The mybitcoin.com taught us a lesson

[Mt.Fun]

Thanks Mt. Fun I'll remember that he is as much the same boat as me when it comes to a service.  I'll take your advice and build up some reputation and provide good customer service! sound advice. Thanks!

No problem-I don't like bullies.

[smoothie]

Then how about just a backup-insurance service? You use TrueCrypt, a publicly distributed open source encryption program, to encrypt your wallet with Serpent-TwoFish-AES, then you transmit it over HTTPS to the service where it is backed up in 3 physical locations same day.

I highly doubt there will be a trust issue.

Then by all means start the service and see how much business you get following the series of bad-press events occurring around bitcoin.

See how many people trust you.

[smoothie]

There is no reason for us to be "poking" around in it. The minute it arrives it is pull downed offline and stored away.

That's...not really the point..... You could say the same thing for the owner of MyBitcoin.com. He has no reason to go poking around either, and we have yet to see if he actually did or not but still...

Judging on this alone, I can tell you right now that no company that backs up consumer wallet files on remote servers, regardless of how secure they may be, would ever receive accreditation from the UABB unless the wallet files were encrypted BEFORE transmitting to the service.

It's nothing personal to your intentions mind you, it's just common sense. Why wouldn't you look and why would you look have the same amount of equal arguments. It's best to erase the possibility of looking altogether. You'll have to learn (or hire someone) to take apart the TrueCrypt code and make a client of your own for people to be able to download (or just have them use TrueCrypt) if you expect to be taken seriously in the current nervous climate.

Matthew N. Wright

Will of course the owner of Mybitcoin took off with the coins! It would take one time of that and our service is dead on arrival what is the point? So I guess no service is to be trusted I suppose it makes sense.  We don't back it up to a server ?  I hear you what your saying! Thanks for the feedback

Dude, don't listen to that guy. The "UABB" is just something he made up to feel important. Anyone who trusts the "UABB" is a fool. Do your own service and build up your own reputation by your own good customer service.

Agreed. And backup your own damn wallets yourself!

[smoothie]

Then how about just a backup-insurance service? You use TrueCrypt, a publicly distributed open source encryption program, to encrypt your wallet with Serpent-TwoFish-AES, then you transmit it over HTTPS to the service where it is backed up in 3 physical locations same day.

I highly doubt there will be a trust issue.

Then by all means start the service and see how much business you get following the series of bad-press events occurring around bitcoin.

See how many people trust you.

If I were serious about making a service like this, it's only natural I'd be seeing how many people trust me, wouldn't I?

The way you are going it sure sounds like you are serious. My point was that the service you talk about is and should be the responsibility of each bitcoin user to backup their own wallet file.

[smoothie]

Then how about just a backup-insurance service? You use TrueCrypt, a publicly distributed open source encryption program, to encrypt your wallet with Serpent-TwoFish-AES, then you transmit it over HTTPS to the service where it is backed up in 3 physical locations same day.

I highly doubt there will be a trust issue.

Then by all means start the service and see how much business you get following the series of bad-press events occurring around bitcoin.

See how many people trust you.

If I were serious about making a service like this, it's only natural I'd be seeing how many people trust me, wouldn't I?

Your "about us" link on the left side of your website appears to be broken.

[xcooling]

Warning re: bitprotection

only encrypted wallet.dat should ever be sent to a 3rd party. otherwise its the equivalent of putting money inside and envelope and posting it to a stranger, and hoping no one opens it.

[Rassah]

Just a thought. Someone's site getting compromised means the hacker can also likely force the backup system to overwrite the backed p wallet with a blank/corrupt one. Would it be better to have the site operator "backup" an encrypted wallet to a specified directory, and the external backup service to the grabbing of the file off that server themselves? Keeping it one-way from the backup side will prevent any hacker access to the backups if the whole system is compromised.

[julz]

Just a thought. Someone's site getting compromised means the hacker can also likely force the backup system to overwrite the backed p wallet with a blank/corrupt one. Would it be better to have the site operator "backup" an encrypted wallet to a specified directory, and the external backup service to the grabbing of the file off that server themselves? Keeping it one-way from the backup side will prevent any hacker access to the backups if the whole system is compromised.

This is why many backup systems operate as a series of snapshots in a way that earlier snapshots aren't able to be overwritten.
(e.g pulled from the backup-store side rather than pushed)
It's not always immediately apparent that a problem occurred on a live system, so earlier backups may be required to reconstruct things.

[Rassah]

Also, I wonder why Bitcoin services don't use a single address? Have customer deposits sent to a unique address to identify them, then immediately forward their money to a single central address that uses one key backed up in multiple locations. No need for continuous backups other that the database of user accounts and holdings.

