[EUROBIT] Stefan Thomas - BitcoinJS

[molecular]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lpeZ01H_Bk

Stefan Thomas, a web developer and bitcoin fanatic is the author of BitcoinJS.

In his talk, Stefan argues the the weusecoins video he was involved with didn't actually accomplish what they where after: mainstream adoption. The reason for this being, as he says, that "the client itself, just isn't there yet".

He gives a rough overview of the different types of clients that exist and explains how his project, WebCoin, fits in there.
  
The main part of the talk is about WebCoin and different possible implementations of the Split Key approach to securing access to money.

[dunand]

Looks promising. It's clever to have to key split like that but I still do not figure what will happen if the server goes awol with the other half of my key. How can I send my bitcoins to another wallet?

[nmat]

Looks promising. It's clever to have to key split like that but I still do not figure what will happen if the server goes awol with the other half of my key. How can I send my bitcoins to another wallet?

You must request a backup of the keys beforehand. You can print these backup keys on paper for example.

[Stefan Thomas]

Looks promising. It's clever to have to key split like that but I still do not figure what will happen if the server goes awol with the other half of my key. How can I send my bitcoins to another wallet?

Like nmat said, the suggested procedure is to request the server to send you a backup - ideally through some method that is outside of your computer, the most obvious being snail mail. But it's completely up to the server what they want to offer their users. For example the red keys could be on your mobile phone and the server only handles the messaging in between.

The point of the talk is simply that a browser-based client can benefit from the split keys just like a desktop client can. And split keys in turn open up a whole world of possibilities.

[Red Emerald]

Looks promising. It's clever to have to key split like that but I still do not figure what will happen if the server goes awol with the other half of my key. How can I send my bitcoins to another wallet?

Like nmat said, the suggested procedure is to request the server to send you a backup - ideally through some method that is outside of your computer, the most obvious being snail mail. But it's completely up to the server what they want to offer their users. For example the red keys could be on your mobile phone and the server only handles the messaging in between.

The point of the talk is simply that a browser-based client can benefit from the split keys just like a desktop client can. And split keys in turn open up a whole world of possibilities.

I'm excited about bitcoinjs.  I am going to experiment with putting webcoin into phonegap.  That gets rid of the problem brought up in the video of the server being compromised and distributing malicious js.  The attacker would have to upload a modified app and then the target would have to update their phone to the compromised version.

The split key idea is interesting.  I really want a thin client for my phone.  Your JS library and accompanying code will be very useful.

[Stefan Thomas]

I'm excited about bitcoinjs.  I am going to experiment with putting webcoin into phonegap.  That gets rid of the problem brought up in the video of the server being compromised and distributing malicious js.  The attacker would have to upload a modified app and then the target would have to update their phone to the compromised version.

The split key idea is interesting.  I really want a thin client for my phone.  Your JS library and accompanying code will be very useful.

Please keep me posted on your efforts. I realize that BitcoinJS' documentation is lacking and I try to make up for it in the short term by making myself available to help people as much as possible.

[Matthew N. Wright]

For the record, Stefan went into great detail on the BitcoinJS during our interview but we ran out of time to include it. Sorry mate. If you're not busy in January, let's do a more detailed focused interview.

[Stefan Thomas]

For the record, Stefan went into great detail on the BitcoinJS during our interview but we ran out of time to include it. Sorry mate. If you're not busy in January, let's do a more detailed focused interview.

Sure thing. Thanks for having me, I had a great time and I like the bits you picked from the interview! I'd be happy to come on again, maybe in late January when there is a beta release of Safebit to announce.

[Matthew N. Wright]

For the record, Stefan went into great detail on the BitcoinJS during our interview but we ran out of time to include it. Sorry mate. If you're not busy in January, let's do a more detailed focused interview.

Sure thing. Thanks for having me, I had a great time and I like the bits you picked from the interview! I'd be happy to come on again, maybe in late January when there is a beta release of Safebit to announce.

That will be superb. You don't mind dressing up like a furry and reciting from an Ayn Rand novel do you? (We have some complicated fetishists to please).

[molecular]

For the record, Stefan went into great detail on the BitcoinJS during our interview but we ran out of time to include it. Sorry mate. If you're not busy in January, let's do a more detailed focused interview.

Not everyone knows who "you" are, so why not take the time to put a link to the relevant video, which is hilarious, btw. (vladimir tops it)

[Matthew N. Wright]

For the record, Stefan went into great detail on the BitcoinJS during our interview but we ran out of time to include it. Sorry mate. If you're not busy in January, let's do a more detailed focused interview.

Not everyone knows who "you" are, so why not take the time to put a link to the relevant video, which is hilarious, btw. (vladimir tops it)

I figured the sig link would have been a dead giveaway. 

[Red Emerald]

I'm excited about bitcoinjs.  I am going to experiment with putting webcoin into phonegap.  That gets rid of the problem brought up in the video of the server being compromised and distributing malicious js.  The attacker would have to upload a modified app and then the target would have to update their phone to the compromised version.

The split key idea is interesting.  I really want a thin client for my phone.  Your JS library and accompanying code will be very useful.

Please keep me posted on your efforts. I realize that BitcoinJS' documentation is lacking and I try to make up for it in the short term by making myself available to help people as much as possible.

Will do. If you could make issues for the stuff you are working on and put it on the github roadmap, or even just a text file with a big long list of "things to be done" (or link me to it if it already exists ), that would be helpful.

Is this the best thread to post in? I feel like my comments belong more in "Development & Technical Discussion"