I am curious to learn what some of you think would be good skills to start learning (basic level!).  Here is a short list of possibilities that I am looking at:

• Encryption and computer encryption, this would probably include learning about hashing functions (and YES, I already understand that encryption is very math-heavy and difficult for other reasons).  PGP would be a good example of something of interest, maybe an approachable elliptical curve program (if such exists).
• TOR and related technologies, I certainly feel concerned about .gov snooping as much as the next guy...
• Is there such a thing as Bitcoin courses?  I would like to learn more about how BTC works.
• I am always curious to learn more about BTC mixing.

Are there good books on some or all of the above?

Any suggestions, or additions, are appreciated, as well as comments re suitability for those 95% of us who are not technologically adept.  

Thanks, and Happy New Year to all here!

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[HabBear]

There are some free courses you can take from very reputable Universities:

Coursera offers FREE courses on Bitcoin from Princeton University: https://www.coursera.org/course/bitcointech

Learning about TOR might be interesting but if the bitcoin economy has to use TOR to access it the market will die. There may be something that lives on in the dark net but nothing that would keep mainstream interest, and that mainstream interest is what's needed to make this Project work long term. Also, if TOR allows anonymity in what you're doing on your computer, the computer most definitely can show that one is using or accessing TOR...which with other suspicion is enough to keep the Government on you.

[NorrisK]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

[lahm-44]

While you are in the bitcoin economy/community its really good to spend most of the ti,e to understand how its works and about what programmes are used i mean what programming languages have been used. i am in this from 2010 and have mostly spend my time for web develpoment skills because i belive if i know web work then i can go for real programming codes like c and java.since now i am able to gatter enough knowledge about html,css,javascript,php(sql too),jquery,ajax,bootstrap and little bit of some others too and now i have started with the java . i will advice you to learn c and k\java then learn about networking with bitcoin that will surely help you al lot

[koshgel]

There are some free courses you can take from very reputable Universities:

Coursera offers FREE courses on Bitcoin from Princeton University: https://www.coursera.org/course/bitcointech

Learning about TOR might be interesting but if the bitcoin economy has to use TOR to access it the market will die. There may be something that lives on in the dark net but nothing that would keep mainstream interest, and that mainstream interest is what's needed to make this Project work long term. Also, if TOR allows anonymity in what you're doing on your computer, the computer most definitely can show that one is using or accessing TOR...which with other suspicion is enough to keep the Government on you.

Have you taken the course yourself? Seems very interesting but only a waitlist is available at the moment. Don't see any future sessions.

[Kprawn]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

If you find one, let me know.... I see all VPN's as honey traps from personal experience, so I am not a true believer in them to provide anonymity at all. The tools being used for

snooping is more powerful than what most people could counter in any way. Well back to the topic at hand... Here is a article posted in 2014, where they listed some of the best

colleges offering Bitcoin courses. Go to http://www.coindesk.com/top-us-colleges-begin-offering-bitcoin-courses/   ...Hope it helps.

[yoona]

...

I have made no secret here that I am not a pro at anything re BTC.  I had to learn most of what I know (and think I know) myself, although I did get some help along the way from people by email (also PeterR here at bitcointalk).

I may have more time in 2016 to learn some technology, but all of this is hard for me.  I did very poorly in my computer programming in college decades ago.  My only real quantitative skills are SQL and statistics.  

So, I am curious to learn what some of you think would be good skills to start learning (basic level!).  Here is a short list of possibilities that I am looking at:

• Encryption and computer encryption, this would probably include learning about hashing functions (and YES, I already understand that encryption is very math-heavy and difficult for other reasons).  PGP would be a good example of something of interest, maybe an approachable elliptical curve program (if such exists).
• TOR and related technologies, I certainly feel concerned about .gov snooping as much as the next guy...
• Is there such a thing as Bitcoin courses?  I would like to learn more about how BTC works.
• I am always curious to learn more about BTC mixing.

Are there good books on some or all of the above?

Any suggestions, or additions, are appreciated, as well as comments re suitability for those 95% of us who are not technologically adept.  

Thanks, and Happy New Year to all here!

if you are thinking of using and adopting gold should have a skill? if you agree with it, then adopt bitcoin should also have a good skill, one of which is a basic knowledge of the internet and bitcoin transactions, you can continue to learn to understand it.

[equator]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

If you find one, let me know.... I see all VPN's as honey traps from personal experience, so I am not a true believer in them to provide anonymity at all. The tools being used for

snooping is more powerful than what most people could counter in any way. Well back to the topic at hand... Here is a article posted in 2014, where they listed some of the best

colleges offering Bitcoin courses. Go to http://www.coindesk.com/top-us-colleges-begin-offering-bitcoin-courses/   ...Hope it helps.

it is quite happy to know that so many users are interested in Bitcoin and its technology, and even top colleges are offering the bitcoin courses. but some countrys like i am living in india where still their is no clear picture about Bitcoin and its leagality.

their users and even the bitcoin community who are in the process of making clear picture of bitcoin in india.

