I need somebody smarter than me to explain this.afaict #ATproto is built on this central database thingy "didplc" that I know they plan to outsource to a non profit.

[wjmaggos@liberal.city]

I need somebody smarter than me to explain this.

afaict #ATproto is built on this central database thingy "didplc" that I know they plan to outsource to a non profit. better but still a problem imo cause non profits can be evil (or just plain dumb) too.

so how does #ActivityPub avoid a centralization problem like this and what are the tradeoffs in the different models?

thanks. #bluesky #mastodon

[silverpill@mitra.social]

@wjmaggos ActivityPub has a similar problem, but instead of centralized did:plc thingy it relies on Domain Name System.

[wjmaggos@liberal.city]

@silverpill

gotcha. true. but if there's DNS trouble, the whole web is fucked. probably makes sense to build off that. or maybe somehow if the did:plc ends up making more sense, get the same entity that manages DNS to manage it.

but what are the tradeoffs in these models?

[silverpill@mitra.social]

@wjmaggos
In DNS, there is only one root authority (it's not that simple in reality, but for the sake of this comparison let's say there is only one). The advantage of using DIDs is that there could be many root authorities. In fact, anyone could be a root authority. Another advantage is various interesting cryptographic tricks that DIDs enable. But DIDs are very new in comparison to DNS, and there is almost no infrastructure to build upon -- that's the main downside.

However, ATProto doesn't really make use of "D" in DIDs. Both did:plc and did:web are not decentralized.

[reiver@mastodon.social]

@silverpill @wjmaggos

One thing I will add is —

Internet domains have been seized before.

(There is at least one book documenting for some of the history of it. But, it keeps on happening.)

...

This is an additional problem to people losing their Interent domains due to not continuing to pay the yearly rent for it.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@reiver @silverpill @wjmaggos the web and email depend on DNS.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@reiver @silverpill @wjmaggos it is the most successful, global, distributed identity system that humans have ever created. More than postal addresses; more than phone numbers. Probably second only to the use of personal names.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@reiver @silverpill @wjmaggos domain names are instantly recognizable. Almost anyone can get one. There is an amazing toolset for obtaining and managing them.

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@reiver @silverpill @wjmaggos we have spent 40 years educating internet users about how domain names work. They know how email federation works; they know how web federation works. They know what it means to own your own domain and to use someone else's domain.