[repentance]

Also, I wonder why Bitcoin services don't use a single address? Have customer deposits sent to a unique address to identify them, then immediately forward their money to a single central address that uses one key backed up in multiple locations. No need for continuous backups other that the database of user accounts and holdings.

My understanding is that many of the services do put customer deposits in a single aggregated account.  Of course if that account gets compromised then you've got a whole lot of customers who are going to be SOL when it comes to redeeming their deposits.  Backups aren't going to be much use once funds/Bitcoins have already been transferred out of those master accounts.

[d'aniel]

I posted some lessons here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=33892.0

Basically, I think the major infrastructure of the Bitcoin economy should be to designed such that people give service providers keys to their bitcoins only when they really have to, and when they do, they should use Bitcoin scripts to distribute control of them over several reputable service providers which would all have to collude in order to steal or lose them.  I also think the user experience in this model needs to be no more difficult than using Firefox sync - i.e. securely storing a single rarely used, never updated private key.

[BillX]

There is no reason for us to be "poking" around in it. The minute it arrives it is pull downed offline and stored away.

That's...not really the point..... You could say the same thing for the owner of MyBitcoin.com. He has no reason to go poking around either, and we have yet to see if he actually did or not but still...

Judging on this alone, I can tell you right now that no company that backs up consumer wallet files on remote servers, regardless of how secure they may be, would ever receive accreditation from the UABB unless the wallet files were encrypted BEFORE transmitting to the service.

It's nothing personal to your intentions mind you, it's just common sense. Why wouldn't you look and why would you look have the same amount of equal arguments. It's best to erase the possibility of looking altogether. You'll have to learn (or hire someone) to take apart the TrueCrypt code and make a client of your own for people to be able to download (or just have them use TrueCrypt) if you expect to be taken seriously in the current nervous climate.

Matthew N. Wright

Will of course the owner of Mybitcoin took off with the coins! It would take one time of that and our service is dead on arrival what is the point? So I guess no service is to be trusted I suppose it makes sense.  We don't back it up to a server ?  I hear you what your saying! Thanks for the feedback

Dude, don't listen to that guy. The "UABB" is just something he made up to feel important. Anyone who trusts the "UABB" is a fool. Do your own service and build up your own reputation by your own good customer service.

Agreed. And backup your own damn wallets yourself!

This "gentleman's" domain he chose for the UABB is only 6 days old and registered anonymously. That certainly does not say "trust me" at all. Look at his website as well. It looks like a 4th grader made it in 5 minutes. Also, "the gentleman" couldn't even other to at least put a redirect on the top level of UABCI.ORG. All of this plain says amateur and watch out.

Though, I guess in his defense he does have over 500 posts to this forum. I guess to him that all the credit he needs.



Domain ID:D162884485-LROR
Domain Name:UABCI.ORG
Created On:27-Jul-2011 08:32:10 UTC
Last Updated On:27-Jul-2011 08:32:11 UTC
Expiration Date:27-Jul-2012 08:32:10 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:Directi Internet Solutions Pvt. Ltd. d/b/a PublicDomainRegistry.com (R27-LROR)
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Status:TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:PP-SP-001
Registrant Name:Domain Admin
Registrant Organization:PrivacyProtect.org
Registrant Street1:ID#10760, PO Box 16
Registrant Street2:Note - All Postal Mails Rejected, visit Privacyprotect.org
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City:Nobby Beach
Registrant State/Province:
Registrant Postal Code:QLD 4218
Registrant Country:AU
Registrant Phone:+45.36946676
Registrant Phone Ext.:
Registrant FAX:
Registrant FAX Ext.:
Registrant Email:contact@privacyprotect.org

[JeffK]

Suffice to say, you won't be buying anything from stores and/or using services that you see the UABCI logo on? Or the UABB logo for that matter? Would you mind stating that here so we can have a record of it?

Matthew N. Wright

Matt, I don't want to be negative, but you trying to inject a regulatory agency, even one with no actual power, into this den of 'anarcho-capitalists' is probably in vain.

edit: If you are honest in your intentions, remember that you are a guppy of common sense swimming upstream a river of stupid and half-planned ideas.

[FlipPro]

Suffice to say, you won't be buying anything from stores and/or using services that you see the UABCI logo on? Or the UABB logo for that matter? Would you mind stating that here so we can have a record of it?

Matthew N. Wright

Don't bite you're being trolled...

[smoothie]

Suffice to say, you won't be buying anything from stores and/or using services that you see the UABCI logo on? Or the UABB logo for that matter? Would you mind stating that here so we can have a record of it?