[OROBTC]

...

Thank you all for your suggestions.  

I will wait on possibly some more, and then see what is out there vs. how much time it would take.  It looks like BTC may very well take off (price and usage), if so, it will likely be time well spent picking one or more topics to learn more about.

Is there an easy to use (and, hopefully, free) site offering PGP?  15 - 18 years ago I used Phil Zimmerman's PGP site (but I had no friends interested -- few of my friends know much about computers or have my interests), it was easy to use, but apparently he now charges for it.

*   *   *

(And I will be watching the whole Human Resources thing that just popped up here, WHY would they be seeking so much help.....?)

[tyz]

This is what i am currently looking for. Do you have some suggestions about high speed and non-logging VPN-providers which allow to pay in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies?

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

[maku]

Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general is new area of expertise. There are not many skilled people you can call 'gurus' of bitcoin.  
Some of them you can find on this forum, some are posting their guidelines on the internet. As bitcoin is present only in digital form I guess you can find every information you need on the internet.
There are no bitcoin 'courses' as far as I know only bitcoin conferences and community.

I will share some great white paper I found, great knowledge you can find within: http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/gb/en/gbe03620usen/GBE03620USEN.PDF

[enhu]

not sure if there are lots to learn about btc unless you wanted to do an industrial bitcoin mining company to which you may need to learn hashes, scripts, Splitting and Sharing Keys and etc.

But consider web development course if you were to make a career in btc and create an eCommerce site with bitcoin option and learn internet marketing/SEO skills.
or maybe a gambling site as well.

[franky1]

...

Thank you all for your suggestions.  

I will wait on possibly some more, and then see what is out there vs. how much time it would take.  It looks like BTC may very well take off (price and usage), if so, it will likely be time well spent picking one or more topics to learn more about.

Is there an easy to use (and, hopefully, free) site offering PGP?  15 - 18 years ago I used Phil Zimmerman's PGP site (but I had no friends interested -- few of my friends know much about computers or have my interests), it was easy to use, but apparently he now charges for it.

*   *   *

(And I will be watching the whole Human Resources thing that just popped up here, WHY would they be seeking so much help.....?)

if you want PGP just for identification..
you could always just create a bitcoin address and give people the public key.. then when you sign messages they will know its really you

[lorylore]

i also think the same way, i am thinking what skill sets should i get. of course one of the best skill is how to 100% secure ur wallet and how to retrieve it. to be honest, after reading for so long, i am still very blur about it n the amount of work is really crazy as well. do anyone really follow these advices?

[OROBTC]

...

Thank you all for your suggestions.  

I will wait on possibly some more, and then see what is out there vs. how much time it would take.  It looks like BTC may very well take off (price and usage), if so, it will likely be time well spent picking one or more topics to learn more about.

Is there an easy to use (and, hopefully, free) site offering PGP?  15 - 18 years ago I used Phil Zimmerman's PGP site (but I had no friends interested -- few of my friends know much about computers or have my interests), it was easy to use, but apparently he now charges for it.

*   *   *

(And I will be watching the whole Human Resources thing that just popped up here, WHY would they be seeking so much help.....?)

if you want PGP just for identification..
you could always just create a bitcoin address and give people the public key.. then when you sign messages they will know its really you

franky1

That's an interesting little suggestion, thanks.  Alas, few of my friends and email correspondents are into BTC, I just kind of got here on my own.  I guess I could give everyone a blockchain.info wallet (or tell them I will give them $5 in BTC if they start one) to implement your idea.

I am also interested in PGP for securing email correspondence, something I was able to do all those years ago, but have not yet found a easy and free way to do that now.  


[Sidebar: 15 - 18 years ago I was able to use all of this cool software like OLAP, SPSS and PGP for free or cheap, it was all EASY!  Now I have not been able to find any of those three for cheap & easy...  Software availability is going BACKWARDS in many cases, grr...]

[saturn643]

[Sidebar: 15 - 18 years ago I was able to use all of this cool software like OLAP, SPSS and PGP for free or cheap, it was all EASY!  Now I have not been able to find any of those three for cheap & easy...  Software availability is going BACKWARDS in many cases, grr...]

For PGP you can use the GPG software

As for learning stuff about Bitcoin, you should of course start with the whitepaper. Then a good place for technical are the developer docs on Bitcoin.org.

For Tor you should start with their docs too.

[OROBTC]

...

Thank you, Saturn643, I have looked at the site for GPG's version, at that site it is not really clear for me what to do.  But, that's just me.

I will keep digging around to learn more about BTC beyond the basics I guess I already have.

