In general, you can take any database-centric system and produce its disruptive counter-part using P2P technology.
If browsers like Firefox were to implement a P2P DNS plugin then who needs Verisign (Or GoDaddy for that matter) !?
If someone was to write a Firefox extension that sets up a P2P DNS system wherein each browser would map the topologically close set of IPv4/IPv6 addressses to a set of domain names and where each Firefox DNS extension can query all other Firefox DNS extensions running in the network, with milisecond latency, then, in theory, we could have a P2P domain name system (P2P DNS) that removes our dependency on the government controlled 13-server central DNS tree.
Obviously, the trick here is in having a scalable P2P database technology where each node in the network can resolve a domain name to an IP address by virtually (not physically) querying all other nodes in the network (until the query resolves) within seconds on first attempt and miliseconds on subsequent attempts. I believe that this technology either already exists or that the latest, greatest innovations in P2P database technology may be used to implement it. If not, then it’s just a matter of time before such disruptive technology emerges.
Such P2P DNS would apply to email, too, as long as it’s done from the browser (or by having such P2P DNS service loaded by the OS.)
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Sam wrote:
good thoughts, but man, you need to brush up on your foreign languages. “avoir” is the infinitive form of “have” –perhaps you were looking for “au revoir”?
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Evolvingtrends wrote:
Well, yes, but that’s like the difference between Freedomfries and Freedom Fries.
I win. ;-)
Marc
P.S. Grand Haven, MI is really nice. Very different than Cape Cod/Vinyard. People here are less sophisticated/simpler.
I think that you are ultimately right, Marc. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are still some big security and other issues to work out with P2P systems like what you are describing. But, they’re not insurmountable.
I found your website as I was strumbling around in the internet to see if something similar has already been put up. In fact, just after I heard about that story in Brazil where Youtube has been banned from country’s ISPs’ DNS servers, I told to myself that there should be a way to overcome such censorship. This would be a great project to start up. I don’t think though that we could achieve fast queries since all p2p networks are often high-latency systems…
Hi!
It’s funny, I just found this website…
I’m now working on a p2p like Dns server.
I don’t try to do a plugin for firefox (I try doesn’t work…), I just do a proxy like, you can specify in FF or IE. When you do some query to resolved a Domain name, first you try using the P2P resolution, after you go in traditional server….
Such type of dns exists … They are called Multicast DNS or mDNS … created by apple… (they called it RendezVous then Bonjour) the implementation on Linux is Avahi .. there is a bonjour plugin for windows… Microsoft also has its type but it is not as efficient or as polyvalent ( UpNp)
I had this idea myself, only recently; and I’ve been trying to connect with someone else who’s thinking in this vein. The irony is, I have the same expectation for the immediacy of this problem–it seems like it should be solved soon; and apparently, you had the same expectation several years ago.
At any rate, I see the need for such a system with more urgency now than ever. Beyond a Firefox plugin, a truly independent DNS architecture that can be scaled up and down rapidly. A client like Firefox or Azureus would be needed to install a basic DNS + LAMP (WAMP or MAMP) system, whereby sites and servers could be mirrored.
Services like Zoho are already offering databases as a web app, which suggests the possibility of p2p databasing–insofar as they use a distributed file system architecture in the databases beneath the web app database.
At any rate, it’s a good idea.
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