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Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

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Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#141

Post by gloosx »

crazygringo wrote: post #99

> Because data is never stored in an intermediary server, the transfer is fast, private, and secure. But WebRTC needs a TURN server for when hole punching/STUN doesn't work when both clients are behind NAT. Data is never stored in an intermediate server, but it can pass through . How is the privacy and security ensured that the TURN server won't/can't read your data? Do you just have to trust them? Or is a form of E2…

TURN or STUN server can use the DTLS transport in order to encrypt the traffic.

So you know it's secure if you are using turns:// protocol and verified the certificate just like it works with https://

https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7350

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#142

Post by pessimizer »

culi wrote: post #101
supertrope wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People drive one ton pickup trucks to commute to their desk job. Or to get two bags of groceries.

This is true but this sucks. Modern American SUVs are an abomination too. The American auto industry started pushing them because they're legally classified as "light trucks" which lets them take advantage of certain safety and environmental standard loopholes

Yes, but it's no harder to get your groceries with an SUV than with a compact car. The firehose metaphor doesn't make sense; you're not going to accidentally wash all of the data off of the recipient's computer if you're not especially skilled in handling bittorrent.

The problem with bittorrent is ports, just like ipfs. I have to tell somebody to open a port to the outside who may never use bittorrent again.

Opening ports can be obnoxiously hard for someone who doesn't know anything, even if it sometimes just means finding the UPnP checkbox; 90% of the time it involves trying to figure out how to access the UI for their router, and after that trying to figure out what their password could possibly be or how to reset it.

Now, they've got a port sitting open for a piece of software they might never use again, and that's not something I want to be responsible for.

People who often share files should be setting up standing private networks. Group chats/texts can last for years, they should be packaged with an entire range of services that the members can easily provide for themselves (like file sharing and voice/video messaging.) So many companies make their money from centralizing and siloing this.

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#144

Post by pessimizer »

piyuv wrote: post #28
pzmarzly wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably, only in BitTorrent V2, which released in 2017, wasn't supported by major clients until 2020, and is still not widely adopted.

The same reason universal healthcare and free education is not widely adopted in the US. BitTorrent is quite “widely adopted” in other parts of the world.

> Bittorrent V2

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#145

Post by mrbluecoat »

deskr wrote: post #97
InsideOutSanta wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my time, we used to bring floppies to the schoolyard and just swap them.

We swapped cassettes and then copied them in hillbilly double cassette deck.

Making sure to cover the write-protect holes on the top with Scotch tape, of course.

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#146

Post by gloosx »

867-5309 wrote: post #143

>FilePizza eliminates the initial upload step required by other web-based file sharing services homepage is an upload interface..

hmm, it says "Drop a file", not "Upload", on this step it uploads the file to your local browser for sharing, but the file is not actually uploaded anywhere on the outside

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#147

Post by cassepipe »

If having someone intall transmission (or your favorite torrent client) is not a hurdle, I like the privtracker approach a lot : https://privtracker.com/

The reason I like it more is that most torrent clients can run in the background by default so it's not dependant on keeping a browser tab opened

It made it to the frontpage not so long ago but it'd be a pity if you had missed it

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#148

Post by crazygringo »

ivanjermakov wrote: post #140
crazygringo wrote: post #99

> Because data is never stored in an intermediary server, the transfer is fast, private, and secure. But WebRTC needs a TURN server for when hole punching/STUN doesn't work when both clients are behind NAT. Data is never stored in an intermediate server, but it can pass through . How is the privacy and security ensured that the TURN server won't/can't read your data? Do you just have to trust them? Or is a form of E2…

In WebRTC, TURN server is only used to establish a data channel. After that, data transfer us peer-to-peer. https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebRTC_API/...

That's incorrect. What you're describing is STUN, when it works. TURN is what is used when peer-to-peer remains impossible. All data transfer is via the TURN server.

Re: Peer-to-peer file transfers in the browser

#149

Post by pessimizer »

0xbadcafebee wrote: post #76
lxgr wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's on purpose. Imagine being able to just send a file from an Android phone to an iPhone without a centralized service and an Internet connection (i.e. like we could in the time of feature phones and early smartphones via Bluetooth)... Please think of the shareholders and the lawful interceptors before you suggest something as subversive!

There's a dozen apps that will open an FTP server on your phone, then the other phone connects over the network with any FTP client.

What about people who have never heard the term "FTP" and don't know what a client or a server is?

Nobody cares what we do, we know how to use our computers well, and will force them to do what we want them to do in ingenious ways, and we will share those ways with each other. The problem comes when one of us puts that solution into a user-friendly mobile package that can be installed and run with your elbow, and then somebody makes a tiktok about it.

That app is getting nuked. Maybe even the internal API that enabled that app is getting nuked. If it's a standard protocol, it's getting extended and extinguished. The people who made it and the people who host it are getting legal letters.

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