*   *   *

There may be another way for me.  With the help of my son-in-law, I just bought an opened my own ".com" (actually a ".io").  There is nothing there yet, as I work to acquire the skills to put some content into it.  One of my social media contacts has filled me in with a link to be able to hook it into BITCOIN.  Details later if interested.

Also, my new website (web host) will allow not only email, but apparently ENCRYPTED email, by that same group offering GPG, and it may be dirt-simple for me to encrypt emails once I learn how.  That would be great, I would acquire one of the skills I seek pretty quickly if so.

I'll post up my website when there is something there.  This is all brand new for me, and I do realize that opening, creating and running a website means little for most of the highly competent computer people here, but it is a nice step for me.  A step into the "Knowledge Age"...

*   *   *

I also would like to thank commentators (at this thread and another) for comments about the the Darknet.  It looks like a huge part of it involves really sleazy stuff like scammers, spammers, child porn, drug sales and many other dirty activity while offering little in the way of skills acquisition or legitimate business, etc.

Maybe I will learn TOR just for my own "personal privacy jiujitsu", but unless I become convinced otherwise it looks like the Darknet ain't for me.

I enjoy working with the bitcointalk community, thank you all.  And, Happy New Year to the lot of you!

[saturn643]

...

Thank you, Saturn643, I have looked at the site for GPG's version, at that site it is not really clear for me what to do.  But, that's just me.

I will keep digging around to learn more about BTC beyond the basics I guess I already have.

If you are on linux you should be able to just install GPG through the package manager. The site I linked has the docs and man pages so you can use the command line. If you are on windows I recommend you actually use GPG4USB. It can be portable and it works well and is simple to use.

Also, my new website (web host) will allow not only email, but apparently ENCRYPTED email, by that same group offering GPG, and it may be dirt-simple for me to encrypt emails once I learn how.  That would be great, I would acquire one of the skills I seek pretty quickly if so.

The simplest way to encrypt emails with GPG/PGP is to just write the email in another text editor, encrypt that text using whatever GPG software you are using, and then copy and paste the encrypted text into the email as the message. There are of course software and extensions to make this easier but that is really the simplest thing to do.

I also would like to thank commentators (at this thread and another) for comments about the the Darknet.  It looks like a huge part of it involves really sleazy stuff like scammers, spammers, child porn, drug sales and many other dirty activity while offering little in the way of skills acquisition or legitimate business, etc.

Maybe I will learn TOR just for my own "personal privacy jiujitsu", but unless I become convinced otherwise it looks like the Darknet ain't for me.

Yup. The darknet has a lot of shady stuff there. However Tor is useful for privacy and circumventing censorship and not just for darknet stuff.

[Duomo]

Well if you are trying to gains some skill sets that non-professional BTC-ers should acquire, here are a few.
If you are bitcoiner, you need understand the basics of various subjects regarding finance, law and computer science.

1. Be aware of the numerous wallets
  - Bitcoin Core QT, MultiBit HD, Electrum, Bread Wallet, Blockchain.Info, etc.

2. Understand and Utilize Encryption of your Hard-drive and Files
 - Encrypt your Files and make backups to make sure they can be restored.
 - Be familiar with Tor, Relays, and Exit Relays.
 - PGP/GPG (Get one) There is numerous tutorials on how to set it up.
 

3. Be Familiar with Financial/Tax Laws and Legality Issues
 - You should understand the current situation of Bitcoin in your own country.
 - bitcoin is considered a various forms of assets across different areas of the world so be knowledgable.

These are a few vital subjects you should brush up on.

[Denker]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

Yes totally agree.
There are several good VPN providers out there who offer really a great service.
And often you can pay them with Bitcoin!

This link can be helpful to get some informations.
https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

[OROBTC]

...

saturn643 wrote:

If you are on linux you should be able to just install GPG through the package manager. The site I linked has the docs and man pages so you can use the command line. If you are on windows I recommend you actually use GPG4USB. It can be portable and it works well and is simple to use.

Looks fairly simple I suppose, I will check up on it soon (emphasis mine, on Windows).  Thanks!

*   *   *

VPNs may be a tad complicated, Denker, but thank you too, I will look into that as well.

[BirtRenaldsFan]

They should know how to do research. Study the rise and fall patterns and utilize it to their advantage.

It's all a gamble in a sense.

[franky1]

[Sidebar: 15 - 18 years ago I was able to use all of this cool software like OLAP, SPSS and PGP for free or cheap, it was all EASY!  Now I have not been able to find any of those three for cheap & easy...  Software availability is going BACKWARDS in many cases, grr...]

welcome to capitalism of the real world... thank god bitcoin is here to change things

[The Sceptical Chymist]

There were definitely some good suggestions here--I took absolutely no computer science courses when I was in college.  Most of what I took was chemistry, biology, and the pharmacy-related courses.  I had to use computers extensively but never really learned about them. 

