Ask HN: Is there an immutable and decentralized database out there?

Hi Guys,

I am in need of a database that is decentralised and would allow one or more privileged users perform only INSERT and READ operations. This means data stored in it would be replicated across all nodes and are immutable. Immutable in the sense that the principal cannot delete or edit a record even though it is the reason the database exists. Anyone can join the network, but only one or more privileged users can perform operations.

The reason I need this is because I am looking for non-blockchain based model for achieving data integrity and ensuring that a centralized entity cannot mutate data secretly.

Do you think this is feasible? Are there any existing open source solutions out there?

The distributed databases I have looked into have a user who grants roles/access to every other user. This means someone has to be trusted with full privileges. A solution where the access/role is baked into the software could be ideal.

I believe you're describing what is typically referred to as an "append only" datastore.

The biggest-name in the game is Google BigQuery. From their docs:

"BigQuery tables are append-only. The query language does not currently support either updating or deleting data. In order to update or delete data, you must delete the table, then recreate the table with new data. Alternatively, you could write a query that modifies the data and specify a new results table."

There are others databases, like Datomic, which are less popular. Typical use-cases are usually log-storage, so search around for databases meant for logging, and I'm sure you'll find a lot more.

IPFS, with a chain of objects, signed with one of a set of whitelisted keys. You'd need a bit of logic on each node to pull the latest objects (maybe using IPNS).

Thanks for your suggestion. The fact that data written to BigQuery can still be modified is not so great for my case. I want to be able to make data immutable forever. Nobody should be able to modify or delete it. Malicious alterations should not affect other nodes holding replicated data.