Matthew Toseland wrote: >> * If it were possible to insert an ARK without third parties being able >> to see whose ARK it was, might it then be possible for my neighbours to >> retrieve my ARK by non-anonymous means, eg from a well-known server? > > Hmm what are you trying to do here? Certainly your reference could be > published to a well-known server, but it'd have to be by your node...
Here's what I had in mind: I'd insert my ARK anonymously into Freenet, and my neighbours would first try my old address, then try to retrieve my ARK from Freenet, and finally retrieve my ARK from a public "ARK server" (analogous to a nym server) if none of their other neighbours were online. But if the ARKs retrieved by my various neighbours look the same, the ARK server will be able to create a map of the darknet. On the other hand if each ARK is encrypted and signed with a different key, the ARK server won't know that the ARKs retrieved by my various neighbours all refer to the same node. It will still be able to harvest addresses, but it won't be able to link them to one another. Another concern is that people might misuse the ARK server as a public Freenet proxy by publishing arbitrary data inside ARKs, so the ARK server might need to limit the number of requests per client per hour to make this an unattractive option. Cheers, Michael
