Maidsafe

What is Maidsafe?

It is a project 10 years in the making that aims to decentralize the internet. It was founded by David Irvine and was destined to be a project relegated to the backburner. And then Bitcoin happened.

I could talk about the relevancy of Bitcoin to Maidsafe for quite a bit. But it doesn't matter for the future because the Safe Network won't operate on a blockchain (this is actually a benefit to the Safe Network).

What is the Safe Network? I can direct you to their website and I can direct you to their wiki ( forum.safenetwork.io... and coinwik.org... )

But neither succinctly describes what it is. The Safe Network, in testnet now, essentially is a decentralized internet. It takes files that you upload, either photos or complete websites, and distributes them to four computers. Each saves a portion of that file. It is designed to retrieve those chunks and make them whole for users upon request (dependent on permissions/user access). Access, per the uploader/developer, can be granted for free or by a micropayment price (delineated in Safecoin and transferable to Bitcoin). One of the kickers...and one that ATS should love...is that the Safe Network is uncensorable and fully encrypted.

Don't believe it? Check Github. It's completely opensource....

I can communicate better when there is feedback. I just tossed this thread here to start juices flowing. All of the above and more has ample support links/discussion elsewhere on the web.

a reply to: MemoryShock

I need to read more about the "what is" of all this...but I am suitably intrigued.

Time permitting, I'll get back to this, but many thanks for posting.

originally posted by: Anaana
a reply to: MemoryShock

I need to read more about the "what is" of all this...but I am suitably intrigued.

Time permitting, I'll get back to this, but many thanks for posting.

No Probs. Please read and ask direct questions. It's easier for me to hone in on direct inquiries than to provide an end all be all overview. Way easier.

originally posted by: MemoryShock
No Probs. Please read and ask direct questions. It's easier for me to hone in on direct inquiries than to provide an end all be all overview. Way easier.

Innit just?

Will do

Later. Cheers again.

Every 2nd Saturday Tim Hosts a ANTs meetup (Autonomous Network Technologies) watch live or anytime on his channel.
Most of Tim's videos are interviews of creative types from around the world so look for ANTs in the title. www.youtube.com...
The SafeNetwork is in its Beta Testing stage. To participate join us on the forum.safenet.io most of us are quite friendly.

originally posted by: optictopic
Every 2nd Saturday Tim Hosts a ANTs meetup (Autonomous Network Technologies) watch live or anytime on his channel.
Most of Tim's videos are interviews of creative types from around the world so look for ANTs in the title. www.youtube.com...
The SafeNetwork is in its Beta Testing stage. To participate join us on the forum.safenet.io most of us are quite friendly.

Thanks for the link...I've had a little peek and there are some really interesting conversations on there. Technically way over my head, but I'm getting enough to be excited about it's potential.

And, it's just good to know it's going on.

Thanks again, and to memoryshock too, for bringing all this to my attention. Very much appreciated.

No questions as yet, my general ignorance is too great at this stage to direct towards a specifc query.

So I think the excitement that I had when I decided to post this, more or less, inflected the quality of it. Truth be told, I think that the ATS community would be pretty much all over this concept for a few reasons (though having browsed the recent posts, I am wondering how I ever could of thought that...)

What is Maidsafe?

Maidsafe is a project that aims to decentralize the internet.

What does that mean?

Maidsafe is creating an app that will allow people to access the Safe Network. What that means is that you will store a portion of what other people upload on your own hard drive(s). That means that you are pretty much lending out your HD space for the app to use. This is where files get stored (Think Drop Box) and even things larger then simple files. They are nonchalantly tossing out things like whole websites can be hosted on the Safe Network.

It works, in layman's terms, that the app divides each file into four pieces. Each of those pieces are then saved by a different computer. When a user wants to retrieve the information on that file, either because he owns it (private) or has enabled permissions (public), the app takes care of the rest. The network remembers where the information is stored, retrieves it, and then puts it together in a seamless fashion for user experience. Simple?

Not really. Maidsafe has been in development for about ten years and they have just released a testnet. Some expect official launch by the end of the year.

Why does this matter?

Because it eliminates the centralized server. It places chunks of information on personal hard drives and retrieves them when requested. The ramifications of 'computers being offline' are mitigated by the fact that the netowrk scales according to usage - the network transfers information from questionable computers to reliable ones instantaneously and is designed to allow for that type of storage hopping. Further - it is encrypted. The only thing that is saved on the Safe Network is the last and most recent host/address. The implications for this regarding data mining and advertising is huge. Privacy and security on the web are being reinvented by these guys.

So then why use it?

Safe coin will be transferred to an automatically created address for the user who downloads the app. Essentially, you are able to make money while hosting the internet (or mitigate the cost of using some websites).

This is very much a watered explanation. Essentially, Maidsafe will eliminate the need for centralized servers, will enable user privacy/security, and will enable economic renumeration in place of ad content.

The links I have posted are more than enough to send one on the right direction though, admittedly, some of the discussion is technically advanced. But it is worth looking into. Smarter people than I are working on it...

Edit to Add - Link To the Beginners Guide forum which includes a FAQ. forum.safenetwork.io...

originally posted by: optictopic
Every 2nd Saturday Tim Hosts a ANTs meetup (Autonomous Network Technologies) watch live or anytime on his channel.
Most of Tim's videos are interviews of creative types from around the world so look for ANTs in the title. www.youtube.com...
The SafeNetwork is in its Beta Testing stage. To participate join us on the forum.safenet.io most of us are quite friendly.

Would join but I have work on Saturdays...suffice to say, optictopic, The Ants Are Coming!

I can't edit my original post and probably should have included this there.

maidsafe.net...

In fact, I think that we should delete this thread and repost it as "Trump Hates the Internet and Here are Ten Reasons Why You Need to Not Click on the Above Link!"

