HTTP replacement: IPFS

[Laforge]

I was looking into a distributed DNS system, all i could find was some info on namecoin's .bit domain and an some abstracts on NXT fora. Then stumbled upon IPFS, has to be interesting to some techies out here.

Wiki intro: InterPlanetary File System
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InterPlanetary_File_System

Must-see imho:
IPFS Alpha | Why We Must Distribute The Web

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skMTdSEaCtA

Video quotes (from the above video, around 15:00)
"These problems really matter. By the time that the internet shut down because our government decided that we're not allowed to communicate [...] These communications still need to work when disconnected from the back bone [...] It's not really enough to encrypt communications"

More technical:
IPFS Hands on Introduction
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CMxDNuuAiQ

Note the program can be run without root access but port 4001 needs to be opened up on your modem/router for upload capability.
I must admit i am having trouble connecting to others and finding useful content at the moment. Perhaps its too early.
 

[ResidingOnEarth]

I think our future freedom depends strongly on the creation, maintenance and use of secure, open-source, easy to use, encrypted, anonymous, p2p software and protocols.

 

Thanks for sharing the info.

[Koroviev]

Very cool, basically he's come up with a transport system that allows the internet backbone to be decentralized (internet anarchist?). Right now we can functionally only use a network in a single way. IPFS gives the ability to come up with creative solutions to solve problems we currently have, and to come up with more creative solutions to the current way things are handled. Just like how the government currently builds and "maintain" roads, free market allows us to come up with creative solutions to building and maintaining roads. IPFS gives us that ability on the web. 

 

There are still some fundamental issues due to the way people currently use the internet that still need to be worked through before this is a viable solution, i.e. source of truth, security, ease of use, bandwidth, etc. but I imagine those are all extremely similar to  "who's going to build the roads" questions that anarchists get.

[luxfelix]

Is this similar to the way pirate radios operated outside of territorial waters to evade broadcast restrictions?

[Koroviev]

Is this similar to the way pirate radios operated outside of territorial waters to evade broadcast restrictions?

 

If I understand correctly it'd be more along the lines of changing the way radio waves work so people can come up with different ways to use them.

[luxfelix]

If I understand correctly it'd be more along the lines of changing the way radio waves work so people can come up with different ways to use them.

 

One of the big takeaways I got from the video was shifting from focusing on "where" to "what", as in the example of the college class. I can see how this would reduce the number of bottlenecks in data traffic flow. 

[Koroviev]

One of the big takeaways I got from the video was shifting from focusing on "where" to "what", as in the example of the college class. I can see how this would reduce the number of bottlenecks in data traffic flow. 

Yeah although his math threw me off a little bit though because if you have the same data moving through multiple pipes it doesn't increase the amount of data, also not a huge fan of his using the pipe metaphor. If you think about it like water, if you pour a gallon of water through 10 pipes you don't magically have 10 gallons of water...

[jason_]

I was looking into a distributed DNS system, all i could find was some info on namecoin's .bit domain and an some abstracts on NXT fora. Then stumbled upon IPFS, has to be interesting to some techies out here.

 

This is quite the idea. Thanks for sharing.