Session Date/Time: 21 Mar 2024 03:00

dinrg

Summary

The Decentralization of the Internet Research Group (DINRG) meeting covered a range of topics related to centralization and decentralization of the internet. Presentations included an analysis of cyberspace regulation in China, a discussion of delivering social and municipal services in a decentralized manner, and a prototype demonstration of a local-first application. The meeting concluded with a discussion on potential future work informed by RFC 9518.

Key Discussion Points

Cyberspace Regulation in China: A presentation analyzing Chinese cyberspace regulations over the past 30 years, noting a shift from decentralized to centralized control. The discussion touched on technical fragmentation, the Great Firewall, and economic considerations.
Decentralized Delivery of Social and Municipal Services: A presentation discussing the potential for decentralized internet technologies to improve the delivery of social and municipal services, emphasizing data privacy and individual control through personal online data stores (pods).
Local-First Application Prototype: A presentation demonstrating a local-first collaboration application, highlighting user-to-user data security, conflict-free data synchronization using CRDTs, and the use of NDN for data exchange.
Future Work and RFC 9518: A discussion prompted by RFC 9518, focusing on defining distributed vs. decentralized systems and identifying key areas for decentralization efforts (e.g., user data). There was substantial debate over the driving forces behind centralization and the role of economics, venture capital, and regulatory intervention.

Decisions and Action Items

Action Item: Chairs to continue discussions of future work items on the DINRG mailing list, focusing on actionable topics.
Action Item: Meeting participants to contribute to the mailing list with suggestions for future work, relevant resources, and feedback on presented ideas.

Next Steps

Continue the discussion on the DINRG mailing list to refine potential work items and explore research directions.
Consider discussing data-centric security with user identifiers further.
Explore ways to balance decentralization with the practical considerations of scalability, security, and economic incentives.