With respect to bitcoin, a little bit of cryptography would be useful.  Math and statistics (I had a lot of that).  And any adult who hasn't gone to college I think owes it to themselves to take at least one course in computers.  I'm thinking of doing it myself one of these days.  And the suggestion of Tor is useful, though I haven't made myself familiar with it.  I don't use the darkweb.

[Dabs]

There was a short documentary on bitcoin released last year? 2014? Or something. Some really old stuff in there, but it's good to know a little history, plus it was entertaining to watch. Try here: http://bitcoindoc.com/ I think I found somewhere else where you can get it for free (may be not legal, depends, dunno. hehe. didn't care at the time.)

As for GPG, https://gnupg.org/download/index.html

http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows
http://gpgtools.org/ for mac

Go send me an encrypted email and I'll reply. I'll leave it as an exercise for you to find my public key and my email address. Or you can encrypt a message and send it in a PM. A lot of bitcointalk members do that.

As for other skill sets, I think, if you managed to do okay with SQL, you'll pick up bitcoin fast. All my resources were from this forum or anything I can find in google or the wiki.

The rest, well, I believe a lot of old timers were basically self taught. While this forum has a lot of noise, you'll find good stuff around here.

[cjmoles]

Nice!  Very constructive thread here.  There is certainly a multitude of different paths one can take while attempting to master bitcoin.  It's a technology that is evolving at a pace that rivals Moore's Law and new, innovative applications of the technology are being developed everyday.  With that in mind, I would suggest researching some of the innovations being developed around turing capabilities and smart contract applications.  That seems to be the direction that the technology will inevitably pursue.

[OROBTC]

There was a short documentary on bitcoin released last year? 2014? Or something. Some really old stuff in there, but it's good to know a little history, plus it was entertaining to watch. Try here: http://bitcoindoc.com/ I think I found somewhere else where you can get it for free (may be not legal, depends, dunno. hehe. didn't care at the time.)

As for GPG, https://gnupg.org/download/index.html

http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows
http://gpgtools.org/ for mac

Go send me an encrypted email and I'll reply. I'll leave it as an exercise for you to find my public key and my email address. Or you can encrypt a message and send it in a PM. A lot of bitcointalk members do that.

As for other skill sets, I think, if you managed to do okay with SQL, you'll pick up bitcoin fast. All my resources were from this forum or anything I can find in google or the wiki.

The rest, well, I believe a lot of old timers were basically self taught. While this forum has a lot of noise, you'll find good stuff around here.

Thank you, Dabs.  My evening's work (um, after the New Year's celebrations) yielded only a GPG/email working withing my new website's boundaries only.

I run windows, so I will try that http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows.

Then:

Saturn643's comment: The simplest way to encrypt emails with GPG/PGP is to just write the email in another text editor, encrypt that text using whatever GPG software you are using, and then copy and paste the encrypted text into the email as the message.

So, I will do some homework and be back...

[OROBTC]

...

Dabs has a message, or will soon.  Thank you, Dabs, it looks like your suggestion worked great re GPG.

Pretty soon I hope to master this version of PGP (GPG is from Germany, see my post just above for Dabs's link for Windows computers).

You can find my email at my Profile here at bitcointalk.  If interested in email encryption, PM me or send me an email.

Thanks to everyone who has responded!

[Dabs]

Ok. I don't know what you're trying to do yet, but go ahead. Now send me an encrypted message or sign one and I'll verify. BTW, your email in your profile is hidden.

[OROBTC]

Ok. I don't know what you're trying to do yet, but go ahead. Now send me an encrypted message or sign one and I'll verify. BTW, your email in your profile is hidden.

Either email is OK.  My website has nothing on the Home Page now.  Reasonably soon (hah...) I will put up material for public interest (maybe a GnuPG tutorial, gold information (coin properties, etc.), Peru pictures, Bitcoin matters, etc.).  While none of that sounds impressive here, most people I know are not that computer literate.

I have other plans too for the website.  Perhaps a (free) "club" for people with similar interests.  And of course private areas (like a mySQL database or two).

Thank you very much (again) for your help, I'll get a message back to you before really long, but it's past midnight, and I need to eat dinner.......


EDIT:

My email is now visible at my Profile.

[Ayle56]

There was a short documentary on bitcoin released last year? 2014? Or something. Some really old stuff in there, but it's good to know a little history, plus it was entertaining to watch. Try here: http://bitcoindoc.com/ I think I found somewhere else where you can get it for free (may be not legal, depends, dunno. hehe. didn't care at the time.)

