Dominic Tarr: Secure Scuttlebutt – The “Localized” but Distributed Social Network

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We’re joined by Dominic Tarr, a sailor, and the Founder of Secure Scuttlebutt. This curiously named project has a fascinating approach to creating a truly distributed social network. One might even say that Secure Scuttlebutt is “localized” as it gracefully degrades to Sneakernet, something few blockchain projects can claim. In actuality, the SSB protocol isn’t a blockchain in the traditional sense – each user’s feed acts as a sort of localized chain of posts, signed by their public key, and possibly encrypted for a friend's key to decrypt. When users meet, the system syncs their local databases using a gossip protocol and replicates the data. Encrypted data is transported from peer, to peer, to peer (or friends of friends) until it reaches its intended recipient. User may also optionally rely on public servers to sync data over the internet.

Topics covered in this episode:

• Daniels background and life living on a boat off the coast of New Zealand
• How being at sea gave him the idea for Secure Scuttlebutt
• What is Secure Scuttlebutt and what are the goals of the project
• The issues with centralization and redefining decentralization as a positive statement
• The notion that the technological singularity only serves the goals of centralized power
• How SSB stores information and how posts get propagates from between friends, and friends of friends
• How the network leverages “Pub” servers to sync data over the internet
• Usage of the platform and the communities which thrive there
• The cost of spam and how users protect against DDoS attacks
• The project’s funding and roadmap

Episode links:

• Secure Scuttlebutt website
• Scuttlebutt Protocol Guide
• Manyverse mobile client
• Designing a Secret Handshake: AuthenticatedKey Exchange as a Capability System
• EfficientReconciliationandFlow ControlforAnti-Entropy Protocols
• Scuttlebutt: an off-grid P2P social network that runs without servers and
  can fall back to sneakernet
• The Nomad Who’s Exploding the Internet Into Pieces
• Counter-Anti-Disintermediation
• “The Third Web” interview with Dominic Tarr
• Dominic Tarr on Twitter

Sponsors:

• Trail of Bits: Trust the team at the forefront of blockchain security research - https://trailofbits.com
• Azure: Deploy enterprise-ready consortium blockchain networks that scale in just a few clicks - http://aka.ms/epicenter

This episode is hosted by Sebastien Couture & Friederike Ernst. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/290