Blockstack: A New Internet That Brings Privacy & Property Rights to Cyberspace
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Meet the developers behind Blockstack, who are using blockchain technology to reconfigure the web.
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Muneeb Ali and Ryan Shea are the co-founders of Blockstack, a project to rebuild the internet using blockchain technology so that individuals can reclaim direct control over their own identities, contacts, and data. The goal is to bring the property rights we enjoy in the physical world to cyberspace.
These two Princeton-trained computer scientists-Ali completed his Ph.D. last month with a speciality in distributed systems-believe that today's internet is fundamentally broken. Users are forced to trust companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook to maintain our online identities and personal information. They store our files in giant data centers that are increasingly vulnerable to hackers. And the Snowden leaks revealed that the National Security Agency has strong armed these tech giants into handing over users' personal data without bothering to obtain court-issued warrants.
"Google has this saying, 'don't be evil,'" says Ali. "Maybe a company shouldn't be powerful enough that they're sitting there thinking, 'should I be evil or not?'"
So how does Blockstack propose to alter cloud computing, which has bought enormous efficiencies to the tech sector? Ali and Shea say they've worked out a way to break up internet data centers into virtual storage lockers that are fully encrypted, so individual users are the only ones who hold the keys to their own data.
"If you're a Dropbox engineer, you can go through my files today," says Ali. "But if I use Dropbox through Blockstack, they have no visibility into the data at all."
This new decentralized architecture is possible thanks to the invention of a new type of distributed database called a "blockchain," which was introduced to the world in 2008 as a component of the peer-to-peer digital currency bitcoin. The blockchain was designed as a decentralized system for keeping track of who owns what bitcoin, but in the last nine years an entire industry has emerged that all about integrating the blockchain into everything from real estate markets to driverless car technology.
Shea describes the blockchain as a virtual "whitepages the community maintains together," which "anyone can add to" but "nobody controls"-a record that doesn't require a central entity to guarantee its veracity. This shared white pages lists the location of each users' encrypted data lockers.
Essential online functions that can be moved to the blockchain include registering unique identities and keeping track of each users' personal contacts. On this new internet, applications like Facebook and Twitter will still exist, but they'll have far less power and responsibility.
"At Blockstack, we're enabling small, open-source groups to grow and compete with the large players," says Shea.
What will the Blockstack internet mean for Silicon Valley? Shea predicts a new wave of tech firms will emerge. "I believe this will create a much larger economy and a lot more prosperity for everyone."
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I wish them luck. The world needs this and similar projects to succeed
Rob Lindeman and
It did
These are two very forward thinking individuals. What they are describing here would be a great advancement for the net.
"...because fuck banks." YES!
Stephen Eickhoff Haha Absolutely
If you REALLY want to fuck banks, stop using them and move your money to BITCOIN.... Just make sure you have a secure locker for your BITCOINS...
And NEVER leave your BITCOINS in any exchange....
Should have called it Pied Piper
panthary twitter.com/maidsafe/status/978178038478331905?s=21
Was a missed opportunity
I hate the control Google has on the web, and all the others!!! As a society we all need to take responsibility for ourselves, this helps to create a self reliant society!!!
You need more exclamation points
Will Work For Dank Memes I have the right to my own opinion just as you do!!!
Google has told the federal government to fuck themselves when the federal government came knocking on their doors demanding that google hand over millions of peoples data.
I dont see any other company doing that.... so far...
We need a new social network using this.
Haven't heard of that one. Thanks.
steemit is nothing like this
Synereo is called. It already exists.
It's weird. In 2017 it's a novel idea to me that my data should be... mine. How very empowering.
Great idea that I hope comes to fruition, but you know the corporate establishment 'aint gonna like this. I worry they will do everything they can to shut it down before it really takes off.
this has the potential to be a game changer for user privacy and security on the internet
This talk is genius. Thank you both of you" the founder".
Excellent concepts, hope this goes all the way!
I'm sold. Where can I invest?....And now I'm on a watch-list.
I hope you did invest
Separating data from software applications sounds good. Web browsers can access the same internet even though they are from different companies. Wordpress separated hard coded data in websites from software so you could change the design of your site quickly and easily. The data is separate. Simply change the template and all the data is there. These analogies aren't perfect for Blockstack but this is the trend. Separating data from applications and walled gardens (Facebook, Twitter, WeChat, Google). Giving users more control and ability to choose. Wish Blockstack well! Looks promising.