As for GPG, https://gnupg.org/download/index.html

http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows
http://gpgtools.org/ for mac

Go send me an encrypted email and I'll reply. I'll leave it as an exercise for you to find my public key and my email address. Or you can encrypt a message and send it in a PM. A lot of bitcointalk members do that.

As for other skill sets, I think, if you managed to do okay with SQL, you'll pick up bitcoin fast. All my resources were from this forum or anything I can find in google or the wiki.

The rest, well, I believe a lot of old timers were basically self taught. While this forum has a lot of noise, you'll find good stuff around here.

Thank you, Dabs.  My evening's work (um, after the New Year's celebrations) yielded only a GPG/email working withing my new website's boundaries only.

I run windows, so I will try that http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows.

Then:

Saturn643's comment: The simplest way to encrypt emails with GPG/PGP is to just write the email in another text editor, encrypt that text using whatever GPG software you are using, and then copy and paste the encrypted text into the email as the message.

So, I will do some homework and be back...

Try using gpg4usb from this website.

http://www.gpg4usb.org/download.html

It's portable and easy to use. All you need to do is unzip the zip file and double click the exe file in the unzipped folder. It's got a built in text editor and simple buttons on an intuitive GUI that do almost anything you need. I tried gpg4win but found this easier to use.

[OROBTC]

There was a short documentary on bitcoin released last year? 2014? Or something. Some really old stuff in there, but it's good to know a little history, plus it was entertaining to watch. Try here: http://bitcoindoc.com/ I think I found somewhere else where you can get it for free (may be not legal, depends, dunno. hehe. didn't care at the time.)

As for GPG, https://gnupg.org/download/index.html

http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows
http://gpgtools.org/ for mac

Go send me an encrypted email and I'll reply. I'll leave it as an exercise for you to find my public key and my email address. Or you can encrypt a message and send it in a PM. A lot of bitcointalk members do that.

As for other skill sets, I think, if you managed to do okay with SQL, you'll pick up bitcoin fast. All my resources were from this forum or anything I can find in google or the wiki.

The rest, well, I believe a lot of old timers were basically self taught. While this forum has a lot of noise, you'll find good stuff around here.

Thank you, Dabs.  My evening's work (um, after the New Year's celebrations) yielded only a GPG/email working withing my new website's boundaries only.

I run windows, so I will try that http://gpg4win.org/download.html for windows.

Then:

Saturn643's comment: The simplest way to encrypt emails with GPG/PGP is to just write the email in another text editor, encrypt that text using whatever GPG software you are using, and then copy and paste the encrypted text into the email as the message.

So, I will do some homework and be back...

Try using gpg4usb from this website.

http://www.gpg4usb.org/download.html

It's portable and easy to use. All you need to do is unzip the zip file and double click the exe file in the unzipped folder. It's got a built in text editor and simple buttons on an intuitive GUI that do almost anything you need. I tried gpg4win but found this easier to use.

Thank you Ayle56!  I will try that one out too.  "Easy is good."  It looks like I can have as many Keys as I want, so I will play with a few and pick my permanent one once I get the hang of everything.  Besides, it looks like my current password may be compromised, in that I sent a close version to a friend.  But, one thing I have learned here in Internetbitcoinistan is that you cannot be too careful.

Standard Disclosure:  

I am trying to learn all of this myself (with all of your help, and again, my sincere thanks to you all), I did not study Computer Science or related, so my skill set is not so great.  And I was always one of the slower students, just ask any of my teachers/professors, they would tell you the same if they remember at all...

[Dabs]

Yes, go and make a few private keys, play around, revoke them, publish them, etc. Make small ones (1024 bit) and large ones (3000+)

Then when you think you are ready, go make larger keys if you want. (4096 is the largest practical key.)

[OROBTC]

Yes, go and make a few private keys, play around, revoke them, publish them, etc. Make small ones (1024 bit) and large ones (3000+)

Then when you think you are ready, go make larger keys if you want. (4096 is the largest practical key.)

Dabs, you have (will soon) a message!  Maybe I did it right?  

I used Ayle56's link to get another set of keys, but I think I have a better understanding of importing keys, etc.

Now I have to figure out how to find my public key number two...

Does this ever end?   (Ah, I already know the answer)

Ayle56, I'll drop you a line (PM) sometime too.

[xmax]

I would personally like to learn how the coding and programming works.  i see on here where there is a puzzle where you can earn some BTC if you can break the codes, but it all looks foreign to me and I do not understand any of it.  Do I need general coding knowledge in order to be able to code with Bitcoin code?

[OROBTC]

...

Dabs and Ayle56

You both have a message, although Dabs got one that might be incorrectly formatted (the LATTER message is probably the right one).

*   *   *

xmax

I suspect ANY puzzles here at bitcointalk are WAY beyond my capability!  I would bet that only highly-skilled programmers or other experts in BTC can break such codes.  As mentioned (ad nauseam?) above, I am not any kind of expert here.

