A coupld of forthcoming papers are using "Lyrebird" as if it were the name of a protocol, a synonym for obfs4:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13310
Obfs4/Lyrebird is based on Scramblesuit [56].
https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/1086
The obfs4/lyrebird protocol, specified in [60], is separated into two distinct phases:
This, to me, seems like an incorrect use of terminology. I am planning to tell the authors so. But I just want to check that my understanding matches the consensus opinion, which I would summarize thus:
There is no such thing as a "lyrebird" protocol. Lyrebird is a program that implements several protocols, including obfs3, obfs4, and meek. Lyrebird is a fork of obfs4proxy, which likewise is a program, not a protocol. Just as there is no "lyrebird" protocol, there is no "obfs4proxy" protocol; these are names of programs that both happen to implement an identical protocol, which protocol is called obfs4.
Do you agree?
Tor renaming its fork of obfs4proxy Lyrebird was an effort to reduce confusion. I worry that we will have years of confusion to deal with if the mistaken assumption lyrebird ≈ obfs4 (rather than lyrebird ≈ obfs4proxy) gets consecrated in print.
Quoting David Fifield (2024-08-21 06:03:26)
A coupld of forthcoming papers are using "Lyrebird" as if it were the name of a protocol, a synonym for obfs4:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13310
Obfs4/Lyrebird is based on Scramblesuit [56].
https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/1086
The obfs4/lyrebird protocol, specified in [60], is separated into two distinct phases:
This, to me, seems like an incorrect use of terminology. I am planning to tell the authors so. But I just want to check that my understanding matches the consensus opinion, which I would summarize thus:
There is no such thing as a "lyrebird" protocol. Lyrebird is a program that implements several protocols, including obfs3, obfs4, and meek. Lyrebird is a fork of obfs4proxy, which likewise is a program, not a protocol. Just as there is no "lyrebird" protocol, there is no "obfs4proxy" protocol; these are names of programs that both happen to implement an identical protocol, which protocol is called obfs4.
Do you agree?
Tor renaming its fork of obfs4proxy Lyrebird was an effort to reduce confusion. I worry that we will have years of confusion to deal with if the mistaken assumption lyrebird ≈ obfs4 (rather than lyrebird ≈ obfs4proxy) gets consecrated in print.
Yes, your description matches my understanding of it. I was pushing for a rename to something not obfs4 to avoid that confusion, but as you say it looks like it creates it's own confusion.
Thank you for looking into it.
On Wed, Aug 21, 2024 at 03:29:58PM +0200, meskio wrote:
Quoting David Fifield (2024-08-21 06:03:26)
A coupld of forthcoming papers are using "Lyrebird" as if it were the name of a protocol, a synonym for obfs4:
https://arxiv.org/abs/2405.13310
Obfs4/Lyrebird is based on Scramblesuit [56].
https://eprint.iacr.org/2024/1086
The obfs4/lyrebird protocol, specified in [60], is separated into two distinct phases:
This, to me, seems like an incorrect use of terminology. I am planning to tell the authors so. But I just want to check that my understanding matches the consensus opinion, which I would summarize thus:
There is no such thing as a "lyrebird" protocol. Lyrebird is a program that implements several protocols, including obfs3, obfs4, and meek. Lyrebird is a fork of obfs4proxy, which likewise is a program, not a protocol. Just as there is no "lyrebird" protocol, there is no "obfs4proxy" protocol; these are names of programs that both happen to implement an identical protocol, which protocol is called obfs4.
Yes, your description matches my understanding of it. I was pushing for a rename to something not obfs4 to avoid that confusion, but as you say it looks like it creates it's own confusion.
Thank you for looking into it.
I sent some emails to the authors.
One of them pointed me to this already published FOCI extended abstract that has a similar confusion.
https://www.petsymposium.org/foci/2024/foci-2024-0004.php
lyrebird (obfs4). Previously known as obfs4, lyrebird is...
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