[Freedombox-discuss] Establishing Communication between Freedomboxes

[Daniel Kahn Gillmor]

On 07/02/2011 02:24 PM, ian at churchkey.org wrote:
> I think the best way to do this is through something like a dynamicDNS
> centralized service.

Can you explain why a centralized service is the right way to go here?

We have what seems to be a reasonable sketch of a proposal on the table
(from bertagaz) that would use globally-published (yet
locally-resolvable) mechanism via something very much like the current
sks keyserver network.  This would provide a way to publish a set of
directory information without any one participant having the ability to
shut people down.

In contrast, a centralized service puts a level of power in the hands of
the maintainers of that service -- something that we're actively trying
to avoid, if i understand the goals of the project correctly.

For example, in your blog post, you explicitly outline a way that such a
service could effectively ostracize a spammer or advertiser (albeit
without outlining what the policy should be in a contested case).  This
same mechanism could be used by a powerful adversary to de-voice and
isolate a dissenter or whistleblower.

When in doubt, we should avoid infrastructure with this kind of
centralized leverage.  too much centralized power already exists in the
non-freedombox world.  Let's not replicate those mistakes.

	--dkg

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