*   *   *

For the moment, I am learning email encryption as part of my 2016 efforts to learn a few technologies of interest.  My new website will give me ample opportunities to learn (by struggle) new technologies...

Maybe pick up a little more German and Italian too.  See Europe again before it all changes... 

[Dabs]

Got your message. First one was "modified". Don't change anything in between the ---BEGIN and ---END parts.

For German and Italian, while I am not fluent, I recommend looking for Pimsleur. Actually, for most languages. I have not tried the others so I have no experience with them.

I will send you another encrypted message.

[OROBTC]

Got your message. First one was "modified". Don't change anything in between the ---BEGIN and ---END parts.

For German and Italian, while I am not fluent, I recommend looking for Pimsleur. Actually, for most languages. I have not tried the others so I have no experience with them.

I will send you another encrypted message.

Yes, that's where I messed up in my message, I probably executed a "Cut & Paste" wrong.  (Whoops, I just lost my Queen to a stupid mistake!)

For Italian, all I have to do is talk w/ my wife.  She was born in Peru but has been taking Italian on-and-off for 18 years, she's pretty good at it. 

German?  That's hard, declining nouns, adjectives and articles...  Reminds me of Latin.  Ugh!

Spanish I have down pat though: "Si no practico español en la casa, me PEGA la jefa!"  (Peruvian self-deprecation for men)

[pereira4]

I think privacy related stuff is very needed for Bitcoin, thats why stuff like confidential transactions or the bip47 that i learned through a Chris Odom speech is extremely important, we need more people improving Bitcoin's privacy, the centralized mixers aren't enough.

[Ayle56]

...

Dabs and Ayle56

You both have a message, although Dabs got one that might be incorrectly formatted (the LATTER message is probably the right one).

I got your message and sent a reply.

Recently a guy called Craig Steven Wright attempted to trick the world into believing he was the real Satoshi Nakamoto. He created a PGP key, signed a message, and tried to pass it off as something posted on the internet the same day Satoshi posted PGP content.

Someone analyzed the PGP message header and discovered it used a modern version of crypto algorithms, rather than the old version of crypto algorithms from years ago that the real Satoshi's PGP content used.

Some of the information in a PGP header can be read by anyone with the right software. The Key ID in the header can compromise your anonymity, as this quote from a webpage shows. If it's important there are ways of removing the Key ID from PGP message headers to make it more anonymous.


http://tech.michaelaltfield.net/2013/10/19/analyzing-pgp-content/

This post attempts to answer the following question: If an evesdropper intercepts a message encrypted with gpg, how much information will they be able to extract from the message without a decryption key?

I will show the unencrypted metadata added to a GPG-encypted message, and I will present commands that can be used to extract this unencrypted metadata.

In the below execution, I demonstarte the creation of a key, the encryption of a file, the deletion of the secret key, and the analysis of the encrypted file without the ability to decrypt its contents

...


Now that all the files are created and the secret key has been deleted, let’s try to analyze the pgp file to see what unencrypted data we can pull out.


root@Microknoppix:/tmp/test# gpg --list-packets test.txt.gpg
:pubkey enc packet: version 3, algo 1, keyid D65FA0A95D0D3E9C
data: [1023 bits]
:encrypted data packet:
length: 80
mdc_method: 2
gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 5D0D3E9C
gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available

As you can see above, this message was encrypted using the key “D65FA0A95D0D3E9C” using RSA.

Let’s try another (more human readable) tool for dumping unencrypted data from PGP files: PGPdump.


root@Microknoppix:/tmp/test# pgpdump test.txt.gpg
Old: Public-Key Encrypted Session Key Packet(tag 1)(140 bytes)
New version(3)
Key ID - 0xD65FA0A95D0D3E9C
Pub alg - RSA Encrypt or Sign(pub 1)
RSA m^e mod n(1023 bits) - ...
-> m = sym alg(1 byte) + checksum(2 bytes) + PKCS-1 block type 02
New: Symmetrically Encrypted and MDC Packet(tag 18)(80 bytes)
Ver 1
Encrypted data [sym alg is specified in pub-key encrypted session key]
(plain text + MDC SHA1(20 bytes))

As you can see, pgpdump seems to have pulled the same data, but it’s expounded a bit on what RSA does. It also appears to include information about a symmetric key, which makes sense but isn’t obvious from the `gpg—list-packets` command above.

Now, let’s try to hide the recipient of the message using `gpg—hidden-recipient` instead of `gpg—recipient`.

...


