Early Encode

EarlyEncode is a flag that can be set when doing an insert. It signals to the node that it should attempt to encode the whole file immediately and generate the key, and insert the top blocks, as soon as possible, rather than waiting until each layer has been inserted before inserting the layer above it. In general this is *highly dangerous*. If an attacker knows the key and is able to fetch the top layers of the splitfile, then he can identify every block of the splitfile as it is inserted, hence he can rapidly move towards the inserter, gaining more information for every block inserted, connecting to nodes closer and closer to the target. However, if he doesn't know, he can only identify blocks retrospectively, and thus moves much more slowly. So in general, setting EarlyEncode is a bad idea, as is announcing the key of an insert before it is fully inserted.

Having said that, there are a few advantages. If you want to transfer the data as quickly as possible to a reasonably trustworthy (but still anonymous) second party, setting EarlyEncode and telling them the key as soon as possible may minimize latency and maximize transfer rate. The second party can then download the file quickly, review its contents, and announce it via public forums.

In any case, publicly announcing the key of an insert before it has finished inserting is a bad thing if you care about your anonymity, especially for large files.

See KeySearchAttack for more details on the attack and the possible countermeasures.