Work

Challenges in the Decentralised Web

Year: 2019

Type: conference-paper

Abstract: The Decentralised Web (DW) has recently seen a renewed momentum, with a number of DW platforms like Mastodon, PeerTube, and Hubzilla gaining increasing traction. These offer alternatives to traditional social networks like Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook, by enabling the operation of web infrastructure and services without centralised ownership or control. Although their services differ greatly, modern DW platforms mostly rely on two key innovations: first, their open source software allows anybody to setup independent servers ("instances") that people can sign-up to and use within a local community; and second, they build on top of federation protocols so that instances can mesh together, in a peer-to-peer fashion, to offer a globally integrated platform.

Source: ACM Internet Measurement Conference (IMC)

DOI: 10.1145/3355369.3355572

Authors: Aravindh Raman, Sagar Joglekar, Emiliano De Cristofaro, Nishanth Sastry, Gareth Tyson

Institutions: King's College London, University College London, Queen Mary University of London

Language: English

Topic: Blockchain Technology Applications and Security

Subfield: Information Systems

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: Alan Turing Institute, European Commission, Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council