Why is Sia overlooked every single time this topic is brought up? It is shocking to me that Filecoin, an example of an ICO darling with no working product, is always at the top of the list.
I have used Sia and Skynet to build several useful decentralized media sharing applications with zero loss of data for over a year.
Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
91–100 of 123 posts
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#92The article raises a question I've wondered about before: how do you know that anyone will transfer you your data when you need it? You can require people to prove that they stored it, but how can you require people to transfer it out to you? You presumably agree with the node to pay for the transfer out, but if both counterparties are anonymous and do not trust each other, how is this accomplished?
One general solution is to have persistent nodes in the network that develop reputation over a duration of time, who perform operations that can't be done entirely trustlessly. In Storj's case these are called Satellites.
> Whenever a Satellite on the Storj network has a less than stellar payment, demand generation, or performance history, there is a strong incentive for the storage nodes to avoid accepting its data. When a new Satellite joins the network, the participating storage nodes will commence their own vetting process. This process limits their exposure to the new and unknown Satellite, while building trust over time to highlight which of the Satellites have the best payment record.
They also incentivize complete file delivery by paying for chunks of bandwidth as they're used to deliver the file, rather than all up front.
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#93As someone who's been interested in filecoin mining for a while, my main question is around legal liability for miners. For instance, if I am storing other people's data and it turns out someone was storing something illegal (unbeknownst to me), could I be held liable under US law?
Why do you think this is different than hosting a normal website with file uploads? Literally millions of people have made such websites (especially around 2000-2010).
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#94The article raises a question I've wondered about before: how do you know that anyone will transfer you your data when you need it? You can require people to prove that they stored it, but how can you require people to transfer it out to you? You presumably agree with the node to pay for the transfer out, but if both counterparties are anonymous and do not trust each other, how is this accomplished?
The answer is incentives: if you're paying to retrieve data, why shouldn't they take your business?
But do they send you the data first, or do you send them the payment first?
If they send you the data first, then why should you pay them? If you send them the payment first, then why should they send it?
I'm sure there's a piece I'm missing, but have I missed something obvious?
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
The answer is incentives: if you're paying to retrieve data, why shouldn't they take your business?
But do they send you the data first, or do you send them the payment first? If they send you the data first, then why should you pay them? If you send them the payment first, then why should they send it? I'm sure there's a piece I'm missing, but have I missed something obvious?
Data retrieval is broken into blocks so it's a repeated game with incentives to cooperate.
AFAIK Filecoin uses payment channels so you probably lock some money, retrieve data, then unlock the payment.
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
It’s like the people who seriously touted Bitcoin as a cheaper payment mechanism in than credit cards 2013. Few of them explored how ~3% fees are a balance between customer rewards, regulatory priorities, and merchant convenience. In places like Australia regulators made other choices, largely eliminating rewards programs and capping interchange fees at around a tenth of what they are in the US. There are good argume…
Clearly the Bitcoin skeptics had the better of the debate ;) You must also think "scale" and "market pressures" keep down the price of Windows. Hint: AWS has wonderful margins because everything is tied together, and bandwidth charges to get data out are huge. S3 is a great solution for data used on AWS, but costs more than 30x Storj on bandwidth alone ($90/TB for outside access, plus the cost of doing cross-region r…
I’m not sure I follow. By what metrics were the skeptics wrong about Bitcoin as a viable and cheap transaction platform?
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#97Hi! CTO of Storj here. This article makes some reasonable points, and it makes some unreasonable ones. First, on the reasonable: absolutely, privacy and security should be layered on top of whatever storage platform you use using your own encryption. No objection! That's the right approach. It is always better to bring your own encryption, and having it layered so your storage provider can't have access is great. I h…
Leaving aside imperfections of each, for user with extra bandwidth and storage, which one offers better path for monetization?
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#98Not very interesting. There are ways to solve all of these concerns--no fees are paid during the first X months, nodes periodically tested for bandwidth, etc. etc. Just because the author didn't bother to think it through doesn't mean it's not straightforward. The whole idea of a blockchain is reputation CAN be built up over time, because every transaction is recorded and there might even be incentives to associate n…
What do you base AWS storage having "an enormous markup" on? AWS has a type of storage to meet any access need / budget. S3 Glacier Deep Dive for example is perfect for storing archival items and costs $0.00099 per GB-month. So you can store a TB for about $1 per month. There are even options like S3 Intelligent Tiering that enable you to store objects on S3 Standard and it will intelligently move them to lower-cost…
Aws bandwidth costs are ridiculous and personally makes public clouds entirely unusable.
Ps everything on aws is marked up by like 300%, it's easy to beat them on cost.
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#99Not very interesting. There are ways to solve all of these concerns--no fees are paid during the first X months, nodes periodically tested for bandwidth, etc. etc. Just because the author didn't bother to think it through doesn't mean it's not straightforward. The whole idea of a blockchain is reputation CAN be built up over time, because every transaction is recorded and there might even be incentives to associate n…
For backup scenarios, you can encrypt your data before sending it to Google/Amazon. Filecoin even accommodates (or at least plans to, from what I've read) for nodes that want to store only certain types of content based on legality or whatever.
Re: Filecoin, StorJ and the problem with decentralized storage (2019)
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
But do they send you the data first, or do you send them the payment first? If they send you the data first, then why should you pay them? If you send them the payment first, then why should they send it? I'm sure there's a piece I'm missing, but have I missed something obvious?
Data retrieval is broken into blocks so it's a repeated game with incentives to cooperate. AFAIK Filecoin uses payment channels so you probably lock some money, retrieve data, then unlock the payment.
Incremental transfer seems like it should give an incentive to cooperate, but I don't think so?
If I pay you upfront for the first block, what stops you from then saying: actually I still want more money to start transfering the first block?