3 ms·

While the infohash is stored in the blockchain, the other immediate issues is that to get the infohash, you still need to connect to a centralized third-party s

While the infohash is stored in the blockchain, the other immediate issues is that to get the infohash, you still need to connect to a centralized third-party such as blockexplorer.com. Browsers don't natively support TCP, which is how normal torrent and blockchain clients connect to each other. WebRTC is a workaround for torrents, but there doesn't seem to be a workaround for blockchains If we want true serverless architecture within browsers, we, at least, need browsers that support TCP connections.

roblabla 10y ago
What features of TCP would allow serverless connections ? AFAIK, even BitTorrent (DHT) and others connect to a centralized "super-node" which then gives them other nodes to connect to.
- lgats 10y ago
  If you look long enough you can find an open TCP connection to another client who has the infohash you are looking for—wirhout ever getting the other clients ip from a central server.
- johnhenry 10y ago
  Sorry, that was hastily written and poorly worded -- more accurately, we would AT LEAST, need browsers that support TCP connections in order to connect to the p2p networks that we already have. In practice we would need a lot more, as even apps like BitTorrent and blockchains still rely on our centralized internet infrastructure to some degree. You mention the BitTorrent DHT, but I don't believe that it's necessary to connect to a centralized super-node. You do, however; need the address of at least one other peer to start. Unfortunately, the only way to assign an address is through our ISP system which is centralized. For true peer-to-peer architecture, normal people would have to connect the internet at the same level that ISPs such as Comcast and AT&T connect to each other... think some sort of large scale mesh network.

3 ms·

While the infohash is stored in the blockchain, the other immediate issues is that to get the infohash, you still need to connect to a centralized third-party s

by johnhenry 10y ago

roblabla 10y ago
What features of TCP would allow serverless connections ? AFAIK, even BitTorrent (DHT) and others connect to a centralized "super-node" which then gives them other nodes to connect to.
- lgats 10y ago
  If you look long enough you can find an open TCP connection to another client who has the infohash you are looking for—wirhout ever getting the other clients ip from a central server.
- johnhenry 10y ago
  Sorry, that was hastily written and poorly worded -- more accurately, we would AT LEAST, need browsers that support TCP connections in order to connect to the p2p networks that we already have. In practice we would need a lot more, as even apps like BitTorrent and blockchains still rely on our centralized internet infrastructure to some degree. You mention the BitTorrent DHT, but I don't believe that it's necessary to connect to a centralized super-node. You do, however; need the address of at least one other peer to start. Unfortunately, the only way to assign an address is through our ISP system which is centralized. For true peer-to-peer architecture, normal people would have to connect the internet at the same level that ISPs such as Comcast and AT&T connect to each other... think some sort of large scale mesh network.