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Subject: Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems

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  • From: Oskar Sandberg <md98-osa AT nada.kth.se>
  • To: Global-Scale Distributed Storage Systems <bluesky AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Naming via SDSI
  • Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2001 01:43:34 +0100


On Wed, Mar 07, 2001 at 03:42:25PM -0800, hal AT finney.org wrote:
> Oskar Sandberg writes:
> > On Wed, Mar 07, 2001 at 12:22:53PM -0800, hal AT finney.org wrote:
> > > The question is, can we get this level of clarity and security while
> > > keeping
> > > friendly names for the namespaces.
> >
> > I don't think so. After all, a multilayered name can be viewed as relative
> > path along a graph. In order for two parties to follow such a path and end
> > up at the same point, they have to start at the same point. For them to
> > start at the same point, then they either need to go by convention, or the
> > absolute identity of the starting point has to be given.
>
> Yes, that seems very true.

One hypothetical model for certain circumstances could be make this
graph a two-way such, so that two people could negoiate a starting point,
and go from there based on reversing their path to it. Something like:

Alice: You can get a Free dvd player at my site, fuckwaresux.truth
Bob: But I thought ICANN had decided .truth was solely the domain of large
media?
Alice: Yeah, but I'm not using ICANN's root. Do you know microsoft's
webpage under ICANN?
Bob: Yeah, it's microsoft.com of course.
Alice: Well, it's microsoft.criminal.orgs here, so you should find my site
at fuckwaresux.truth.orgs.criminal.microsoft.com

(from ICANN's root -> ICANN's com tld -> microsoft's site -> Alice's
criminal.orgs domain -> Alice's orgs tld -> Alice's root -> Alice's truth
tld -> the Fuckware (Futile Unnecessary Control-Keeping softWARE) Sucks
site.)

Of course, this doesn't work for several reasons. Firstly, it's pretty
useless for tv ads and billboards where there is no room for negoiation,
and that is where it is needed. Secondly, there is really no such thing as
a two way link in cyberspace - the chances that microsoft would actually
have a reverse entry to criminal.orgs isn't exactly very large. Thirdly,
it assumes you trust every step along the route, which is pretty nuts.

> > Making the absolute value "nice" is (AFAIK) impossible with current PK
> > crypto - and probably will remain since a PK algo where the public values
> > are chosen and the private values are derived from them is impossible
> > (what is to stop a second party from choosing the same PK value). And even
> > if it wasn't impossible, it would make the whole layered name thing rather
> > pointless. So that leaves convention, and convention unavoidably means
> > both centralization of the service "root" and politics.
>
> I agree. Others have proposed alternatives to politics in market-based
> mechanisms, but markets have trouble negotiating monopolies. There's an
> economic principle called "rent dissipation" in which companies will
> expend almost the total value of a rent-producing asset in order to
> acquire it. This is wasteful and inefficient.

I considers markets to be politics.

--
'DeCSS would be fine. Where is it?'
'Here,' Montag touched his head.
'Ah,' Granger smiled and nodded.

Oskar Sandberg
md98-osa AT nada.kth.se




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