TIP4
V0: 644717,2263 1898565,40
TIP Type: Protocol Oriented
Directory: Base
Abstract:
The aim of this TIP is describe what it means to 'Establish The Time' on The Truth Social Network and why this is useful.
In order for a TSN Reference to be valid--it must contain a digital signature from your TSN Address--and the first
line of your message should Establish The Time. Opening a Primary TSN Account is one type of TSN Reference.
Further, you must Establish The Time upon publishing your Candidate Block. There are also various other uses i.e.
time-stamping documents such as this, and files (even more reliable as files are committed to unique Hashes). Eventually
a draft of this 'TSN Document' namely TIP4 will be saved as a PDF file thus comitting it to a unique Hash (as this is a
prerequisite for officially signing/proposing a TIP to be considered for inclusion in a Protocol Upgrade.
What does it mean to Establish The Time?
Establishing The Time means you are stating the most recent cryptocurrency block number(s) at the time of writing, as well
as stating a characteristic of said block thus providing proof that the block was indeed solved (without regard to finality--more
on this in a bit).
Type 1
Type 1 of the various methods of Establishing The Time is the most important, and a bare minimum requirement of creating
TSN References. Type 1 is also used in publishing your Candidate Block.
Type 1 Format:
Bitcoin block #,# of transactions Litecoin block #,# of transactions
example (at the time of writing):
644714,2377 1898544,56
While we have chosen the # of transactions in the block as our occurrance proof, any other characteristic such as the exact size
of the block, the total amount of fees, etc would suffice. But establishing a common, agreed upon heuristic (such as in Type 1)
helps prevent confusion. Similarly, there's no reason a third cryptocurrency could not be used, or any other combination.
The reason we believe Type 1 is the best choice is because Bitcoin is the most secure, longest proof of work blockchain which
serves as the industry standard. In the event a Bitcoin block is orphaned, the addition of a second cryptocurrency provides a
secondary occurrance proof. While adding a third, fourth, etc cryptocurrency to serve as occurrance proofs could help mitigate
the infrequent event of both blocks being orphaned, such an event is acceptable in the grand scheme of things (described below).
The purpose of Establishing The Time is to continuously 'anchor' your historical record of TSN Content. Individual erros that may
occurr are totally acceptable as the frequency of this process ensures it's resilience. By continuously Establishing The Time within
your TSN References and upon publishing Candidate Blocks--your valid TSN Account(s) are creating a tamper-resistant
historical record of your content as observable by anyone following along in real time. So long as the vast majority of your TSN
Content is correctly Establishing The Time, producing valid signatures, and following all the rules of the TSN Protocol--you are
essentially creating an unforgible cryptographically verifiable time-line of all your TSN Content which as is as secure as the
ownership of your private key. Since the status of Valid TSN Accounts is easily determined--there can only be one record.