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Sooo... every time blockchain is mentioned I get cautious. Same for "distributed" search. From the link you posted - "...does away with every form of a single

Sooo... every time blockchain is mentioned I get cautious. Same for "distributed" search. From the link you posted - "...does away with every form of a single point control in all of the tasks relating to indexing, querying, data mining, and crawling." Yeah mostly that's distribution. How, though, will something that does indexing in 10 different locations ensure that I get results including something that was indexed in Japan 5 minutes ago? And Blockchain. I get that one might like to mitigate fake search entries (as that post notes). How though, using a blockchain, does one manage someone's right to be forgotten, when the blockchain's sole raison d'etre is to make all the things indelible?

cblconfederate 6y ago
unlike bittorrent, there needs to be some proof of work (e.g. that the document was indexed properly) which would require multiple confirmations. Right to be forgotten would be also possible if there was one blockchain, and a mechanism to verify that the request to be forgotten is legit. Having a blockchain also means there will be one development team of "Wise people" who are going to be developing the search algorithm for everyone. Such a blockchain would not be good for current news, obviously. But even google takes days to update the average blog.
- acdha 6y ago
  That’s the usual level of magical thinking about blockchains but we’re talking technology and economics, not magic. Right to be forgotten requires the ability to edit a blockchain, which is contrary to the entire point. A judge is unlikely to say you’re compliant with a voluntary flag on a distributed network so you’re either editing history or restricting it to trusted parties with legal obligations, at which point you’ve just invented a centralized system with more overhead. Similarly, that hypothetical team of genius developers working to solve all of the hard problems hasn’t shown up on cryptocurrencies in the last decade despite enormous amounts of money being plowed into the field, and this would have orders of magnitude less funding. Basic economics suggests that you’re far more likely to see a few ideologically committed people drowned out by the SEO types (who have far more money) trying to manipulate things to their advantage. The underlying problem is that almost nobody thinks they should pay for search and the minimum quality bar is quite high if you want people to switch from Google.

cblconfederate 6y ago

unlike bittorrent, there needs to be some proof of work (e.g. that the document was indexed properly) which would require multiple confirmations. Right to be forgotten would be also possible if there was one blockchain, and a mechanism to verify that the request to be forgotten is legit. Having a blockchain also means there will be one development team of "Wise people" who are going to be developing the search algorithm for everyone. Such a blockchain would not be good for current news, obviously. But even google takes days to update the average blog.

acdha 6y ago
That’s the usual level of magical thinking about blockchains but we’re talking technology and economics, not magic. Right to be forgotten requires the ability to edit a blockchain, which is contrary to the entire point. A judge is unlikely to say you’re compliant with a voluntary flag on a distributed network so you’re either editing history or restricting it to trusted parties with legal obligations, at which point you’ve just invented a centralized system with more overhead. Similarly, that hypothetical team of genius developers working to solve all of the hard problems hasn’t shown up on cryptocurrencies in the last decade despite enormous amounts of money being plowed into the field, and this would have orders of magnitude less funding. Basic economics suggests that you’re far more likely to see a few ideologically committed people drowned out by the SEO types (who have far more money) trying to manipulate things to their advantage. The underlying problem is that almost nobody thinks they should pay for search and the minimum quality bar is quite high if you want people to switch from Google.