undefined | Better HN

0 pointssounds13y ago0 comments

I follow your logic. I agree.

What concrete action would you suggest to make the internet more democratic?

0 comments

Central servers must go. We must also disentangle presence management, identity, and services built on top of those layers. Access to identity must be layered and fully subject to user control.

I am personally remiss in this matter as I thought deeply about all this when ICQ came out in mid 90s (and even filed a PPA on April 1st 1997 with USPTO on my take on the solution) but did not advocate effectively enough for the (obvious) architectural remedies. Frankly it bugs me to this day and weighs on me like a still born child.

lukeschlather13y ago

Can we create a trusted identity service that doesn't rely on centralized highly-trusted nodes? It seems necessary to me that the government or other large associations (/corporations) are the only entities with the resources necessary to secure and maintain decent authentication services. I can't say I'm fond of the idea of maintaining a personal auth server so I can participate in society (and I'm one of our privileged class who can actually contemplate doing such a thing.)

eternalban13y ago

I couldn't design my way around a centralized bootstrap node, but after that, it can be decentralized. And it has to be highly trusted, so the vision for the ur-node was a bunch of servers in Switzerland inside a vault, run by a public non-profit; subject to random audits; and funded by the IP royalties of the projected patent. (But thank God we can now rely on the good graces of concerned geeks such as Sergey Brin who have millions to spare. (Right Sergey?))

Yes, there is need for user agents running on the user's devices. Your chrome browser transparently maintains a https connection to mother ship (last I checked). I don't think that part of it is really an issue.

1 more reply

soundsOP13y ago

I'm loving this discussion, but how would we convince even 1% of internet users to switch?

Unless I am badly mistaken, you propose we tell people: "abandon all the services you've grown to like about the internet. Let's reboot the internet within the confines of this new secure service."

No sarcasm intended - a new service, with real security, would still lack a "killer app."

eternalban13y ago

How about email without spam, guaranteed, as just one example?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

eternalban13y ago

Central servers must go. We must also disentangle presence management, identity, and services built on top of those layers. Access to identity must be layered and fully subject to user control.

lukeschlather13y ago

eternalban13y ago

1 more reply

soundsOP13y ago

I'm loving this discussion, but how would we convince even 1% of internet users to switch?

Unless I am badly mistaken, you propose we tell people: "abandon all the services you've grown to like about the internet. Let's reboot the internet within the confines of this new secure service."

No sarcasm intended - a new service, with real security, would still lack a "killer app."

eternalban13y ago

How about email without spam, guaranteed, as just one example?

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse