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Cloudflare is a major force in centralizing the actual internet on itself (the one free CDN/anti-DDoS for everyone who's not a giant themselves, huh, what could

Cloudflare is a major force in centralizing the actual internet on itself (the one free CDN/anti-DDoS for everyone who's not a giant themselves, huh, what could possibly go wrong). Are they attaching themselves to this coin crap in order to "decentralization-wash" their public image? They have to know that people know how fraudulent and awful the whole cryptocurrency space is, right?

WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
> coin crap in order to "decentralization-wash" their public image I’d guess it has nothing to do with that and way less dramatic. They are a company that benefits and profits from having a large network. It makes sense to try and be part of alternate networks. A lot of people, including myself, see their growth as also having made small businesses/sites/apps more competitive on an increasingly centralized web from way more evil players in the game. The Crypto noise aside, I also think a decentralized Internet is exciting. At the very least, I’m glad they are throwing money at and will see where this goes research helps things go.
- RNCTX 5y ago
  I'd guess it's less dramatic than your hypothetical still: They need new faces and the most obvious source of them en masse is people who aren't welcome on other cloud platforms. That means cryptocurrency people, who have been effectively outcast from the rest of the internet's premium tier hosting providers, because when they were allowed on the rest of the internet's premium tier hosting providers they tried to steal shit while they were in there.
  - WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
    What?
rchaud 5y ago
I believe you can create a Cloudflare mirror for your web3 site so people can access it using a regular browser.
- moffkalast 5y ago
  But how do they pay the gas fees? :P
  - atatatat 5y ago
    Visa
    - moffkalast 5y ago
      American Express
beckman466 5y ago
> They have to know that people know how fraudulent and awful the whole cryptocurrency space is, right? unfortunately not, as this was on the front page for a while Cryptocurrency mining using integrated photonics (tue.nl) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28715881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28715881
dmw_ng 5y ago
Came here to read this. Reminiscent of the early days of Google and it's championing of open standards, right up until their browser became a monopoly. As for CloudFlare, let's not forget their interest in efforts like DNS-over-HTTP and encrypted SNI standards which are in many ways antithetical to decentralization (Firefox DoH resolver turns CF into a giant log of DNS traffic, economics of ESNI encourage centralized megaproviders to terminate TLS traffic in order to avoid revealing site being contacted).
- rhn_mk1 5y ago
  How is ESNI any worse than non-encrypted SNI in that regard? If plain SNI was sufficient, then there's no incentive to do anything new, and no difference. If you need to hide, then at least with ESNI, you can operate at all, even if behind one of a few providers (net positive).
  - dmw_ng 5y ago
    Plain SNI did not predicate the existence of megaproviders, in that respect it is better in every way. I don't want to agonize specifics, just to note that when you have the sponsors of a standard being the same folk who stand to benefit the most from it, always call bullshit. This was transparent in the case of ESNI

WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago

> coin crap in order to "decentralization-wash" their public image I’d guess it has nothing to do with that and way less dramatic. They are a company that benefits and profits from having a large network. It makes sense to try and be part of alternate networks. A lot of people, including myself, see their growth as also having made small businesses/sites/apps more competitive on an increasingly centralized web from way more evil players in the game. The Crypto noise aside, I also think a decentralized Internet is exciting. At the very least, I’m glad they are throwing money at and will see where this goes research helps things go.

RNCTX 5y ago
I'd guess it's less dramatic than your hypothetical still: They need new faces and the most obvious source of them en masse is people who aren't welcome on other cloud platforms. That means cryptocurrency people, who have been effectively outcast from the rest of the internet's premium tier hosting providers, because when they were allowed on the rest of the internet's premium tier hosting providers they tried to steal shit while they were in there.
- WORMS_EAT_WORMS 5y ago
  What?

rchaud 5y ago

I believe you can create a Cloudflare mirror for your web3 site so people can access it using a regular browser.

moffkalast 5y ago
But how do they pay the gas fees? :P
- atatatat 5y ago
  Visa
  - moffkalast 5y ago
    American Express

beckman466 5y ago

> They have to know that people know how fraudulent and awful the whole cryptocurrency space is, right? unfortunately not, as this was on the front page for a while Cryptocurrency mining using integrated photonics (tue.nl) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28715881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28715881

dmw_ng 5y ago

Came here to read this. Reminiscent of the early days of Google and it's championing of open standards, right up until their browser became a monopoly. As for CloudFlare, let's not forget their interest in efforts like DNS-over-HTTP and encrypted SNI standards which are in many ways antithetical to decentralization (Firefox DoH resolver turns CF into a giant log of DNS traffic, economics of ESNI encourage centralized megaproviders to terminate TLS traffic in order to avoid revealing site being contacted).

rhn_mk1 5y ago
How is ESNI any worse than non-encrypted SNI in that regard? If plain SNI was sufficient, then there's no incentive to do anything new, and no difference. If you need to hide, then at least with ESNI, you can operate at all, even if behind one of a few providers (net positive).
- dmw_ng 5y ago
  Plain SNI did not predicate the existence of megaproviders, in that respect it is better in every way. I don't want to agonize specifics, just to note that when you have the sponsors of a standard being the same folk who stand to benefit the most from it, always call bullshit. This was transparent in the case of ESNI