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backus's profile
John Backus
John Backus
John Backus
@backus

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John Backus

@backus

Seeking alternative compression. Hopefully wrong on average. Shameless. Started @getcognito and @bloom

San Francisco, CA
Joined August 2012

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    1. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

      Decentralization enthusiasts: Why didn't decentralized BitTorrent search takeoff? Many tried: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BitTorrent&oldid=850160168#Decentralized_keyword_search … Not rhetorical, I'd love ideas. I'll share a few theories below 👇pic.twitter.com/kL2oVF4Yj9

      3 replies 8 retweets 20 likes
      Show this thread
      John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

      Theory 1: Decentralized search doesn't help improve user experience. In-app search is a liability since courts eventually ruled that Limewire and Kazaa should have added client-side copyright filters. PopcornTime is a torrent specific example of in-app search attracting lawsuits

      1:20 PM - 16 Jul 2018
      • 1 Retweet
      • 8 Likes
      • Distributed Bit 🛰️📡⛓️ woolsim Thuongvu Dan Schulz Andreas Freund Harry Tormey Ainsley🎃ICHABOD🎃Sutherland Nikhil Srinivasan
      2 replies 1 retweet 8 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          John Backus Retweeted John Backus

          Theory 2: Netflix, Spotify, and Hulu didn't *kill* BitTorrent, but they marked the end of BitTorrent users being willing to learn new techniques for finding pirated content. Basically, Hollywood finally fixed the incentive I talk about in this tweet:https://twitter.com/backus/status/1014645177120538624 …

          John Backus added,

          John Backus @backus
          Tech isn't just user friendly or not, it can be easy/hard to learn, then easy/hard to use. In context of alternatives, both matter for answering "is it worth switching?" Music/Movie industry put off tech long enough that people got over the confusing to learn part of BitTorrent
          Show this thread
          1 reply 1 retweet 8 likes
          Show this thread
        3. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          John Backus Retweeted John Backus

          Theory 3: Decentralized BitTorrent search solves a problem end users don't care about: reducing risk The Pirate Bay is willing to take on. The Pirate Bay (and other central indexes) must die for adoption/development to pick up on decentralized search:https://twitter.com/backus/status/1015094493836554240 …

          John Backus added,

          John Backus @backus
          Activists are essential to decentralized systems 🏴‍☠️ Imagine BitTorrent without The Pirate Bay doing everything it can to stick around 🌰 Tor exit node operators took on real risk in the early days especially
          Show this thread
          1 reply 1 retweet 7 likes
          Show this thread
        4. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          Theory 4: Decentralized BitTorrent search was just much worse than centralized indexes in terms of the amount of results. Similar to theory #3 but about amount of content instead of risk, decentralized search would only take off if centralized indexes died.

          2 replies 2 retweets 4 likes
          Show this thread
        5. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          Theory 5: No market incentives to drive user adoption for decentralized BitTorrent search. It is an interesting research question, a fun OSS project, but doesn't attract any marketing-like interest. The Pirate Bay is a top 500 visited website, so it is worth the risk for someone

          1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
          Show this thread
        6. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          Theory 6: I'm just oblivious and decentralized BitTorrent search is a big thing in certain countries or in a certain niche. If you know of an example w/ decent and growing usage, I'd love to know. A lot of my views on decentralization as a trend are connected to this question

          1 reply 1 retweet 3 likes
          Show this thread
        7. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          Theory 7: Interest in improving the BitTorrent protocol/ecosystem dried up at some point and today people willing and able to take a risk on building a good decentralized BitTorrent search product are instead working on blockchain tech, IPFS, Dat, etc.

          1 reply 1 retweet 4 likes
          Show this thread
        8. John Backus‏ @backus Jul 16

          Theory 8: Decentralized search doesn't actually buy more legal protection if you still have to host the frontend or distribute a desktop app. If law enforcement tried harder to kill BitTorrent sites, we'd see more Tor hidden services for search, not decentralized search protocols

          2 replies 1 retweet 1 like
          Show this thread
        9. End of conversation
        1. Krishaan Khubchand‏ @krishkhubchand Jul 16
          Replying to @backus

          What’s decentralised search? Is that like http://Torrentz2.eu ? How is it different to centralised search?

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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