[liberationtech] The missing component: Mobile to Web interoperability (in Internet Freedom Technologies)

[Jonathan Wilkes]

On 09/15/2013 04:22 AM, Brian Conley wrote:
>
>
> On Sep 15, 2013 2:22 AM, "coderman" <coderman at gmail.com 
> <mailto:coderman at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 8:12 AM, Lee Azzarello 
> <lee at guardianproject.info <mailto:lee at guardianproject.info>> wrote:
> > > We have a federated telephony system...
> >
> > On Sat, Sep 14, 2013 at 10:27 AM, Nathan of Guardian
> > <nathan at guardianproject.info <mailto:nathan at guardianproject.info>> 
> wrote:
> > > ...
> > > A truly free internet = a federated internet in my mind... Why do 
> you consider it a sign that something is broken?
> >
> >
> > back in the p2p fad days,
>
> So before wide adoption of mobile.
>

What does that have to do with it?

I can already run a Tor hidden service on a laptop and get
connectivity using ssh from just about anywhere using the
onion address of the service.  I've never tried from a mobile
phone (either connecting to a hidden service or running
one) but I don't see why that would make it any different.

What would the equivalent of this be with WebRTC?  Realize
that with the hidden service I don't have to care about
underlying IP addresses (or changes in them) for either party,
and no third party is required to introduce us every time we
want to connect.

[...]

> It will be great when someone designs an easy to use p2p functionality 
> for all communications needs, then it will be a tool for everyone.
>

I'm not completely sure, but I don't think that is possible.

For example: regardless of privacy implications, discoverability on 
Facebook is
a feature.  Regardless of privacy implications, suggestions for friends 
based
on the social graph (and updates to it) is a feature.  I don't see how 
one could
retain just those two features in a p2p design with privacy in mind.  
How can
users search the entire social graph for that information without [bad 
actor]
being able to?  (And if you could figure that out you should use it to
bootstrap a cryptocurrency into the hands of well-intentioned people because
it's essentially the same problem.)

Does GNUnet or another project have an approach to this?  That is,
equal to or better than the automated results that Facebook provides, which
can bootstrap a new user into the network very quickly.

Best,
Jonathan
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