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BitCloud: BitCoin concepts applied to... everything else.

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wraith808:
Announced on Reddit with a project on GitHub, and reported on now by the Guardian, BitCloud is the attempt to replace a whole lot of what people use the internet for other than buying things with a shadow-internet equivalent.  Where BitCoin is based on proof of processing power spent, BitCloud will apparently be based on proof of bandwidth given to the network.  This is in the very early stages- so much so that no one is even sure what proof of bandwidth means.  But it's very interesting to follow...

[Draft document on GitHub]

40hz:
I must be denser than usual today. Because I read it twice but I can't see exactly what it hopes to accomplish. :huh:

You still need a ramp onto the internet - which means putting a government or corporate Telco or ISP somewhere in the loop.

And basing things on 'bandwidth given back' or 'processing power spent' is blatantly favoring those who can afford high capacity hi-speed connections and powerful PCs over those less well-heeled. So it's unavoidably economic-elitist at its core.

As far as privacy goes, being 'as private as Tor' is no longer saying much. Especially now that the NSA has wormed itself down to the hardware level. Seriously, who can ever really know what a CPU, GPU, NIC, router, switch, etc. etc. etc. is reporting back these days? If weasel code is burned into proprietary silicone, it's safely out of sight for all practical purposes. Just tell the chip to do certain things but not report or log it; or, ignore 'seeing' specific things (like an NSA header) in a data packet and Bob's yer uncle! Talk about FNORD!

No...it's a nice idea. But as long as you're running on somebody else's physical backbone and closed hardware it'll never be your own private internet. This is a rearguard or short-term strategy at best.

Where we are today is the result of a people problem, not a tech problem.

And it always will be. :(

wraith808:
No...it's a nice idea. But as long as you're running on somebody else's physical backbone and closed hardware it'll never be your own private internet. This is a rearguard or short-term strategy at best.
-40hz (January 22, 2014, 11:39 AM)
--- End quote ---

Well, as I understand it, it works on a similar principle to the other BC uses that leverage the privacy of BC and the tenets, i.e. you know that communication has taken place, but not what communication, nor for what.  And yes, the bandwidth favors those that have high speed.  But doesn't BC in general favor those that have a lot of processing power?  This isn't a socialist view of the internet... just a more private one.

rgdot:
Things never change overnight but change is possible. I am almost tempted to call all these efforts lazy. The solution is to replace the regimes that make you want to develop stuff like this. Anybody who may be saying that it is impossible or unrealistic is, like I said, being lazy.

The people setting up and operating the likes of the NSA are still elected. There is no way change is impossible.

40hz:
I am almost tempted to call all these efforts lazy.
-rgdot (January 22, 2014, 12:22 PM)
--- End quote ---

Yup. It's like trying to "monetize" something rather than go out and run a business where you actually try sell a product or service. Just one more way to get by with as little human interaction as possible. And those who embrace the darkness in the guise of 'freedom' and 'democracy' and are counting on the average Joe's reluctance to interact with his neighbors and organize for change. They much prefer that people fall into the trap of irony and snark - and spend all their time tweeting and redditting and facebooking it.

As T.S. Elliot put it:

Between the idea
And the reality
Between the motion
And the act
Falls the Shadow
.
.
.
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

 :-\
 ;D

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