rook
August 2, 2020, 6:37pm
1
I like the idea of the Whisper Wire protocol, so I extended it to add security features and described a way for smart contracts to emit authenticated broadcast messages:
---
eip: <to be assigned>
title: Authenticated Broadcast Messages
author: Michael Brooks <m@ib.tc>
discussions-to: <URL>
status: Draft
type: <Standards Track | Meta | Informational>
category (*only required for Standard Track): <Core | Networking | Interface | ERC>
created: <date created on, in ISO 8601 (yyyy-mm-dd) format>
requires (*optional): <EIP number(s)>
replaces (*optional): <EIP number(s)>
---
## Simple Summary
This standard builds off of “EIP-627: Whisper Specification” and addresses concerns around whisper messages lacking a method of authenticity. By levering the blockchain as a ground truth an authenticated messaging layer can be built on top of whisper.
## Abstract
By the EIP-627 specification, not all whisper wire messages are created equal. Each whisper message has an associated proof-of-work that establishes a value of the message. When the network is inundated with messages, then nodes will cull lower-value messages. Anyone can send a message to any publishing channel, and include any information they so choose.
Blockchains are not subject to proof-of-work pre-computation attacks because newly formed blocks must contain information about the previous block. Authenticated messages take this a step further, and also includes information about a transaction that emitted the message.
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I am very confused by the name choice for the protocol. I don’t think “whispering” is an accurate name for a global broadcast. Additionally, I was first drawn to this project because I thought it was written by Whisper Systems, and now I don’t think they are related at all.