A significant communication platform for discussing potential protocol modifications in Bitcoin experienced an outage for several hours beginning on April 2. One moderator suggested it might have been a deliberate attack involving bots.
Throughout the early hours of April 2 and 3, developers and researchers working on Bitcoin found themselves unable to communicate via Google Groups after the service suspended the group, citing spam as the reason.
“The Bitcoin Development Mailing List has been flagged for containing spam, malware, or other harmful content,” the notice from Google indicated at that time.
A warning from the Bitcoin Development Mailing List before the suspension was lifted.
Bitcoin Core developer Bryan Bishop mentioned that the suspension might have resulted from coordinated mass-reporting by individuals or bots using multiple accounts.
He explained that such tactics are often employed by attackers aiming to silence or ban a community, noting that similar situations arise frequently on platforms like YouTube, X, and TikTok.
“It’s quite possible this entire incident was sparked by that approach. Someone might have engaged in mass reporting through those links.”
The Google Workspace Support account on X confirmed that the issue had been resolved by April 3 at 2:23 am UTC, in response to a query from another moderator of the Bitcoin mailing list, Ruben Somsen.
Jack Dorsey, a proponent of Bitcoin and head of Block Inc, also highlighted the issue, calling upon the CEO of Google to look into the matter.
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This particular mailing list is utilized by Bitcoin core developers and researchers to deliberate on possible protocol changes for Bitcoin, which safeguards over $1.6 trillion in value for users globally.
Moderators of the Bitcoin mailing list intend to remain with Google Groups
In spite of this incident, Bishop stated that the moderators of the Bitcoin mailing list have no plans to transition away from email communication:
“The fact remains that this mailing list has always operated through email, and for the contributors discussing Bitcoin protocol development, continuity of service necessitates replacing it with email.”
The Bitcoin mailing list officially transitioned to Google Groups in February 2024.
Source:
Prior to this, the mailing list was maintained on the infrastructure of the Linux Foundation, the Oregon State University Open Source Lab, and SourceForge.net.
Bishop proposed that discussions on Bitcoin should not be restricted to a single platform, as there are several other venues where Bitcoin developments are conversed, including GitHub and the decentralized social network Nostr.
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