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Skynet – Build a Free Internet

siasky.net

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Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#81

Post by MacsHeadroom »

incrudible wrote: post #76
Taek wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a user you have the ability to control what apps you use, what feeds you use, who you follow, etc. Decentralization doesn't mean it's completely free of moderation, it means users have the ability to pick their moderators and the ability to decide what is allowed on their feed and what is not.

I'm not sure I understand the way it works then. I was assuming that if I run a node serving content, I do not deal with curating that content at all. I just offer my bandwidth/storage for compensation, like a CDN. I don't want to be involved in curation or moderation at all, I just don't want to be held liable in case I inadvertently serve something that is illegal in my jurisdiction.

Nodes don't serve content. They serve blocks of encrypted data to other nodes. Portals run a node AND piece together content from blocks received from many nodes THEN serve the content.

You could also piece together content yourself by being your own portal. But running a node does not necessitate running a portal.

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#82

Post by killerstorm »

Taek wrote: post #71
killerstorm wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The REST API you linked to requires a local node: curl -A "Sia-Agent" "localhost:9980/skynet/portals" As I understand, there's also a public proxy https://siasky.net/ . But being a single domain, it's not decentralized, is it? So with Skynet, you can either do "easy" or "decentralized", but not "easy and decentralized", right?

That's the crazy thing about Skynet. You can do both "easy and decentralized". For example, let's say you go to https://skyfeed.hns.siasky.net/ and you make an account (SkyFeed is a decentralized alternative to Twitter built on Skynet). You make some posts, follow some people, then siasky goes down. So now you go to https://skyfeed.hns.skyportal.xyz/ - skyportal is another Skynet portal run by an independent party. W…

Sorry, but this is not decentralized at all, as you are at mercy of siasky.net serving you the right code. If siasky.net is compromised it will serve you code which steals the account. This is strictly inferior to normal web, as you need to trust both the app developer and the portal code is served from.

Having multiple mirrors is NOT decentralization.

My criteria for "decentralized web" candidates are:

  * credentials are managed by a trusted component outside of controls of apps, let alone mirrors
  * content integrity is checked before it is used
  * switching between nodes happens automatically in 
    background, there should be no SPoF (i.e. if download 
    through node 1 fails client should automatically retry 
    from node 2 and so on).
I don't think you can achieve this without integrating with a browser.

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#83

Post by hobofan »

chrisco255 wrote: post #54
EGreg wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And furthermore, it would be years until the actual ETH2 is usable, right?

No, they are making rapid progress on ETH2. The beacon chain is the root chain for the other 63 shards that will be launched. That is the chain that is currently running in parallel with the ETH1 chain. See Vitalik's blog on rollups: https://vitalik.ca/general/2021/01/05/rollup.html

The official estimate[0] is 2022. Given the general track record of their development pace, I'd be surprised if it goes fully live before 2023.

[0]: https://ethereum.org/en/eth2/

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#84

Post by dt3ft »

> Skynet's speeds rival centralized providers and surpass all decentralized offerings. A typical Skynet download starts in under 500 ms and can stream at rates as high as 1 Gbps!

I tried to download the PDF sample on the frontpage and the download never actually started. It kept waiting for the server to begin transmitting the file...

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#86

Post by shaicoleman »

dt3ft wrote: post #84

> Skynet's speeds rival centralized providers and surpass all decentralized offerings. A typical Skynet download starts in under 500 ms and can stream at rates as high as 1 Gbps! I tried to download the PDF sample on the frontpage and the download never actually started. It kept waiting for the server to begin transmitting the file...

Didn't download for me either

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#87

Post by Taek »

killerstorm wrote: post #82
Taek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the crazy thing about Skynet. You can do both "easy and decentralized". For example, let's say you go to https://skyfeed.hns.siasky.net/ and you make an account (SkyFeed is a decentralized alternative to Twitter built on Skynet). You make some posts, follow some people, then siasky goes down. So now you go to https://skyfeed.hns.skyportal.xyz/ - skyportal is another Skynet portal run by an independent party. W…

Sorry, but this is not decentralized at all, as you are at mercy of siasky.net serving you the right code. If siasky.net is compromised it will serve you code which steals the account. This is strictly inferior to normal web, as you need to trust both the app developer and the portal code is served from. Having multiple mirrors is NOT decentralization. My criteria for "decentralized web" candidates are: * credentials…

We're closer than I think you give us credit. The only major component we're missing is that normal browsers don't have the ability to verify that the portal is serving you the right code - which is of course super important.

Once you have that though, the rest can be done within the webapp itself. Credentials are managed by a separate webapp like https://sky-id.hns.siasky.net/, and some apps already have built in failover to try other portals if one is not responding.

With the advent of utreexo, it's even possible to run full blockchain nodes inside of a webapp. Again you need an integrity check on the code served by the portal, but if you have that you can independently do everything else.

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#88

Post by LockAndLol »

Can somebody explain what the difference between this and IPFS is? I see block chain mentioned so I assume you pay for storage but that page just allows you to upload anything right away without payment. Is this actually an alternative to FileCoin?

https://ipfs.io

https://filecoin.io

Re: Skynet – Build a Free Internet

#90

Post by cyphermoon »

killerstorm wrote: post #82
Taek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the crazy thing about Skynet. You can do both "easy and decentralized". For example, let's say you go to https://skyfeed.hns.siasky.net/ and you make an account (SkyFeed is a decentralized alternative to Twitter built on Skynet). You make some posts, follow some people, then siasky goes down. So now you go to https://skyfeed.hns.skyportal.xyz/ - skyportal is another Skynet portal run by an independent party. W…

Sorry, but this is not decentralized at all, as you are at mercy of siasky.net serving you the right code. If siasky.net is compromised it will serve you code which steals the account. This is strictly inferior to normal web, as you need to trust both the app developer and the portal code is served from. Having multiple mirrors is NOT decentralization. My criteria for "decentralized web" candidates are: * credentials…

The only missing piece is a browser plugin or a dedicated browser that verifies that each piece of content you are served corresponds to the hash you are requesting. This is on the global roadmap, as well as automatic portal switching. The philosophy of the project is absolutely in line with your thinking.
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