Opensource project BitStamper for provably timestamping files using Bitcoin

[comp-sci-stuff]

I wrote a utility that allows you to timestamp a file by paying 0.00000001 BTC to an address representing the secure hash of the file. It essentially throws that BTC away (you can pay a transaction fee as well) and adds a little overhead in terms of disk (~258 bytes to block-chain) which are slightly harmful to Bitcoin but we can offer a new security service if people want to use this utility. Such a utility could be useful for proving a picture was taken prior to some time or proving you completed homework prior to the due date. At its core, you can prove the existence of data BEFORE a time period. Proving AFTER is like taking a picture of a hostage with the current day's newspaper in their hands (harder to do this purely digitally).

I want people to use this. Let me know if you think this idea could be useful and/or how you may use it. Also, if you have any questions about how it works or why its secure, I can answer those.

Github repository if you would like to see or try the code:
https://github.com/newell-purdue/bitstamper

[Insti]

Could you not just use the sha256 sum of the file as a private key?
You can then get the public key (bitcoin address) from that.
Then you transfer money in and out through that address.
This way you're not destroying money, and can avoid the fees for small transactions.

[comp-sci-stuff]

That could work actually. You cannot directly use the 256 bit hash as a private key (will need to look closer into DSA for that). But, at the very least you can always force a private key generator to use an insecure 256 bit seed then anyone can reproduce this.

How would this reduce transaction fees though? Doesn't it double the transaction fees as you need to pay this address and then have this address pay you back? Is there a way to eliminate transaction fees?

Throwing 0.00000001 BTC at a non-existent account is such little damage to bitcoin since someone would need to use this utility 100 million times paying about 0.0005*100,000,000=50,000 BTC in transaction fees before a single bitcoin is lost. Myself (plus I'm sure some others out there) have already done that damage to bitcoin accidentally as I lost roughly 1 BTC as I lost a wallet.dat file.

In the end, this idea and code is still roughly a week old, so I do like conversations about the best way to accomplish this task.

Also, if anyone (who is not a newbie) wants to link this thread in the following thread, please do so as this is very relevant:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=139443.0