One of the main Bitcoin communication tools used to discuss potential protocol changes was eliminated for several hours from April 2, with a speculating moderator that he could have been a targeted attack assisted by bots.
For several hours in April 2 and 3, Bitcoin Core developers and researchers could not interact on Google groups after Google prohibited the group for spam.
“The Bitcoin development broadcasting list has been identified as containing spam, malicious software or other malicious content,” said Google’s warning at the time.
Warning from the Bitcoin Development Development List before lifting the prohibition. Source: Google
Bitcoin Core developer, Bryan Bishop, told Cintelelegraph that the prohibition may have been triggered by individuals or robots, signaling the Bitcoin distribution list from several accounts.
It is a current tactic of attackers who seek to ban or censor a community, said Bishop, noting that similar incidents occur on YouTube, X and Tiktok quite often.
“It is therefore possible that all of this was triggered through something like that. It could be someone who clicks on these large -scale links to report it.”
Google Workspace Support’s X account confirmed that the problem had been resolved on April 3 at 2 h 23 UTC in response to one of the other moderators on the Bitcoin distribution list, Ruben Somsen.
Bitcoin Advocate and Block Inc chief, Jack Dorsey, also drew attention to the ban, urging Google Sundar Pichai CEO to investigate the problem.
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The distribution lists generally involve a moderator email sending information to subscribers in a group to discuss and collaborate on a shared subject or interest.
The Bitcoin diffusion list is used by Bitcoin Core developers and researchers to discuss the potential changes in the Bitcoin protocol, which guarantees more than $ 1.6 Billion value for network users in the world.
It has become one of the main Bitcoin diffusion lists since the pseudonym creator of the network, Satoshi Nakamoto, shared the Bitcoin White Paper on the dissemination list of cryptography on October 31, 2008.
The moderators of the Bitcoin distribution list predict to stay on Google groups
Despite the incident, Bishop said that the moderators of the Bitcoin distribution list do not intend to move away from communication by email:
“The reality of the situation is that this particular distribution list has always been email, and therefore contributors who discuss the development of the Bitcoin protocol by e-mail, in order to provide continuity of service, you must replace it with e-mail.”
The Bitcoin broadcast list officially migrated to Google groups in February 2024.
Source: Bryan Bishop
Before that, the broadcast list was hosted on the Linux Foundation, the infrastructure of Oregon State University Open Source Lab and Sourceforge.net.
Bishop suggested that a Bitcoin forum should not be limited to a particular platform, stressing that there are several other platforms where Bitcoin developments are discussed, including Github and the decentralized social network.
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