Markdown Version | Session Recording

Session Date/Time: 17 Mar 2025 02:30

dinrg

Summary

This meeting of the DINRG (Decentralized Internet Research Group) focused on the group's recent progress and future directions, including a readout of the Konext Dinn workshop, and presentations on IPFS and BlueSky. The meeting addressed the challenges and opportunities in decentralizing the internet, specifically focusing on user identity, secure communication, and the trade-offs between decentralization and performance. A key theme was the need for a more critical and evidence-based approach to evaluating proposed decentralized solutions.

Key Discussion Points

• Konext Dinn Workshop Readout:
  • The workshop included keynotes on "incitification" and governance/policy questions for federated social media.
  • Technical sessions covered decentralized systems (BlueSky, peer-to-peer matrix) and technologies for decentralization.
  • A panel discussion emphasized enabling direct user-to-user communication and user-owned identities.
• DINRG Progress Review:
  • Reviewed past meeting agendas and summarized discussions into four areas: legal issues, case studies, measurements, and potential means for decentralization.
  • Identified the need to improve engagement and discussion between meetings.
  • Discussed potential challenges related to user identity and user communication security.
• IPFS Analysis:
  • A presentation on a closer look into IPFS content and performance, identified a tendency towards centralization in practice, despite the design goals.
  • Discussion around trade-offs between performance and decentralization, the role of centralized components, and copyright issues.
• BlueSky Analysis:
  • A presentation on BlueSky's architecture and decentralization characteristics.
  • Discussion of decentralized identifiers, moderation through labelers, and the feed generator microservice.
  • Exploration of the centralized versus decentralized aspects of the system, and potential concerns around privacy and manipulation.
• General Concerns:
  • Several attendees emphasized the need for a more neutral and evidence-based approach, questioning the assumed negative aspects of centralization and calling for a clear definition of "decentralization".
  • A suggestion was made to engage with civil society-oriented conferences and consider the harmful impacts of centralization.

Decisions and Action Items

• The chairs will consider the feedback from the meeting when reporting to the IAB.
• The group will consider engaging with conferences beyond academia, including civil society and regional IGFs.
• The group will consider publishing a document that contains definitions of decentralization and related terms.

Next Steps

• Continue to critically evaluate proposed decentralized systems and technologies.
• Focus on specific research topics related to user identity and secure communication.
• Explore collaboration with related IETF working groups.
• Consider defining decentralization and identifying the causes and solutions to centralization.