Signal-desktop: Add some very light mining to help defray your costs?

[petjal]

I wouldn't mind if my Signal Windows 7 desktop app did a very tiny little bit of digital currency mining to help support your valiant efforts. Say, 5-10% of my CPU with a very low Priority process?

[leafcutterant]

I think merely the idea would make people shout that Signal is including resource abusing software in its code. This would be very, very bad PR for a company known for producing outstanding results in the field of security. Even is this would be optional, the result would be disastrous.

By the way, with most laptops it is unprofitable to mine any cryptocurrency (=you burn more cents in electricity than your portion of the mining reward). While I get the idea that it would be a way of paying based on how long the application is open, it would waste a lot of resources.

On the other hand, issuing an own token on Ethereum and offering extra services for users who buy and pay with them in Signal could be a better business model. But honestly, I don't see it as something being up Signal's alley.

[petjal]

Of course it would be optional and exceedingly transparent and exceeding light load.
Lots of folks seem to think they can make some money at it:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/11/drive-by-cryptomining-that-drains-cpus-picks-up-steam-with-aid-of-2500-sites/

[Dyras]

IMO just throw in a "You've been using this app for 3 months now, would you consider donating to fund our server costs?" if funds are running low

[leafcutterant]

That doesn't change the computational and economic reality of it. Just think: Whisper Systems takes this very risky leap, loses tons of users and supporters, for what? So that people can throw out a lot of money for wasted electricity. If someone explicitly wants to help Whisper Systems, they can (or should be able to) do so by using PayPal, Litecoin, etc and not losing multiple times the money in the process.

The websites in the article essentially steal electricity from visitors. Smarter blockers like uBlock Origin don't allow these scripts to run.

[scottnonnenberg]

I have to say, this one really gave me a laugh.

[petjal]

Well, that went over like a lead zeppelin. :)
Sorry for the distraction.
Thanks for all your hard work on a great product! I really do appreciate it.
--Pete

[eternaltyro]

I'm not entirely opposed to the idea of doing mining as payment. But I'm very opposed to the idea of mining feature in a secure app. I'd rather do it on whisper system's website. Example: https://davidyat.es/2017/10/01/js-crypto-mining/