At first I thought 'the solution for this would be simply the witness shutting off his node', but as I kept reading this suggestion made more and more sense.
Hopefully we never need to use it. But better be safe than sorry and have the tools available beforehand.
Great suggestion! Hopefully gets added in teh next Hard Fork/s. Not urgent (for now) but needed eventually.
Reblogged for more exposure. thx!
At first I thought 'the solution for this would be simply the witness shutting off his node', but as I kept reading this suggestion made more and more sense.
Yes, if a court order could (conceivably) compel the witness to run specific code then it could also compel the witness to turn the node back on.
And, if they are intent on forcing the witness to run malicious code that the government wrote, then they would likely have a node (with the malicious code) already up and running on a government computer, then simply compel the witness to provide his/her credentials.
Hopefully we never need to use it. But better be safe than sorry and have the tools available beforehand.
Yes, I seriously doubt it would ever be needed. With that said, its existence would make it even more unlikely that a malicious government would attempt such an action.
... have a node (with the malicious code) already up and running on a [government] computer, then simply compel the witness to provide his/her credentials.
That's the simplest and most efficient way to proceed (from a government point of view). It is against this kind of threat that we must protect ourselves.
Also, years ago have had friends websites attacked and shutdown through their hosting company/datacenter. So a court order, heck just even a request from a law enforcement agency to where you have your website or witness node could be another attack vector. I've seen hosts shut down people's sites just for a simple cease and desist letter from a lawyer. Hosting companies want no part of that trouble so it's easier to comply.
So just think if a gov went after hosting/datacenters hosting witnesses.