10 ms·

Kim Dotcom reveals more about his blockchain-inspired alternative Internet

89 points by ascorbic 11y ago

zuckerei 11y ago
Not sure what to think about the Kim Dotcom projects. They all seem to be short lived. What about that mega.co.nz thing he launched lately? I read that he sold it and distanced himself from the new owner already.
- onre 11y ago
  IMO he is more of a shady celebrity businessman than a hacker or innovator, mostly known for his flamboyance.
  - 0x4a42 11y ago
    A megalomaniac with no talent, that use his mates work to shine. He changed his handle but he's still the same pathetic lamer he was ~3 decades ago.
  - yeukhon 11y ago
    Does he know how to write code? Did he actually write the first version of mega?
    - unixhero 11y ago
      The question is, did he really write the first version of Kazaa?
      - MrBra 11y ago
        Is it said to be him who wrote it?
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
  - system16 11y ago
    Is the obligatory comment attacking his character on every thread about him really necessary? How about discussing the solution he is actually proposing?
    - res0nat0r 11y ago
      It's relevant because everything he's done up till now isn't anything technically innovative, just mainly ways for him to make money and promote himself as some kind of Internet hero, which is is not. This project will be more of the same nonsense.
    - woah 11y ago
      Did you read the article? He's not proposing a solution, beyond using the words "blockchain" and "encryption".
  - staticelf 11y ago
    Does it even matter? The importance is the end product.
- meric 11y ago
  The company runs well and doesn't want his interference, he raised money from investors who conspired to wrest control from him. Kim accepted what happened and moved on. Mega.co.nz is alive and well, just not under his control.
  - mtgx 11y ago
    Didn't he warn that Mega.co.nz can't be trusted anymore?
    - aluhut 11y ago
      Yes, there is some discussion about it: https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-mega-trade-barbs-over-hostile-takeover-claims-150731/ https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-mega-trade-barbs-over-ho...
- stesch 11y ago
  And his investments in Letsbuyit.com …
radarsat1 11y ago
Aside from ad hominems though, what does HN think about the idea of a blockchain-driven internet? Genuinely curious.
- gjulianm 11y ago
  - Non-IP Based. I think that Dotcom refers to the fact that the "webpages" or whatever they're going to serve are not hosted on a specific IP but are instead distributed in the blockchain; and he talks about IP because either a) he doesn't know what he's talking about or b) he's oversimplifying a lot. In any case, the MegaNet would run over IP because no ISP is going to let non-IP protocols go through their networks. - Using mobile phones. Even when on WiFi, that's going to eat batteries for breakfast: users aren't going to like that. And another issue: MegaNet traffic would still go through traditional ISPs, so they would probably be able to filter it. Another point is that Android, iOS and Windows Phone have closed, controlled stores. That's going to make it difficult for them to implement. - Using the blockchain. I don't know why would they use the blockchain, which is a method to ensure integrity over time (e.g., you don't spend two times the same bitcoin). What would would make sense to use P2P webpages, like BitTorrent's Maelstrom does [1]. Maybe they use the blockchain so they can keep a correct history of a certain webpage, who knows. Another option is that they are thinking of using the authentication part of the blockchain, but one could do that with Maelstrom using PGP signed pages, for example. In any case, they'd face significant issues. For example, they would be introducing useless delays when creating/updates webpages (blockchain relies on proofs of work to avoid malicious nodes to insert duplicate/forged transactions). But if they make the verification process fast, they would be more vulnerable to malicious nodes. Another problem would be how to store the information they want to transmit. The blockchain works because the information in each transaction is just a few bytes long. However, a webpage is way bigger than that. How do they store not only the current versions of the webpages, but the old ones too? I don't think the combined storage of mobile phones is enough to hold all that information. Maybe they could use deltas, but that's only going to make browsing slower (instead of one block, you'd need to retrieve several to reconstruct the page) and they would not avoid completely the problem: what if the difference between versions is too big? E.g., encrypted pages: deltas would be useless then. - "New layer of encryption that will run through all digital communications". Well good luck with that. - "We are going to use very long keys, systems that will not be reverse engineered or cracked by any supercomputer". Long keys imply long encrypt times too. With phones, and probably with several communications with several different nodes. That's going to be interesting. - "If you have 100 million smartphones that have the MegaNet app installed, we'll have more online storage capacity, bandwidth and calculating power than the top 10 largest websites in the world combined". Distributed computing doesn't work like that. You don't just "add up things". Yeah, you may have terabits per second of bandwidth combined, but using single nodes that maybe can get up to 1Mbps. You have a lot of processing power but have to distribute any computation through a lot of nodes because no one has enough single computing power to do complex tasks fast. And you have 100 million smartphones distributed through the world: good luck with the latency and reliability of the connections. In any case, I think this is either going to be a Maelstrom clone or a complete bluff. [1] http://project-maelstrom.bittorrent.com/ http://project-maelstrom.bittorrent.com/ Edit: added a few points.
jokoon 11y ago
It's not so much of an idea. Many are already thinking about it. Like always the devil is in the execution. I'm more interested into how he will manage to develop it, meaning how much investment he can built up, and what kind of talent he can attract.
- woah 11y ago
  It's not an idea. He has no theoretical underpinning. He would have to luck out and hire someone smart enough to actually make something resembling his promises, and then let go of his ego enough to let them do it. Not going to happen, and no amount of capital will help.
JacobH 11y ago
Not sure how he plans to get this to work without IP addresses at some layer.
pfraze 11y ago
> To fund the project, Dotcom said the company will be conducting a seed round in January. Once the prototype is ready, he will also undertake a massive equity crowdfunding campaign. He wants to do what Ethereum and Maidsafe did -- create a crypto-asset, drive up demand by publicity, and then sell it.
dogma1138 11y ago
Wouldn't this be akin to creating an alternative to the world wide web and not the internet? It's still needs the internet or any other similar global network to work not to mention that beyond being excessively wasteful I don't really see the point of having a "proof of work" based network rather than other distributed peered networks like Tor or Maelstrom. Also considering his constant legal troubles and his general some what self destructing personality I have very big doubts that anyone would actually fund this guy. That note aside I don't really see the value of all of those wannabe "internet replacement" services, I for one would rather see investment going into self arranging, self healing multi-protocols mesh networks that you could seamlessly re-build local networked infrastructure in such events as natural disasters or complete government/infrastructure meltdowns. A solution that will able you to construct an autonomous peered mesh network across Ethernet, WiFi, Radio, and P2P links like IR and Microwave which can provide internet and WWW like infrastructure when established networks fail or are intentionally shut down can actually be rather useful, while these attempts seem to try to re-invent what already exists and that is internet lock down/censorship bypass, heck even if a government shuts down their internet uplink completely as long as the local networks are intact you can still make Tor and the likes of it work, at least as far as hidden services go and it only requires a handful of exit nodes to have an internet uplink to restore internet services as well.