Just watched a documentary on Aaron Schwartz. Seems like he had some influence on both.
Awesome video
issue with blockchain technolgy is the filesize of the blockchain is allways getting *bigger* and never smaller. and it grows faster the more popular it gets, Yes techncially anyone can download the blockchain and be a provider, but if the blockchain is like 20PB only the big companies will be able to do it anyway.
I'm a little confused as to what stops anyone you grant access to one time from grabbing and aggregating that content.
Blockstack dev here:
You are right. If you grant access one time to someone who has the ability to copy your data to their own servers, nothing stops them from aggregating the data.
However, certain types of Blockstack apps will operate entirely in your browser or on your device and won't make requests to external services. They'll operate on your data which they access locally via your Blockstack Core node. We can provide a mechanism to indicate to users that a given app doesn't talk to 3rd party servers.
Think of it the same as the days of boxed software before the internet where you installed software from a box on your computer and it had no way to send this data else where. Blockstack Apps will be able to have similar benefits of old school boxed software: privacy, lack of dependence on the long term existence of the developer with the benefits of software as a service: ease of distribution and update along with the ability to access your data securely anywhere and share it securely with others you trust.
Larry, thanks for your responses and information. Is it correct to think of the Blockstack Core node as a sandbox, then? "Joe Average User" is still going to go to FB, Amazon, Netflix, Google, "Joe's Bank", etc. (And those entities will still be able to aggregate access and usage data on their end, as previously indicated.)
Does this also mean that those entities would have to agree to Joe's connection to them via the Blockstack Core node?
Does this have the potential to help preserve net neutrality by making it impossible for ISP's to monitor what type of content is being moved through their networks?
Stephen Garrett ISPs will only know is that there is massive amounts of data being moved. They won't know the details of the data being moved
What about the endpoints of where the data is traveling to? Can they use that to determine that you're going to a site that isn't paying to use fast lanes and throttle you that way?
Blockstack dev here: The concept of net neutrality today is based heavily on the concept of apps and their data running on servers traffic to which can be potentially prioritized or de-prioritized compared to the traffic from other apps. With Blockstack, the data for apps lives on user controlled storage. This could be on servers run by the user or cloud storage controlled by the user. It won't be possible to prioritize or deprioritize data in the current fashion, based on a particular application, because data for a given app could be stored anywhere.
ISPs could still have fast lanes and throttle based on different storage locations or traffic types.
For example, if data used by a given app is encrypted and being distributed by bittorrent, the ISP could decide to throttle all bittorrent traffic since this has a unique signature. They could also choose to throttle or provide a fast lane for data coming from particular storage providers. They wouldn't be able to throttle only an app's data, because as the other commenter pointed out, they won't know the details of the data being transferred or the identity of the app doing the transfer.
also, work locally to get more ISP competition in your area and nobody would ever dream of throttling
This may mean that better internet. so like better gaming, 4k video ( all the time) and more to come. I'm very happy with this. :)
Good job, Reason!
ReasonTV - Great piece, thanks. How can you have Ajit Pai and that comedian insult and poke fun at us stumping for net polarity and then have the audacity to ride this horse? Which do you advocate, the collusion of government, money and power to gouge us of "returning the control of the internet to individual users"?
How does this differ from the old FreeNet model, where all content was served on user machines, and accessible only through a proxy server running locally?
Big obstacle is advertiser networks. If you wan't to dis-intermediate while preserving cloud computing you have to have a way to fund it. Advertisers are friendly to federated services who gets the cookie instead? I doubt users will maintain their own computing fees except out of some kind of idealism.
I don't ever see this working out. Why would the regular Internet user switch over to this platform and what incentive is there for companies to move over?
What's the ticker symbol?
The fact that the data is available doesn't mean that it 'can' be used for malign purposes, it means that it *will* be used for malign purposes.
Bring it on!!
these guys give me hope for the future, if they can just resist the temptation to feel entitled to other peoples stuff, their libertarian tendencies can democratize the world
Are you saying that it's possible that something.... good.... could actually happen in this world?
Sorry, that doesn't fit my current model for how I perceive the world to work. Can you explain further?
So will Google buy these guys out or will Facebook buy these guys out?
good stuff
Where can we find info on this project?
