Re: Peer-to-peer

[Joe Touch <touch at ISI.EDU>]

Valdis.Kletnieks at vt.edu wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Sep 2001 19:42:23 +0200, Thor Harald Johansen <thorhj at yahoo.com>  said:
>
> > Is there an Internet standard for the kind of peer-to-peer communication
> > FreeNet (www.freenetproject.org) is capable of? I think there should be. The


Yes - it's already implemented at the network layer, and it's called the 
Internet. Most peer systems recapitulate that architecture, more or 
(mostly) less, at the application layer, in addition to providing a 
search capability. It is the search capability that is probably more 
interesting, in the long run, IMO.


> > Web, especially the DNS system, is too much in the hands of commercial
> > interests. I think everyone with access to the Internet should have the
> > right to own at least one domain name. Yes, I know the good ones would be
> > taken more or less immediately, but aren't they already? :)


The DNS is an 'easily remembered' handle to an IP address. The DNS is 
not a search engine. Given those two principles (granted, they seem not 
to be as given as they should be), the rest isn't very hard at all. Pick 
 two or three short words or a phrase and concatenate it. Odds are very 
good it's available. The problem is it's not "guessable", and that's the 
disconnect. (again, IMO).


Joe