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"Most services today are centralized — sharing photos via social networks" Yes, this service is centralized by virtue of choice. You can very easily share your

"Most services today are centralized — sharing photos via social networks" Yes, this service is centralized by virtue of choice. You can very easily share your photos via email, which is decentralized. Of course, you won't get all the features of a photo feed, but still, you can do it with no central authority. Still, decentralized systems (in the context of the article) are great, but they present one little challenge: What incentives do people get in order to host a participating node/agent? In the case of bitcoin, the miners get a reward ($) each time they solve a new block, but unless all these decentralized systems leverage an existing blockchain/cryptocurrency system and have a system of rewards of some sort, they'll have a hard time springing into existence.

loup-vaillant 12y ago
> email, which is decentralized Even email is centralised these days. Look how many providers host over 90% of people's primary email address.
- plainOldText 12y ago
  The email, as a method of exchanging digital messages is not centralized. Now, it's true that a few providers host most people's email addresses, but there is not a single authority controlling the flow of the email messages. If the case of a social network, you can't just switch and still remain connected with everyone else, because the provider controls the flow of your interactions. However, you can very easily switch your email provider, or even host your own, and as long as your friends still have the same emails, you're still "connected". I wouldn't call email centralized, but I agree is not decentralized 100 percent.
  - loup-vaillant 12y ago
    When you switch providers, you still have to warn your friends about the change. The only way not to is to own your own domain name (whatever that means). More generally, I think there's an incentive problem here: it is just too convenient to let Big Data host your email. And if you're crazy enough to have a mail server at home, it is just too convenient for everyone else to spam-filter you as a netbot (because you're using a residential IP address).
MichaelMoser123 12y ago
also facebook and friends got that big because they attracted some investment based on the promise to gain control of this mountain of personal data - all for the purpose of pushing personalized adds. Bruce Schneier means that when he says 'surveillance as the business model of the internet' decentralized technologies would promise to benefit all participants; but i guess the problem here is legal protection; a registrar based on blockchain is a contract that would require legal recognition; how easy would it be to achieve such a change? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Bitcoin_by_country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Bitcoin_by_country this article has lots of words even when the currency is legal.

loup-vaillant 12y ago

> email, which is decentralized Even email is centralised these days. Look how many providers host over 90% of people's primary email address.

plainOldText 12y ago
The email, as a method of exchanging digital messages is not centralized. Now, it's true that a few providers host most people's email addresses, but there is not a single authority controlling the flow of the email messages. If the case of a social network, you can't just switch and still remain connected with everyone else, because the provider controls the flow of your interactions. However, you can very easily switch your email provider, or even host your own, and as long as your friends still have the same emails, you're still "connected". I wouldn't call email centralized, but I agree is not decentralized 100 percent.
- loup-vaillant 12y ago
  When you switch providers, you still have to warn your friends about the change. The only way not to is to own your own domain name (whatever that means). More generally, I think there's an incentive problem here: it is just too convenient to let Big Data host your email. And if you're crazy enough to have a mail server at home, it is just too convenient for everyone else to spam-filter you as a netbot (because you're using a residential IP address).

MichaelMoser123 12y ago

also facebook and friends got that big because they attracted some investment based on the promise to gain control of this mountain of personal data - all for the purpose of pushing personalized adds. Bruce Schneier means that when he says 'surveillance as the business model of the internet' decentralized technologies would promise to benefit all participants; but i guess the problem here is legal protection; a registrar based on blockchain is a contract that would require legal recognition; how easy would it be to achieve such a change? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Bitcoin_by_country http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_Bitcoin_by_country this article has lots of words even when the currency is legal.