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Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

freeread.org

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Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#81

Post by Mediterraneo10 »

derefr wrote: post #45
fsflover wrote: post #3

I think such materials should better be placed to darknets protecting the privacy of users and seeders, e.g., to I2P.

If you take IPFS's model and add inherent anonymity, that's exactly what Freenet is. (To this day I'm confused about why IPFS is popular while Freenet isn't.)

Freenet didn't take off in part because there one hosts all kinds of distributed files you don't know the content of, because they are encrypted, but if someday that encryption algorithm is broken, there is a strong chance many people were (unwittingly, but still) hosting child pornography.

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#82

Post by mintplant »

tutfbhuf wrote: post #34
segfaultbuserr wrote: post #4

The IPFS mirror really gives a substantial performance boost. In the past, the files had to be fetched from a tired server far away in Russia, the speed can be as low as 0.5 Mbps in my experience (depends on your ISP and connectivity), now it can be lightning fast thanks to P2P, 2 Mbps+, more than adequate to download a 100 MiB+ file. You don't even have to install IPFS (but you probably should, to maintain decentral…

IPFS gateways are similar to Tor exit relays, they just route the traffic to the public internet. Tor exit relays still exist, and haven't been DCMAed out of existence so far. One could also imagine IPFS over Tor.

IPFS-over-Tor has been trapped in development hell for 5 years.

https://github.com/ipfs/notes/issues/37

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#83

Post by dooglius »

diggan wrote: post #24
dooglius wrote: post #12

A strange choice given that distributing copyrighted materials violates the IPFS Code of Conduct [0]. Why not use BitTorrent whose attitude toward copyright is much more in sync with libgen's? [0] https://github.com/ipfs/community/blob/master/code-of-conduc...

Protocols don't have attitudes, everything you're using IPFS for you could also use BitTorrent for (almost). The protocols don't really care about what data you send, and no one can stop you from using them, BT or IPFS. The CoC you've linked covers the IPFS Community and other Protocol Labs initiatives, it doesn't cover usage of IPFS itself. freeread.org is not bound by that CoC.

It's more that just the protocol though. TFA links directly to the IPFS Desktop Client, which certainly can have an attitude e.g. if a future update blocks this project. That risk doesn't really exist for any mainstream torrent client.

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#84

Post by dboreham »

petra wrote: post #5

What's missing from this system(and P2P systems in general), is automatic pinning - i.e. the system automatically choses which files to pin on which user, to ensure every file is available on the net. It's a bit of tricky problem, because people may not like unknown, random files on their pc, and probably, because such algorithm is distributed and will need to resist attacks. But i think that the payoff is big: what…

We built a simple pinning system for a project I'm involved with: each node queries a blockchain-based database for a set of resources to pin locally. Resource publishers pay blockchain fees to advertise their data for pinning.

We also found it necessary to build a kind of "overlay" to the p2p network (how each peer selects its peers) because the default algorithm produced too sparse a network. The probability of one node ever being connected to another node that holds content it would like to sync approaches zero. The topology for the overlay network is also fetched from said blockchain.

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#85

Post by segfaultbuserr »

mintplant wrote: post #82
tutfbhuf wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IPFS gateways are similar to Tor exit relays, they just route the traffic to the public internet. Tor exit relays still exist, and haven't been DCMAed out of existence so far. One could also imagine IPFS over Tor.

IPFS-over-Tor has been trapped in development hell for 5 years. https://github.com/ipfs/notes/issues/37

If IPFS-over-Tor is in the development hell, IPFS-over-I2P is in the development limbo.

https://github.com/ipfs/notes/issues/124

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#86

Post by segfaultbuserr »

tutfbhuf wrote: post #34
segfaultbuserr wrote: post #4

The IPFS mirror really gives a substantial performance boost. In the past, the files had to be fetched from a tired server far away in Russia, the speed can be as low as 0.5 Mbps in my experience (depends on your ISP and connectivity), now it can be lightning fast thanks to P2P, 2 Mbps+, more than adequate to download a 100 MiB+ file. You don't even have to install IPFS (but you probably should, to maintain decentral…

IPFS gateways are similar to Tor exit relays, they just route the traffic to the public internet. Tor exit relays still exist, and haven't been DCMAed out of existence so far. One could also imagine IPFS over Tor.

Tor exit nodes are forward proxies, they are used by the client-side to initiate connections to the public Internet but do not accept connections from the public Internet. You cannot host an Internet-facing webserver on a Tor exit (Onion Service exists solely within the Tor network), DMCA is not an issue, they do not act as a point of content distribution, there is nothing to take down. The main issue is the abusive outgoing traffic, which is seen as unavoidable and outweighed by Tor's greater benefits, so the existence of Tor exits is justified.