89 points by ascorbic 11y ago

Not sure what to think about the Kim Dotcom projects. They all seem to be short lived. What about that mega.co.nz thing he launched lately? I read that he sold it and distanced himself from the new owner already.

onre 11y ago
IMO he is more of a shady celebrity businessman than a hacker or innovator, mostly known for his flamboyance.
- 0x4a42 11y ago
  A megalomaniac with no talent, that use his mates work to shine. He changed his handle but he's still the same pathetic lamer he was ~3 decades ago.
- yeukhon 11y ago
  Does he know how to write code? Did he actually write the first version of mega?
  - unixhero 11y ago
    The question is, did he really write the first version of Kazaa?
    - MrBra 11y ago
      Is it said to be him who wrote it?
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
- system16 11y ago
  Is the obligatory comment attacking his character on every thread about him really necessary? How about discussing the solution he is actually proposing?
  - res0nat0r 11y ago
    It's relevant because everything he's done up till now isn't anything technically innovative, just mainly ways for him to make money and promote himself as some kind of Internet hero, which is is not. This project will be more of the same nonsense.
  - woah 11y ago
    Did you read the article? He's not proposing a solution, beyond using the words "blockchain" and "encryption".
- staticelf 11y ago
  Does it even matter? The importance is the end product.
meric 11y ago
The company runs well and doesn't want his interference, he raised money from investors who conspired to wrest control from him. Kim accepted what happened and moved on. Mega.co.nz is alive and well, just not under his control.
- mtgx 11y ago
  Didn't he warn that Mega.co.nz can't be trusted anymore?
  - aluhut 11y ago
    Yes, there is some discussion about it: https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-mega-trade-barbs-over-hostile-takeover-claims-150731/ https://torrentfreak.com/kim-dotcom-mega-trade-barbs-over-ho...
stesch 11y ago
And his investments in Letsbuyit.com …

radarsat1 11y ago

Aside from ad hominems though, what does HN think about the idea of a blockchain-driven internet? Genuinely curious.

