Namespace:Aliases.mediawiki

!! DRAFT !!

Table of Contents Aims Use case with a bitcoin client Possible namespaces Name Value Example Fields Notes

Aims

• Fast and secure way to get informations from an alias
• Can be used to store bitcoin addresses, email addresses, xmp, gpg, etc
• Associate a set of different addresses with an alias.

Use case with a bitcoin client

Bitcoin Aliases are pointers to Bitcoin addresses. Instead of pasting a bitcoin address in the client, users may type their alias.

Aliases may be stored on a server. The problem with that is that you need to trust the server with the task of giving your alias. Someone who takes the control of the server can hijack your alias.

Also, most people do not want the hassle of managing a server.

A solution to that problem is to store aliases in the Namecoin blockchain. An alias stored with this method cannot be forged. (some clients might access the namecoin blockchain using a server, but that remains their choice; it is not imposed on others)

To avoid managing a namecoin wallets, it is possible to share the same private key between a bitcoin address and the namecoin address used to register the alias.

see:

• https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/BIP_0015
• http://ecdsa.org/bitcoin_URIs.html (the section on aliases)
• http://ecdsa.org/bitcoin-alias/

Possible namespaces

• a/
• alias/
• id/
• email/
• p/

Name

An alias prefixed with the namespace.

• Uppercase allowed / not allowed ?
• email address allowed / not allowed ?

Examples

a/example

a/[email protected]

Value

Example

$ namecoind name_show a/khal6987
{
    "email"    : "khal@dot-bit.org",
    "bitcoin"  : "1J3EKMfboca3SESWGrQKESsG1MA9yK6vN4",
    "namecoin" :
    {
      "Donation address": "N2pGWAh65TWpWmEFrFssRQkQubbczJSKi9",
      "Generic address" : "N2pGWAh65TWpWmEFrFssRQkQubbczJSKi9"
    }
    "gpg"      :
    {
        "fpr"  : "0123456789abcde0123456789abcde0123456789",
        "uri"  : ["http://domainA/user.key", "http://domainB/user.key"],
    }
}

</dl>

Fields

Type	Description	Example
nick	A nickname	"nick" : "my_usual_nick_name"
email	An email address	"email" : "khal@dot-bit.org"
xmpp	A jabber/xmpp id	"xmpp" : "noreply@dot-bit.org"
bitcoin	A bitcoin address, array of addresses or object of addresses	"bitcoin" : "1J3EKMfboca3SESWGrQKESsG1MA9yK6vN4" "bitcoin" : ["1J3EKMfboca3SESWGrQKESsG1MA9yK6vN4",]
namecoin	A namecoin address, array of addresses or object of addresses	"namecoin" : "N2pGWAh65TWpWmEFrFssRQkQubbczJSKi9" "namecoin" : { "Donation address": "N2pGWAh65TWpWmEFrFssRQkQubbczJSKi9", "Generic address" : "N2pGWAh65TWpWmEFrFssRQkQubbczJSKi9" }
gpg	OpenGPG fingerprint and URIs of the key, or ASCII armored public key	{ "fpr" : "N2pGWAh65TWpWmEFrFssRQkQubbczJSKi9", "uri" : ["http://a.key",] } { "pgpk": "mQINBE2xbR8BEADT3HRuWJ9dzIhetmMgPRYD4Yv4Bb17/bMgdAV0HPUa+6X4xwUjPjEGSfvSIPUAKo0DCsJrzKhysgSj+Pr8lingPb..." }

Notes

• ASCII armored public key :

Namecoin records don't allow more than 1023 characters, so storing "pgpk" in the blockchain might not be possible for all keys.

Increasing the allowed size of a record would solve this.