Matthew N. Wright

Matt, I don't want to be negative, but you trying to inject a regulatory agency, even one with no actual power, into this den of 'anarcho-capitalists' is probably in vain.

edit: If you are honest in your intentions, remember that you are a guppy of common sense swimming upstream a river of stupid and half-planned ideas.

Yeah I am not buying the UABB thing either.

Establish some reputation then come and advertise yourself in such matters as an investigation of wrong doing.

Let us know if you find the guy who is responsible for mybitcoin.com, until then please stop acting like UABB is something to be trusted or that people should rely on to solve such matters.

[smoothie]

Let us know if you find the guy who is responsible for mybitcoin.com, until then please stop acting like UABB is something to be trusted or that people should rely on to solve such matters.

Anyone else want to take charge of any kind of gathering of information and provide backup funding for an investigation? Okay, right. So I guess I keep doing what I'm doing then.

Thank everyone for being constructive and useful and allowing us all to move in an unbiased, forward direction. Oops.

No one elected or ask you to take charge of anything. If you want to take charge of that then great. Show us all how useful your newly created organization is once the perpetrator has been found and brought to justice.

[repentance]

This place is getting more like high school every day, with multiple service operators now acting like butthurt teenagers whenever they don't like a question about or a comment on their service.

Y'all need to grow up and behave like business professionals if you want the trust of the community instead of reacting like spoiled toddlers whenever someone criticises your precious ideas.

[smoothie]

This place is getting more like high school every day, with multiple service operators now acting like butthurt teenagers whenever they don't like a question about or a comment on their service.

Y'all need to grow up and behave like business professionals if you want the trust of the community instead of reacting like spoiled toddlers whenever someone criticises your precious ideas.

Amen.

[BillX]

This "gentleman's" domain he chose for the UABB is only 6 days old and registered anonymously.

OH NOE! NOT A STARTUP! *gasp*

That certainly does not say "trust me" at all. Look at his website as well. It looks like a 4th grader made it in 5 minutes.

Let's see you live my lifestyle and still make a quality website for the 14th company you run, all in Notepad++ using no external libraries for reference.   Thanks by the way. I appreciate the constructive criticism.

Also, "the gentleman" couldn't even other to at least put a redirect on the top level of UABCI.ORG. All of this plain says amateur and watch out.

So when a startup has issues, it can cause some quakes in the community, I understand this. But when the community is so eager to judge the businesses and organizations that only exist to benefit the community, it causes me to question what kind of mindset the community possesses.

Though, I guess in his defense he does have over 500 posts to this forum. I guess to him that all the credit he needs.

Although I am happy you learnt2WHOIS today, I have to say that I'm appalled at the obvious contradiction of this forum. On one hand I can talk about what I'm doing and be told to shut up for lack of interest, and on the other hand I'm called out for not giving enough information. What exactly do you want?  

First of all.... *knuckles crack* If you really ran 14 companies you would have hired a professional to make that site for you as your time would be too valuable creating that wonderful website.

Second of All.. You're the one asking to be "Mr Regulator" or is it "Mr Investigator" or.. "Bitcoin Policeman" so the onus to prove that you are even capable of doing this is on you. No one here asked you to do that. Maybe you would want to provide samples of your previous work? A real life resume would be nice as well, especially with all those companies you run. Though with the burden of running 14 companies your going to be pretty hard pressed to find the time to do that, along of course with the lifestyle you live.

To me and it seems a lot of the others your just another talking head, spewing shite and producing nothing.

But this is a bonus from your website that really makes me laugh. "The evidence and findings of this investigation will be public knowledge."  I really hope your not that stupid to get that close to something that might be libelous during your "investigation". Also remember, impersonating a Private Detective is illegal as well.

If you really are legit, by all means go for it. The burden however is on you to prove that.

[BillX]

Let us know if you find the guy who is responsible for mybitcoin.com, until then please stop acting like UABB is something to be trusted or that people should rely on to solve such matters.

Anyone else want to take charge of any kind of gathering of information and provide backup funding for an investigation? Okay, right. So I guess I keep doing what I'm doing then.

Thank everyone for being constructive and useful and allowing us all to move in an unbiased, forward direction. Oops.

...and remember folks... He wants funding for his 6 day old non profit startup that is completely anonymous but does ask for personal information (affidavits) from other bitcoiners about how they were scammed from mybitcoin. Sure thing Mr Anonymous. Ill get that right to you both my money as a donation and my personal info so you can steal more at a later date.

As I said before. This a scam.