"It actually started out that way? Any central repository of data? on, like, millions of people?" Why do their statements sound like questions? Reminds me of, like, The Valley Girl? :'D
Cool idea anyways
Why social media would never go along with this is how they monetize their platform Is collecting and selling user data to advertisers and governments.
If this goes through. Crypto currencies will even sky rocket more than it already has. Insane to think about.
Long Live The Co-founders Of BlockStack , Good Will Overcome Those Whom Want To Continue To Enslave Humanity ... No More Wars & Molesting Children ( Twisted Amoral Bastards ) ... Power To The People ✊
I tried this, but I don't have bitcoin so I cant create an id so can not use it. pity as it seems like a good idea but I can not afford the price of the id.
He defended it last month in 2007? 3:44
The dissertation was in 2007, it was _protested_ recently and defended.
US government will never allow this to happen. The government wants to know you better than you know yourself.
people forget to things we don’t seem To care about privacy and we choose to use fb, amazon etc More choices doesn’t mean we’re going to move away from using Facebook or Amazon
when can i buy blockstack token from market?
These guys are smart. How do I buy stock in them?
Robert Johnson buy their crypto token
Stocks lol 😂😂😂
Du måste verkligen uppgarder din kunskap till 2021
@@Traveler012 he says 2 years later 😆😆😆
Richard Hendricks was right after all
We need a new one !!! User data are not belong to these BIG C.........
Hey Guys! Check out Elastos. A blockchain powered solution, working to create the new internet!
How about internet provided to the entire world thru space instead of cables?
It's slow, expensive, and inefficient. Essentially you're describing wifi. It has its uses, but wires are faster.
...and how do you plan on indexing the data like google do if everything is encrypted? lol
Its called Holochain Under $HOT . check it out similar to this. non blockchain crypto...
Will I have to pay for this new blackstack?
This is great till government puts bills in place to prevent things like this
The company will just move into another country, so the government bills will no longer matter.
remember, this world belongs to the people, Not just the government...... this is everyones world.
Humanity is trying to evolve, but government does not want that to happen, because the government wants to control the people.
Just like the government telling people we are not ready for certain technologies.
Who are they to tell the people what they are ready for or not ready for. ?? ---- See the problem ????
TwstedTV I agree where convenient I'm moving my data back into my ownership starting with getting rid of my google drive and drop box
1$ give away is scam or no?
To be fair the Internet also started out with nuclear attacks in mind.
Google maps started as a missile targeting technology.
one word : torrents
One word "Stupid"
This basically is torrents.
"So I basically looks at this as like mathematics. We can just wait it out and somebody else would do it. But this is a world where I don't see any possibility where you can actually like ban encryptions. Governments would actually just need to learn to be smarter."
You do know we elected Donald J. Trump, right?
I feel as though these guys are going to go missing or die. There's no way governments are going to let this take off.
Let's hope not!
Larry: Is Blockstack open source?
ArtemiaSalina yes!
Just remember, government doesnt have control over people. the problem is, more people are afraid of the government because of threats to go to prison, so people
turn into puppies and do whatever government says. This is OUR world, not the government's.
Right now we live in prison controlled by the government, just not with walls and gates. And we the public didnt do anything wrong, yet we are treated like prisoners.
A bit hard to explain over TEXT. because it would take far too much text to explain it.
Governments are too busy to fight it. By the time they realize it's power it will be too late.
3 years later... blockstack hasn't been heard by anyone and it's not a google competitor and I understand why: at the moment we have big internet giants and they are doing a good job, would you really "risk" going back to peer to peer?
To me it's like mcd: if you travel the world, you don't like the local food what do you do? you go to mcd, because it's big, recognised international company so you know if you have a meal there you won't have the best meal of your life, yet you will enjoy it. risking is not that deep in human nature as people think.
sooo... basically it is a vpn?
A VPN just moves trust. It let's you not have to trust your ISP and replace that with trust in your VPN provider. Blockstack lets you only have to trust your own device.
Let's make it happen. Down with greed, tyranny and censorship.
Only that is not how the internet started out
Seems like a ripoff of Internxt
Blockstack (Tron) vs Google (MCP) - when cinema imitates life: ruclips.net/video/dcg7guyLA8k/видео.html
I don't get it... Blockstack is literally acting as a middleman while claiming to not have any middlemen...
Holochain is better =)
So yea, I smell bull shit.. This is old and easily countered by something like an onion router smh... Then again this non issue would be sold as a horror story by these opportunistic tech fuckers.