[messaging] GNU Name System

[Ruben Pollan]

Quoting D. J. Bernstein (2014-10-05 16:01:24)
> The traditional view is that maximum-security decentralized systems
> can't be usable, so we have to compromise on security, typically by
> trusting centralized third parties. The reason I'm writing now is that I
> think most people here haven't yet heard of the GNU Name System, a
> _usable_ maximum-security decentralized naming system:
> 
>    https://gnunet.org/sites/default/files/paper_cans2014_camera_ready.pdf
> 
> I don't see any obstacle to taking this approach to naming inside new
> messaging systems.

GNS has really nice features, but like any other cryptographic system I think 
the hard part is how to make it easy to use.

The web usage of most non-nerds around me is that if they want to go to facebook 
for example, even though they visit it every day several times, they type in the 
search engine (usually google) 'facebook' and follow what the search engine 
dictates what is facebook. I'm curious if it's possible to make petnames so 
hassle free that the common people use them. I fear that a mass adoption of a 
system like GNS will end up with some organization maintaining a zone with all 
the websites that people uses and everybody trusting it.

Still it's an improvement over the existing infrastructure 'advanced' users have 
the choice of more 'security', even if we don't manage a mass adoption of 
petnames and people relies on others to define the petnames for them.

-- 
Ruben Pollan  | http://meskio.net/
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