And below we peek at the gpg file’s packet’s headers to see if we can still see the recipeient.


root@Microknoppix:/tmp/test# gpg --list-packets test.txt.gpg
:pubkey enc packet: version 3, algo 1, keyid 0000000000000000
data: [1022 bits]
:encrypted data packet:
length: 80
mdc_method: 2
gpg: encrypted with RSA key, ID 00000000
gpg: decryption failed: secret key not available
root@Microknoppix:/tmp/test# pgpdump test.txt.gpg
Old: Public-Key Encrypted Session Key Packet(tag 1)(140 bytes)
New version(3)
Key ID - 0x0000000000000000
Pub alg - RSA Encrypt or Sign(pub 1)
RSA m^e mod n(1022 bits) - ...
-> m = sym alg(1 byte) + checksum(2 bytes) + PKCS-1 block type 02
New: Symmetrically Encrypted and MDC Packet(tag 18)(80 bytes)
Ver 1
Encrypted data [sym alg is specified in pub-key encrypted session key]
(plain text + MDC SHA1(20 bytes))

Success! We’ve hidden the key id of the recipient!

[Ayle56]

If you want to see the metadata hidden inside your PGP key, or messages signed with it you can use this online PGP packet analyzer.

https://countermail.com/?p=tools

At the bottom of the page there is a text box with a PGP packet analyzer label where you can paste your key or message. It's the easiest PGP packet analyzer tool to use that I know of.

[OROBTC]

...

Ayle56 and Dabs

Each of you has a message on somewhat different subjects.

Ayle56...  Eeek!  Some of that last post on the last page made my brain break out in some kind of mental rash or something.  I dimly understand what you are writing about Craig Wright in Oz, but that's about it.  But, I will check out the countermail tool you provided in due course (soon).  I already have a homework assignment to check out verifying signatures...



*   *   *

Keep in mind, though, that we are ALL likely "little fish" (I am anyway), and so are not a target of our pals at .gov.

Would the Rich And Powerful be commenting here at bitcointalk?  Probably not (well, maybe r******* and some developers/pioneers, but I wouldn't know).

Still, the more who are better informed, the better for all of us.

[OROBTC]

...

I am now reasonably comfortable using gpg4win encryption.

Thank you again Dabs and Ayle56.

I will tinker with them both some more to nail down my knowledge better.

*  *  *

One question:

I tried exporting "my keys" to a flash drive, bit it looks like it only sent the Public Key.  So, how would I decrypt a message on ANOTHER computer (the one at my office)?  I do not see how to do that.

Or does that mean having to have a Key Set for each computer one actively uses?

*  *  *

So, in a few days it's on to other technologies...  

[owm123]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

Yes totally agree.
There are several good VPN providers out there who offer really a great service.
And often you can pay them with Bitcoin!

This link can be helpful to get some informations.
https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

I dont fully agree. It depends what you are using tor for. I use tor almost all the time. Even writhing this is through tor. So its fully usable, unless your everyday use includes lots of youtube or downloading stuff.

And with VPNs I would be careful, especially on the list you provided:
http://txti.es/2015-vpn-providers-and-paying-using-bitcoin

[OROBTC]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

Yes totally agree.
There are several good VPN providers out there who offer really a great service.
And often you can pay them with Bitcoin!

This link can be helpful to get some informations.
https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

I dont fully agree. It depends what you are using tor for. I use tor almost all the time. Even writhing this is through tor. So its fully usable, unless your everyday use includes lots of youtube or downloading stuff.

And with VPNs I would be careful, especially on the list you provided:
http://txti.es/2015-vpn-providers-and-paying-using-bitcoin

OK, let's switch focus to TOR vs. VPNs then.  I have never used TOR before, and it looks complicated for a beginner.  I am aware of it's website ( https://www.torproject.org/ ), but still it looks more complicated than email encryption.

Do you three (owm123, Denker and NorrisK) have other comments for a non-pro like me?  How hard is it to learn?


What do some others btctalk members have to say about TOR?


Disclosure: I am not into illegal things nor have any desire to go there.  I just want to know how to be private as I may so choose.

[Yakamoto]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

Yes totally agree.
There are several good VPN providers out there who offer really a great service.
And often you can pay them with Bitcoin!

This link can be helpful to get some informations.
https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

I dont fully agree. It depends what you are using tor for. I use tor almost all the time. Even writhing this is through tor. So its fully usable, unless your everyday use includes lots of youtube or downloading stuff.

And with VPNs I would be careful, especially on the list you provided:
http://txti.es/2015-vpn-providers-and-paying-using-bitcoin

OK, let's switch focus to TOR vs. VPNs then.  I have never used TOR before, and it looks complicated for a beginner.  I am aware of it's website ( https://www.torproject.org/ ), but still it looks more complicated than email encryption.

Do you three (owm123, Denker and NorrisK) have other comments for a non-pro like me?  How hard is it to learn?


What do some others btctalk members have to say about TOR?


Disclosure: I am not into illegal things nor have any desire to go there.  I just want to know how to be private as I may so choose.

