[GeneralQuestions] AMA REQUEST: gwern

Long time fan of /u/gwern's work, wishing you would grant my request for an AMA? Just a few (of many) questions I'd love to ask you below...

  1. What motivates you to keep track of all the happenings of the Dark Net World?

  2. Do you conduct pentests/consult with any Dark Net Markets about potential security issues? I know you have deanonymized a new market in the past, is this something you attempt with all new markets?

  3. Do you personally think the fundamental technologies that these Dark Net Markets rely upon, such as Tor, Bitcoin and GPG are all secure/anonymous if following current best practices?

  4. If you had to predict/speculate how Agora/Evo end, what would you say?

  5. How do you support yourself when you seem to spend so much time helping the community here? Do you get enough donations to keep you content or do you have a side job of some sort? Does any type of company/university/agency pay you for your research?

Bonus question:

Are you single? I <3 you


Comments


[11 Points] None:

10 mBTC says OP is about as much of a girl as the one down at the bottom of this subreddit is


[9 Points] gwern:

I find these sorts of questions a little weird, but OK...

What motivates you to keep track of all the happenings of the Dark Net World?

I think it's interesting to see a lot of cryptopunk dynamics play out, a lot of media coverage irritates me, and also a bit of inertia.

Do you conduct pentests/consult with any Dark Net Markets about potential security issues?

No. While I'm a programmer, I'm not a hacker or pentester, a web developer, or even know much about the topics beyond generalities.

I know you have deanonymized a new market in the past, is this something you attempt with all new markets?

Those were more targets of opportunity - they were such low-hanging fruit that even I noticed the problems. I don't run scanners or Metasploit against every new market that pops up or anything like that.

Do you personally think the fundamental technologies that these Dark Net Markets rely upon, such as Tor, Bitcoin and GPG are all secure/anonymous if following current best practices?

I think Bitcoin and GPG are as secure as they need to be. Of course it would be nice if we had a Bitcoin which had default anonymity and very nice if we had a GPG with better UI/UX, but they do what is needful.

I'm not as keen on Tor: it solves only part of the anonymity problem and we know it has dangerous weaknesses with the guard nodes and hidden service architecture. But it's the best available solution at the moment, and hidden service operators should be treating their servers as not fully trusted and eg connecting exclusively over Tor anyway, reducing fallout from de-anonymization attacks.

If you had to predict/speculate how Agora/Evo end, what would you say?

Most likely outcomes? Exit scam and bust, respectively. (But if you want numerical probabilities, I'd have to do some work with my competing-risks survival model to get estimates I was comfortable with.)

How do you support yourself when you seem to spend so much time helping the community here? Do you get enough donations to keep you content or do you have a side job of some sort?

I find it too interesting to not help out, but at the moment, I survive on advertising, Gratipay donations, and Bitcoin donations (18PWLJRXjQDaWMJUQgwernqY5egoSfDk87). My income is probably a lot lower than you think, so it's a good thing I can cook and don't need much.

Does any type of company/university/agency pay you for your research?

Sometimes I do commissions for companies or people. No universities or agencies, though.

Are you single?

Yes.


[5 Points] ItsPaydayFellas:

Hey government, if you want to know more about gwern all you have to do is subpoena his info and/or go interrogate him in person.


[4 Points] ownowfuck:

I bet OP is a dude


[3 Points] procowtipper:

How deep is the illuminati in bitcoin?


[2 Points] jacksonmr:

seconding the request for the summoning of gwern! /u/gwern


[2 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] C4000c:

interested minus the bonus question lol


[1 Points] soliketotally:

gwern i want ur bbys


[1 Points] Idonu:

Gwern-senpai will never notice us QQ


[0 Points] pinkprincess1:

I think if you'd done it from a regular account not a brand new one you may have had more of a chance......