gjulianm 11y ago
- Non-IP Based. I think that Dotcom refers to the fact that the "webpages" or whatever they're going to serve are not hosted on a specific IP but are instead distributed in the blockchain; and he talks about IP because either a) he doesn't know what he's talking about or b) he's oversimplifying a lot. In any case, the MegaNet would run over IP because no ISP is going to let non-IP protocols go through their networks. - Using mobile phones. Even when on WiFi, that's going to eat batteries for breakfast: users aren't going to like that. And another issue: MegaNet traffic would still go through traditional ISPs, so they would probably be able to filter it. Another point is that Android, iOS and Windows Phone have closed, controlled stores. That's going to make it difficult for them to implement. - Using the blockchain. I don't know why would they use the blockchain, which is a method to ensure integrity over time (e.g., you don't spend two times the same bitcoin). What would would make sense to use P2P webpages, like BitTorrent's Maelstrom does [1]. Maybe they use the blockchain so they can keep a correct history of a certain webpage, who knows. Another option is that they are thinking of using the authentication part of the blockchain, but one could do that with Maelstrom using PGP signed pages, for example. In any case, they'd face significant issues. For example, they would be introducing useless delays when creating/updates webpages (blockchain relies on proofs of work to avoid malicious nodes to insert duplicate/forged transactions). But if they make the verification process fast, they would be more vulnerable to malicious nodes. Another problem would be how to store the information they want to transmit. The blockchain works because the information in each transaction is just a few bytes long. However, a webpage is way bigger than that. How do they store not only the current versions of the webpages, but the old ones too? I don't think the combined storage of mobile phones is enough to hold all that information. Maybe they could use deltas, but that's only going to make browsing slower (instead of one block, you'd need to retrieve several to reconstruct the page) and they would not avoid completely the problem: what if the difference between versions is too big? E.g., encrypted pages: deltas would be useless then. - "New layer of encryption that will run through all digital communications". Well good luck with that. - "We are going to use very long keys, systems that will not be reverse engineered or cracked by any supercomputer". Long keys imply long encrypt times too. With phones, and probably with several communications with several different nodes. That's going to be interesting. - "If you have 100 million smartphones that have the MegaNet app installed, we'll have more online storage capacity, bandwidth and calculating power than the top 10 largest websites in the world combined". Distributed computing doesn't work like that. You don't just "add up things". Yeah, you may have terabits per second of bandwidth combined, but using single nodes that maybe can get up to 1Mbps. You have a lot of processing power but have to distribute any computation through a lot of nodes because no one has enough single computing power to do complex tasks fast. And you have 100 million smartphones distributed through the world: good luck with the latency and reliability of the connections. In any case, I think this is either going to be a Maelstrom clone or a complete bluff. [1] http://project-maelstrom.bittorrent.com/ http://project-maelstrom.bittorrent.com/ Edit: added a few points.

jokoon 11y ago

It's not so much of an idea. Many are already thinking about it. Like always the devil is in the execution. I'm more interested into how he will manage to develop it, meaning how much investment he can built up, and what kind of talent he can attract.

woah 11y ago
It's not an idea. He has no theoretical underpinning. He would have to luck out and hire someone smart enough to actually make something resembling his promises, and then let go of his ego enough to let them do it. Not going to happen, and no amount of capital will help.

JacobH 11y ago

Not sure how he plans to get this to work without IP addresses at some layer.

pfraze 11y ago

> To fund the project, Dotcom said the company will be conducting a seed round in January. Once the prototype is ready, he will also undertake a massive equity crowdfunding campaign. He wants to do what Ethereum and Maidsafe did -- create a crypto-asset, drive up demand by publicity, and then sell it.

dogma1138 11y ago

Wouldn't this be akin to creating an alternative to the world wide web and not the internet? It's still needs the internet or any other similar global network to work not to mention that beyond being excessively wasteful I don't really see the point of having a "proof of work" based network rather than other distributed peered networks like Tor or Maelstrom. Also considering his constant legal troubles and his general some what self destructing personality I have very big doubts that anyone would actually fund this guy. That note aside I don't really see the value of all of those wannabe "internet replacement" services, I for one would rather see investment going into self arranging, self healing multi-protocols mesh networks that you could seamlessly re-build local networked infrastructure in such events as natural disasters or complete government/infrastructure meltdowns. A solution that will able you to construct an autonomous peered mesh network across Ethernet, WiFi, Radio, and P2P links like IR and Microwave which can provide internet and WWW like infrastructure when established networks fail or are intentionally shut down can actually be rather useful, while these attempts seem to try to re-invent what already exists and that is internet lock down/censorship bypass, heck even if a government shuts down their internet uplink completely as long as the local networks are intact you can still make Tor and the likes of it work, at least as far as hidden services go and it only requires a handful of exit nodes to have an internet uplink to restore internet services as well.