--- a/hws/hw07.tex Tue Sep 26 12:03:24 2017 +0100
+++ b/hws/hw07.tex Tue Sep 26 12:10:41 2017 +0100
@@ -3,63 +3,37 @@
\begin{document}
-\section*{Homework 6}
+
+% For Alice to cheat, she has to get her transaction into the blockchain.
+% For this she has to solve proof-of-work puzzles faster than anybody
+% else. Is it possible for her to precompute several blocks that would
+% validate a fraudulent transaction by her? Give a short explanation
+% for your reasoning.
+
+\section*{Homework 7}
+
+\HEADER
\begin{enumerate}
-\item What are good uses of anonymity services like Tor?
-
-\item What is meant by the notion \emph{forward privacy}?
-
-\item What is a \emph{re-identification attack}?
+\item How can the hardness of the proof-of-work puzzles in
+ Bitcoins be adjusted? What is parameter that determines
+ how the hardness is adjusted?
-\item Imagine you have a completely `innocent' email message,
- like birthday wishes to your grandmother. Why should you
- still encrypt this message and your grandmother take the
- effort to decrypt it?
-
- (Hint: The answer has nothing to do with preserving the
- privacy of your grandmother and nothing to do with
- keeping her birthday wishes supersecret. Also nothing to
- do with you and grandmother testing the latest
- encryption technology, nor just for the sake of it.)
+\item What is the main data that is stored in Bitcoin's
+ blockchain?
+
+\item What is is the purpose of the proof-of-work puzzle in
+ Bitcoins?
-\item One part of achieving privacy (but not the only one) is to
- properly encrypt your conversations on the Internet. But this is
- fiercely resisted by some spy agencies. These agencies (and some
- politicians for that matter) argue that, for example, ISIL's
- recruiters broadcast messages on, say, Twitter, and get people to
- follow them. Then they move potential recruits to Twitter Direct
- Messaging to evaluate if they are a legitimate recruit. If yes, they
- move them to an encrypted mobile-messaging app. The spy agencies
- argue that although they can follow the conversations on Twitter,
- they ``go dark'' on the encrypted message app. To counter this
- ``going-dark problem'', the spy agencies push for the implementation
- of back-doors in iMessage and Facebook and Skype and everything else
- UK or US-made, which they can use eavesdrop on conversations without
- the conversants' knowledge or consent.\medskip
-
- What is the fallacy in the spy agencies going-dark argument?
- (Hint: Think what would happen if the spy agencies and certain
- politicians get their wish.)
-
-\item DNA data is very sensitive and can easily violate the privacy of
- (living) people. To get around this, two scientists from Denmark
- proposed to create a \emph{necrogenomic database} which would record
- the DNA data of all Danish citizens and residents at the time of
- their \emph{death}. By matching these to information about illnesses
- and ailments in life, helpful evidence could be gathered about the
- genetic origins of diseases. The idea is that the privacy of dead
- people cannot be violated.
+\item The department has large labs full of computers that are
+ pretty much idle over night. Why is it a bad idea to let
+ them mine for Bitcoins?
- What is the fallacy behind this reasoning?
+\item Is it possible that Bitcoins can get lost (be
+ irretrievable)?
-\item A few years ago a Google executive tried to allay worries about
- Google pooring over all your emails on Gmail. He said something
- along the lines: you are watched by an algorithm; this is like being
- naked in front of your dog. What is wrong with this argument?
-
-\item \POSTSCRIPT
-\end{enumerate}
+\item \POSTSCRIPT
+\end{enumerate}
\end{document}
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