Retention/privacy info

[theymos]

I wrote a new unified IP logging/retention system, and I changed the way backups are done in order to ensure limited retention on certain privacy-sensitive things. See: https://bitcointalk.org/privacy.php

Previously I said that IPs are only logged when you post and in some limited other cases, such as when you encounter certain errors. This is no longer true: you should now think about IP logging as happening constantly.

There's now an option in your account settings which will allow you to reduce retention of your logged IPs to 3 months. You should only consider enabling this if you've staked a pubkey in the thread and you're sure that your account email is correct. I'm not sure if 3 months is enough to respond adequately to all abuse; we'll see, and I might change it later or perhaps restrict it based on rank.

I considered putting a warning on trust pages for users who have enabled limited retention, since it theoretically might make legal action against them more difficult in case they scam you, but my current thinking is that this is kind of pointless because someone could just not enable the setting and use Tor for the same effect. And it'd be both privacy-invasive and futile whack-a-mole to try to indicate when people are using proxies. On the other hand, scammers are often pretty stupid, so I could be convinced to add the warning.

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[suchmoon]

you should now think about IP logging as happening constantly.

Awesome

Just to make sure - if I check this new checkbox, will it immediately delete all logs older than 3 months?

Nevermind, I should read slower. It won't.

You can opt into limited retention in your account settings. This will apply only to logs created after you change the setting, and doing so will make it much more difficult for you to recover your account if it is ever lost.

[TryNinja]

There's now an option in your account settings which will allow you to reduce retention of your logged IPs to 3 months. You should only consider enabling this if you've staked a pubkey in the thread and you're sure that your account email is correct. I'm not sure if 3 months is enough to respond adequately to all abuse; we'll see, and I might change it later or perhaps restrict it based on rank.

It can be enabled here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;sa=account



Just for reference.

[AB de Royse777]

I just enabled it and updated which means no (IP) log left for me?



Just trying to understand the change.

Cheers :-)

[Quickseller]

You should only consider enabling this if you've staked a pubkey in the thread and you're sure that your account email is correct

Will you consider accepting non-bitcoin signed messages for private keys associated with major (top 5-10 per CMC) altcoins?

[hacker1001101001]

I considered putting a warning on trust pages for users who have enabled limited retention, since it theoretically might make legal action against them more difficult in case they scam you, but my current thinking is that this is kind of pointless because someone could just not enable the setting and use Tor for the same effect. And it'd be both privacy-invasive and futile whack-a-mole to try to indicate when people are using proxies. On the other hand, scammers are often pretty stupid, so I could be convinced to add the warning.

Yes, there is no benefit in putting an warning for those who unable this feature as many people here already use TOR to hide the current IP status. But still an inbuilt feature to hide the IP makes it easy and convenient for sure.

Happy to see upgrades in the current forum software BTW.

I just enabled it and updated which means no (IP) log left for me?

No, not all the logs are deleted.

This will apply only to logs created after you change the setting

[Lauda]

I just enabled it and updated which means no (IP) log left for me?

No. The IPs you used in the last 3 months will always be logged, in addition to that you have to wait a certain amount of time before your past logs are gone. Just read this: https://bitcointalk.org/privacy.php.

[AB de Royse777]

~snip~
No. The IPs you used in the last 3 months will always be logged, in addition to that you have to wait a certain amount of time before your past logs are gone. Just read this: https://bitcointalk.org/privacy.php.

I read. Just to clarify:



Full IP 6 months (normal retention), meaning that certain amount of time you mentioned is 6 months?

Since I have already checked the Limit IP retention then I fall under 3 months limited retention?

What is Partial IP?

Sorry I never checked the privacy page until today.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers :-)

[Lauda]

Full IP 6 months (normal retention), meaning that certain amount of time you mentioned is 6 months?

Yes.

Since I have already checked the Limit IP retention then I fall under 3 months limited retention?

Only starting today.

What is Partial IP?

Sorry I never checked the privacy page until today.

Read the page agian.

[vit05]

I thought the first login IP was stored forever. I think changing this configuration before a more elaborate account recovery process will be very risky...

[100bitcoin]

Is this change in response to some government order? Just asking...

[AB de Royse777]

Full IP 6 months (normal retention), meaning that certain amount of time you mentioned is 6 months?

Yes.

Since I have already checked the Limit IP retention then I fall under 3 months limited retention?

Only starting today.

Clear :-)

What is Partial IP?

Sorry I never checked the privacy page until today.

Read the page agian.

Yeh did LOL but again failed to understand Partial IP :-P

My technical knowledge is limited to understand this:

Between 6 and 24 months, the IP linearly loses least-significant bits over time. For example, the IP 123.234.210.221 would lose 8 bits and become the prefix 123.234.210.0/24 approximately 10.5 months after it was logged. For IPv6, the least-significant 66 bits are dropped after 6 months, and then the remaining bits are dropped linearly over the 1.5-year period.

Can anyone speak English for the above quote? :-D

Cheers :-)

[Lauda]

Yeh did LOL but again failed to understand Partial IP :-P

My technical knowledge is limited to understand this:

Between 6 and 24 months, the IP linearly loses least-significant bits over time. For example, the IP 123.234.210.221 would lose 8 bits and become the prefix 123.234.210.0/24 approximately 10.5 months after it was logged. For IPv6, the least-significant 66 bits are dropped after 6 months, and then the remaining bits are dropped linearly over the 1.5-year period.

Can anyone speak English for the above quote? :-D

Cheers :-)

The bolded is a partial IP of the underlined.

[BitCoinDream]

Can the retained log of a certain user, be made available to that user? I mean, an user has right to know his/her own information. Is not it?

[AB de Royse777]

Yeh did LOL but again failed to understand Partial IP :-P

My technical knowledge is limited to understand this:

Between 6 and 24 months, the IP linearly loses least-significant bits over time. For example, the IP 123.234.210.221 would lose 8 bits and become the prefix 123.234.210.0/24 approximately 10.5 months after it was logged. For IPv6, the least-significant 66 bits are dropped after 6 months, and then the remaining bits are dropped linearly over the 1.5-year period.

Can anyone speak English for the above quote? :-D

Cheers :-)

The bolded is a partial IP of the underlined.

Trying to grasp it however I think I got the basic idea. May be I need to get help from google for more clarity. Cheers Lauda :-)

[Lauda]

I mean, an user has right to know his/her own information.

In the EU, yes. In the US, no.

[RocketSingh]

I mean, an user has right to know his/her own information.

In the EU, yes. In the US, no.

I dunno if u r right or wrong. But, if u r right, a legal action against BitcoinTalk at EU may ban the domain all over EU. On the other hand, US probably does not prohibit an entity to share such information with their userbase. So, it is probably better to share the info.

[newIndia]

I thought the first login IP was stored forever. I think changing this configuration before a more elaborate account recovery process will be very risky...

I think, first login IP will still be logged.

[ibminer]

It's a bad idea to provide any IP log to the user themselves. Compromised accounts happen and the situation could become worse if the attacker can access your IP logs.

[RocketSingh]

It's a bad idea to provide any IP log to the user themselves. Compromised accounts happen and the situation could become worse if the attacker can access your IP logs.

Compromised accounts get PM details as well. That should not be a reason, not to provide IP log data.