IPFS gateways (and Tor-to-Web) are reverse proxies, they are configured at the server-side to accept connections from the public Internet and route traffic to IPFS (and Tor), and they distribute content to the public Web. As far as I can see, this is a problem, someone can send DMCA notices, asking the gateway operators to take files down from the Web. The only protection I see is DMCA Section 512 (a.k.a Safe Harbor Provision), the operators are not liable for things solely hosted on IPFS, which is good, but gateways must comply with the takedown notices. So I think it's entirely possible for Cloudflare to put a huge blocklist on its IPFS gateway, and for smaller gateways that don't have the necessary resources to handle the requests, be DMCAed out of existence entirely. In the 2000s, RIAA launched campaigns against eD2k servers and BT trackers, including the use of honeypot servers to collect information. RIAA was not ultimately successful, but it created a major short-term disruption (eventually new servers would always appear in a different jurisdiction). A similar campaign against IPFS gateways sound possible if the publishers decided to launch an aggressive crackdown like the RIAA. The question is only a matter of whether the decision is made.

I'm not saying that IPFS requires the use of IPFS gateways, they don't, and in a sense, gateways are counterproductive for the decentralization goal. But they do currently provide an useful service for the Web, and I'm just speculating whether a major disruption is possible.

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#87

Post by arsome »

josu wrote: post #28
dooglius wrote: post #12

A strange choice given that distributing copyrighted materials violates the IPFS Code of Conduct [0]. Why not use BitTorrent whose attitude toward copyright is much more in sync with libgen's? [0] https://github.com/ipfs/community/blob/master/code-of-conduc...

Yeah, and the fact that they've already decided to blacklist sci-hub. https://discuss.ipfs.io/t/mirror-of-sci-hub-in-ipfs/1613

Am I missing something? I don't see any mention of a blacklist in that thread. They did close it because of course, they don't want to be in Limewire's position, where they get held responsible for the tech they built because they supported, even in a minor way, its use in piracy.

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#88

Post by arsome »

corey_moncure wrote: post #15
petra wrote: post #5

What's missing from this system(and P2P systems in general), is automatic pinning - i.e. the system automatically choses which files to pin on which user, to ensure every file is available on the net. It's a bit of tricky problem, because people may not like unknown, random files on their pc, and probably, because such algorithm is distributed and will need to resist attacks. But i think that the payoff is big: what…

If the pinning came with encryption where the key is not known to the pinned system, I think most would be OK with it. There's no way to know, or demonstrate that anyone could know, the contents of any given file. Furthermore, the file could be broken into encrypted chunks and distributed redundantly to many users. Kind of like BT turned inside out.

This is pretty much exactly how Freenet works.

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#89

Post by bboygravity »

nemo wrote: post #52
whimsicalism wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> write letters to ISPs and send you fines. That's very common for example in Germany. And you have to pay the fines? That's nuts. In the US, you are pretty much as likely to get fined for torrenting as you are to get arrested for jaywalking (although without the racial disparity).

In the US the (very) common scenario is to get a couple warnings from your ISP and if you continue torrenting copyrighted material you will be dropped as a customer and banned.

France was pressured by the US diplomatically to do the same in France. It's called HADOPI.

Source: wikileaks

Re: Libgen Storage Decentralization on IPFS

#90

Post by segfaultbuserr »

an_opabinia wrote: post #26
segfaultbuserr wrote: post #4

The IPFS mirror really gives a substantial performance boost. In the past, the files had to be fetched from a tired server far away in Russia, the speed can be as low as 0.5 Mbps in my experience (depends on your ISP and connectivity), now it can be lightning fast thanks to P2P, 2 Mbps+, more than adequate to download a 100 MiB+ file. You don't even have to install IPFS (but you probably should, to maintain decentral…

> send a list of IP addresses to Prentice Hall or Elsevier I don’t know, do you think nobody has noticed LibGen by now? Do you think the reason they’re still running is because of some jurisdiction issue? Even the lawyers would be wrong on that one.

> do you think nobody has noticed LibGen by now? Do you think the reason they’re still running is because of some jurisdiction issue?

I'm not sure about the implication of your words. But, clearly, Elsevier has already tried to take legal actions against LibGen previously, and once in a while, LibGen's domain names are still being blocked and routinely replaced, just like Sci-Hub. I'd still say the reason it's still running is a jurisdiction issue, or let's say it's a geopolitical issue, it's using Russia to shield itself away from US influences.

But an IPFS gateway hosted in the United States by Cloudflare does not enjoy these legal and political benefits.

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