TOR, as a browser, is very easy to use for beginners. They have it all listed out and it is easy to connect to the normal internet. I use it here and there to browse some (legal) sites.

I have never used any TOR services beyond just the modified browser, so I can't speak any more.

[OROBTC]

...

Thanks, Yakamoto!

Once I finish learning enough about email encryption, TOR may very well be the next technology I try to learn about.  Learn enough to use it, I have no interest (nor ability) to dig down deep into it...

*   *   *

I am already in the process of setting up my new website (ameru.io) which I now own, but it has no content.  I have asked three website designers/builders to quote on about a 10 page site.  A fourth may quote if my computer guy puts my proposed website into the hands of someone here in town who knows about building websites...

This would be informational, with stuff I am interested in (BTC, gold, ball bearings (our business down in Peru), etc.).  I have various "virtual friends" into one or more of those subjects.  My goal would be to have all the stuff that I refer to in one nice handy place.  Others could come and take a look.  Non-commercial.

[Dabs]

There's a video of ... .. here,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUNGFZDO8mM

It's a senate hearing on bitcoin with Andreas Antonopoulos. You could grab his book too.

https://www.torproject.org/download/download-easy.html.en
TOR for Windows, easy to use download.

[saturn643]

TOR, as a browser, is very easy to use for beginners. They have it all listed out and it is easy to connect to the normal internet. I use it here and there to browse some (legal) sites.

I have never used any TOR services beyond just the modified browser, so I can't speak any more.

Tor is actually a network. The Tor browser is a modified version of Mozilla Firefox to work with the Tor network and better secure your privacy.

The difference between the Tor network and VPNs is that Tor is generally more private.

Tor uses essentially three (or more) proxy servers which act as layers, which is why it is called The Onion Router since it routes your data through layers like an onion. There are several thousand relays (proxy servers) which relay your data. One relay is the guard relay, and it is the one you connect directly to. It forwards your data to the next relay, which forwards it to the last one, the exit relay. The exit relay knows the website you are browsing. An important thing is that all of the connections between you and the exit relay are encrypted. It is up to you to use HTTPS for after the exit relay to keep your data secure. One of the most important aspects of Tor is that none of the relay's know everything about you (assuming they are all run by different people). If the relays were to log things, only the guard relay would know your IP address and only the Exit relay would know where you are trying to get to. But neither know the full story thus protecting your anonymity.

VPNs on the other hand are typically only one proxy server. The connection to the VPN may or may not be encrypted, but like exit relays, you still need HTTPS to encrypt further traffic. Using a VPN service run by someone else means that you are trusting them to not log your information. The VPN would know your IP address and what you are browsing, so it compromises your anonymity. The VPN provider would know everything, whereas in Tor no one knows everything.

[owm123]

Regarding the government snooping, TOR is quite slow for your everyday use. You may want to consider a high speed VPN instead.

If you pick one that does not log anything from its costumers (including real IP, DNS, websites visited, etc), you are already very difficult to find.

Yes totally agree.
There are several good VPN providers out there who offer really a great service.
And often you can pay them with Bitcoin!

This link can be helpful to get some informations.
https://torrentfreak.com/anonymous-vpn-service-provider-review-2015-150228/

I dont fully agree. It depends what you are using tor for. I use tor almost all the time. Even writhing this is through tor. So its fully usable, unless your everyday use includes lots of youtube or downloading stuff.

And with VPNs I would be careful, especially on the list you provided:
http://txti.es/2015-vpn-providers-and-paying-using-bitcoin

OK, let's switch focus to TOR vs. VPNs then.  I have never used TOR before, and it looks complicated for a beginner.  I am aware of it's website ( https://www.torproject.org/ ), but still it looks more complicated than email encryption.

Do you three (owm123, Denker and NorrisK) have other comments for a non-pro like me?  How hard is it to learn?


What do some others btctalk members have to say about TOR?


Disclosure: I am not into illegal things nor have any desire to go there.  I just want to know how to be private as I may so choose.

Tor browser is the easiest way to use Tor. It just works out of the box. And there is not really any learning to do, when using tor.

If you more conscious about your privacy when using internet, there are many guides explaining "good practices" of using tor, such as this one:  https://www.whonix.org/wiki/DoNot  . But if you just want to avoid your ISP or employer spying on what you are browsing from home or work, just using tor as you would normally use a browser is fine.

[OROBTC]

...

Thanks, own123.  I'll be looking into TOR soon.  It's no business of anyone else's where we go online.  Privacy is important.

And I suspect that terist [sic], money laundering, drug buying, etc. on the dark web is just a big Red Herring anyway.  Just more ammo for the STATISTS to impose their views.

Viva Bitcoin.  Viva encryption.  Viva TOR.