Anonymous GPG authentication

[slawt]

My understanding is that currently the only way to do GPG authentication and use the web of trust is to be in the #bitcoin-otc channel on freenode.

Tor access to freenode is restricted to SASL connections, which require a freenode account which in turn requires a freenode connection to create, breaking anonymity (at least for the initial account creation).

#bitcoin on i2p is linked to the #bitcoin freenode channel but not #bitcoin-otc and it's not possible to authenticate with gribble using this.

I'm interested in any suggestions on what can be done to improve the situation?

[kseistrup]

#bitcoin on i2p is linked to the #bitcoin freenode channel but not #bitcoin-otc and it's not possible to authenticate with gribble using this.

Can't you create the freenode account using I2P, then authenticate with gribble when you are connected via TOR?

Cheers,

[slawt]

Can't you create the freenode account using I2P

No, there is no way to connect to freenode through i2p. The i2p IRC server just has someone on it (nanotube I believe) running gribble connecting the #bitcoin channels on both networks.

[kseistrup]

Hm, I guess you'll have to let someone register an account and hand it over to you, then…

Cheers,

[BitLex]

that won't help much, he would need to verify his freenode-registered nick, before he can gpg-auth with gribble,
but he can not verify his freenode-registered nick, because freenode doesn't even know he's online, while he's connected through gribble,
freenode would just think he IS gribble.
and gribble has to see him on channel, too.

it could be a workaround, if gribble not only routes i2p-users, but also auth's them on i2p, instead of freenode,
but there'd still be a problem.
most, if not all trades on otc are made in private (you don't want to yell your account-numbers to everyone around),
but afaik you can't PM anyone, if you'r connected through gribble.

[kseistrup]

that won't help much, he would need to verify his freenode-registered nick, before he can gpg-auth with gribble,

The helper can register and verify the nick.  OP can then log on via TOR/SSL and do whatever he has to do with gribble.  Wouldn't that work?

Cheers,

[BitLex]

no, wouldnt work,
i shouldn't have said verify, but identify instead, my bad, sorry.

he needs to be on the network with his nick and identified to nickserv,
he can't do that, because he simply isn't on the network at all, only gribble is.

edit: assuming he's using i2p, not TOR, i'm not sure if you can login to freenode somehow through TOR, i couldn't get it to work when i tried.
If he can and does connect through TOR, all these i2p-problems don't occur

[kseistrup]

no, wouldnt work,
i shouldn't have said verify, but identify instead, my bad, sorry.

he needs to be on the network with his nick and identified to nickserv,
he can't do that, because he simply isn't on the network at all, only gribble is.

If I can connect to freenode using SSL and identify myself, why can't OP connect to freenode using SSL and TOR and do the same (if the helper has already created and verified his freenode account)?

Cheers,

[nanotube]

as has been suggested - indeed the solution is to ask a user /on freenode/ to register a nick for you /on freenode/, and give you the account details.
you then can log in via tor, change your password, and you're happily on your way toward using freenode with tor, never having revealed your real ip.

[kseistrup]

(This really belongs in the Marketplace section, so…  I'd be happy to register and verify a freenode account and hand over the credentials for 1 BTC.  PM me if you're interested.)

[mewantsbitcoins]

as has been suggested - indeed the solution is to ask a user /on freenode/ to register a nick for you /on freenode/, and give you the account details.
you then can log in via tor, change your password, and you're happily on your way toward using freenode with tor, never having revealed your real ip.

except you have to trust the persons who registered your nick because he can reset the password via email

[slawt]

indeed the solution is to ask a user /on freenode/ to register a nick for you /on freenode/, and give you the account details.

Right, this is a workaround for the problem but I'd like to think that a better long term solution could be found.

[kseistrup]

except you have to trust the persons who registered your nick because he can reset the password via email

Once you have your freenode credentials you can log in and change both password and email address.

Cheers,

[kseistrup]

Right, this is a workaround for the problem but I'd like to think that a better long term solution could be found.

Would it be possible to connect to the freenode's web interface via e.g. https://ctunnel.com/ (or a similar proxy), do registering and verifying, then connect via TOR and dowhatever one needs to do?

Cheers,

[slawt]

Would it be possible to connect to the freenode's web interface via e.g. https://ctunnel.com/ (or a similar proxy), do registering and verifying, then connect via TOR and dowhatever one needs to do?

Sure, something like this might be possible if you can find a VPN or proxy that isn't blocked by freenode. But I'm not really looking for a workaround for myself, I'm more interested to see what can be done to fix this for other people in the future.

I think using GPG authentication and the Web of Trust anonymously is something traders may reasonably want to do, and at the moment it's not really possible.

Some possible ideas:

• Move the trading channels off freenode to some other irc server in the future (irc.bitcoin.org?)
  
• Provide a web interface to gribble somehow.
• Someone provides a web interface for creating accounts on freenode.