We’re joined by Dominic Tarr, a sailor, and the Founder of Secure Scuttlebutt. This curiously named project has a fascinating approach to creating a truly distributed social network. One might even say that Secure Scuttlebutt is “localized” as it gracefully degrades to Sneakernet, something few blockchain projects can claim. In actuality, the SSB protocol isn’t a blockchain in the traditional sense – each user’s feed acts as a sort of localized chain of posts, signed by their public key, and possibly encrypted for a friend's key to decrypt. When users meet, the system syncs their local databases using a gossip protocol and replicates the data. Encrypted data is transported from peer, to peer, to peer (or friends of friends) until it reaches its intended recipient. User may also optionally rely on public servers to sync data over the internet.
Topics covered in this episode:
Daniels background and life living on a boat off the coast of New ZealandHow being at sea gave him the idea for Secure ScuttlebuttWhat is Secure Scuttlebutt and what are the goals of the projectThe issues with centralization and redefining decentralization as a positive statementThe notion that the technological singularity only serves the goals of centralized powerHow SSB stores information and how posts get propagates from between friends, and friends of friendsHow the network leverages “Pub” servers to sync data over the internetUsage of the platform and the communities which thrive thereThe cost of spam and how users protect against DDoS attacksThe project’s funding and roadmapSecure Scuttlebutt websiteScuttlebutt Protocol GuideManyverse mobile clientDesigning a Secret Handshake: AuthenticatedKey Exchange as a Capability SystemEfficientReconciliationandFlow ControlforAnti-Entropy ProtocolsScuttlebutt: an off-grid P2P social network that runs without servers and
can fall back to sneakernet
The Nomad Who’s Exploding the Internet Into PiecesCounter-Anti-Disintermediation“The Third Web” interview with Dominic TarrDominic Tarr on TwitterTrail of Bits: Trust the team at the forefront of blockchain security research - https://trailofbits.comAzure: Deploy enterprise-ready consortium blockchain networks that scale in just a few clicks - http://aka.ms/epicenterThis episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/290