Because Buzzfeed and reddit haven't driven that meme into the ground yet...

I'm beating a living horse...; )

twitter.com...

Successful upload of a serverless website on the Safe Network. Not a forum but that detail is irrelevant.

originally posted by: MemoryShock
I can't edit my original post and probably should have included this there.

maidsafe.net...

In fact, I think that we should delete this thread and repost it as "Trump Hates the Internet and Here are Ten Reasons Why You Need to Not Click on the Above Link!"

Because Buzzfeed and reddit haven't driven that meme into the ground yet...

People thought that about TOR, too.

A question for you, semi-ontopic - by having source code, do you think that ensures your safety for any compiled code?

(it's an informal survey I've been doing - a colleague bet me what the outcome would be)

Originally posted by Bedlam
People thought that about TOR, too.

This isn't onion routing. I as well am aware of the issues surrounding TOR viability.

Originally posted by Bedlam
A question for you, semi-ontopic - by having source code, do you think that ensures your safety for any compiled code?

(it's an informal survey I've been doing - a colleague bet me what the outcome would be)

Not sure what you are asking here. I don't have source code. I can view the Maidsafe code on github (anyone can...even them).

Further, safety is a multifaceted concern with many different contexts. Do I care about Ad Trackers? Sure. Do I care about identity? Not too much. There are certain aspects of internet existence that are more than being 'afraid'. It's just who wants to know why I chose clorox brand toilet cleaner wand over a brand that didn't bank on a loss leader (I was lazy)? No one needs to know that and there are a myriad of other case scenarios where I can say, "you don't need to know that". But in the end, I never assume that any one app ensures my safety. But a ton of them mixed with obfuscation might. Certainly, it should be presumed that no one cares what I do online but corporate interests...and they can flark off.

Now, have you even looked at Maid or are you still stuck in the, "It's an ATS post and I'm going to posture," phase? It's an informal survey that I am taking...

a reply to: MemoryShock

I can see why your posts don't get many replies.

You were touting the benefits of having source code for it. Just wondering if that added to your feeling that maidsafe was a good choice. But have a great thread.

originally posted by: Bedlam
a reply to: MemoryShock

I can see why your posts don't get many replies.

You were touting the benefits of having source code for it. Just wondering if that added to your feeling that maidsafe was a good choice. But have a great thread.

The source code is open source. I was confused as to why you were asking the question because of that (github.com...)

To be fair, I might have misinterpreted the tone of your post and responded along those lines (and to be even more fair, I have always seen why my posts don't get many replies).

Yes, I think Maid is a good choice. A cryptographically secure decentralized storage protocol that can essentially host the internet and pay people for their personal HD space? Yep.

This sounds interesting. Will have to look into it a bit, thanks for posting!

a reply to: MemoryShock

You need to put 'Trump' or 'Muslims' or something in the title - it won't grab enough people.
It seems like a great idea but this isn't the '07 ATS - I doubt it'll get much traction here.

Good luck though.

originally posted by: stargatetravels
a reply to: MemoryShock

You need to put 'Trump' or 'Muslims' or something in the title - it won't grab enough people.
It seems like a great idea but this isn't the '07 ATS - I doubt it'll get much traction here.

Good luck though.

True. I'm pretty sure that a misleading thread title would get the thread canned though.

Hopefully, researching the benefits of this tech might expose them to a different echo chamber and they'll come back thinking like it is 2007 (or something)...or not.

If anyone would like to download the app to try out the decentralized web, here it is...

github.com...

“Here lies a potential game changer for the SAFE network and projects that run on it.”

— David Irvine, MaidSafe CEO, concerning Decorum's innovation on SAFE alt-coins

www.project-decorum.com...

The main challenge of this project was enabling persistent communication between multiple unknown parties on a decentralised network where everyone owns their personal data. In the client-server architecture that is used almost everywhere on the current internet, the server acts as a central coordinator and takes ownership of all data. One of the core features of the SAFE Network is that it is serverless. The core protocol of Project Decorum is a substitute for the missing central coordinator.

The core protocol consists of a set of rules that describe where and how conversational data should be uploaded to the SAFE Network. These rules can for example predict where the replies to a particular message on the SAFE Network will end up, no matter where the original is located. This means that all applications and SAFE websites that will use this protocol will be compatible with each other. People won't necessarily need to use the same application or website to communicate with each other!

On the data level, the protocol organises conversations in a tree structure, where every leaf of the tree represents a message from a user. Replies to earlier messages create new branches. This tree structure lends itself well to be represented in a "threaded" format, which is done by many well known forums and comment plugins. Anyone can create a new root to start a new tree for a new conversation. This can be used to create a forum, a comment section on a blog, a group chatbox, and so on.

www.project-decorum.com...

Project Decorum will use two endorsement (like/upvote) systems to thwart sybil attacks that could be launched against a decentralised endorsement system. In centralised systems like Facebook or reddit, there is a central authority that actively fights against bots registering many accounts to endorse content en masse. In SAFE we won't have that, people can create many identities if they wish (which has many benefits as well). So there will be two base types of endorsements in Decorum:

Endorsements in the form of cryptographic signatures. These are only relevant within the context of a web of trust.
Endorsements in the form of irreversibly attaching Clike, Project Decorum's coin-like token. These endorsements are generally relevant, it doesn't matter who attached them because a price is paid.

Web of Trust
Project Decorum's Web of Trust is a 'weaker' web of trust than the Web of Trust in PGP and such, which are concerned with establishing that digital identity X truly belongs to real-life person Y. With Project Decorum, we are concerned with establishing that digital identity X is a "legitimate" identity of someone rather than being "spam identity number 295317".

www.project-decorum.com...