6 ms·

IPFS requires "pinning" content for it to exist, meaning you host it, whoever pins content becomes liable for its distribution, if no one pins it, it disappears

IPFS requires "pinning" content for it to exist, meaning you host it, whoever pins content becomes liable for its distribution, if no one pins it, it disappears. That's why you can't freely host things like child porn on IPFS.

etagate 5y ago
This is true even for a torrent btw. And (un?)fortunately you can distribute anything on IPFS as long as it's encrypted.
- Gigachad 5y ago
  No one is going to pin encrypted data they do not understand. And IPFS doesn’t get users to seed random files, you only seed stuff you downloaded. So really it’s not much different to hosting it on a personal http server except any downloaders can also host.
  - mavhc 5y ago
    Sounds very similar to bittorrent itself
  - nybble41 5y ago
    > No one is going to pin encrypted data they do not understand. Select users who have the decryption key (communicated out-of-band) might be willing to pin the encrypted data for the benefit of others who also have the key. There are also for-pay pinning services who probably wouldn't care whether the data was encrypted. And whether it's pinned it or not, as long as it's downloaded the data remains available to be shared (at least until it's GC'd).
    - Gigachad 5y ago
      Ok but you could do that on literally any platform. I could encrypt data and stick it on google drive or aws and the hosts wouldn’t have any clue what it was.
      - nybble41 5y ago
        Sure, but doing it through IPFS means that you aren't dependent on a particular centralized service. If you put the encrypted file on Google Drive or AWS and then later take it down, the link breaks. Or someone might edit the file so that the link no longer gives the same content. On IPFS the original link continues to work as long as anyone has the file, and the content is immutable, so there are some advantages compared to plain HTTP.
only4here 5y ago
This will probably make illegal stuff less common, hopefully. At least outside of the darknets.

etagate 5y ago

This is true even for a torrent btw. And (un?)fortunately you can distribute anything on IPFS as long as it's encrypted.

Gigachad 5y ago
No one is going to pin encrypted data they do not understand. And IPFS doesn’t get users to seed random files, you only seed stuff you downloaded. So really it’s not much different to hosting it on a personal http server except any downloaders can also host.
- mavhc 5y ago
  Sounds very similar to bittorrent itself
- nybble41 5y ago
  > No one is going to pin encrypted data they do not understand. Select users who have the decryption key (communicated out-of-band) might be willing to pin the encrypted data for the benefit of others who also have the key. There are also for-pay pinning services who probably wouldn't care whether the data was encrypted. And whether it's pinned it or not, as long as it's downloaded the data remains available to be shared (at least until it's GC'd).
  - Gigachad 5y ago
    Ok but you could do that on literally any platform. I could encrypt data and stick it on google drive or aws and the hosts wouldn’t have any clue what it was.
    - nybble41 5y ago
      Sure, but doing it through IPFS means that you aren't dependent on a particular centralized service. If you put the encrypted file on Google Drive or AWS and then later take it down, the link breaks. Or someone might edit the file so that the link no longer gives the same content. On IPFS the original link continues to work as long as anyone has the file, and the content is immutable, so there are some advantages compared to plain HTTP.

only4here 5y ago

This will probably make illegal stuff less common, hopefully. At least outside of the darknets.