View source for Talk:Freedom Box

==Re-evaluating the scope of the project==

I do not understand the significance of the hardware as a solution to
the stated problem. It seems to me that the essential issue is that
non-hierarchal (i.e.  non-centralized) "externally"-managed web
hosting does not exist. Users want web-hosting but don't have, nor
should they require, the inclination or capacity to manage a
web-server themselves.

A "specialized" piece of hardware to do this is superfluous; it can be
done and done better in software using existing computers. Moreover,
it is not resilient enough: If my hardware or connection go offline I
want my hosted content to persist throughout the downtime. If we are
trying sell convenience I doubt that we will beat the status quo using
something strictly less hands-off.

In effect, what is required is a encrypted distributed data store (the
"people's cloud") that is accessible over HTTP. It is here where
effort should be directed. Potential data-mining can be mitigated by
having only your friends (and possibly friends-of-friends) host your
data.

All of these ideas have existed for years in Freenet and other overlay
networks. Adoption of these previous networks have been hampered by
their anonymity-preserving design requirements which exacts a
significant transfer rate penalty. An overlay network which does not
require anonymity is not subject to these problems.

Two additional benefits are of note: The first is censorship
resistance. Centrally hosted sites are single points of failure and
easy targets to effectively suppress information. Wikileaks is the
notable exception that has survived only by localizing in a
sympathetic country. However, wikileaks itself has noted that this
venue shopping will be a short-lived solution. Worse it has not
prevented the people behind wikileaks from being at high risk from
retaliation from various nation states. Replicating content to
thousands or millions of sites automatically makes the application of
censorship absurd.

The second benefit is amortization of hosting costs of public-service
websites. Some sites, like wikipedia, have enormous hosting costs that
are unsustainble at their current growth rates. Charitable donations
will soon become inadequate. A more cynical point is that these
hosting costs are often used as a pretense to obtain increased salary
funding for executives of these organizations. If the data were
(read-only) cached in a distributed data store the technical costs
would again become manageable (trivial?), funding could be put to use
elsewhere and the application of funding more transparent.

[[User:bugnotme]] Feb 7 2010