Techdirt Podcast Episode 86: Have Platforms Killed The Open Internet By Replacing Protocols?
from the open,-close dept
The internet is built on a solid foundation of open protocols: TCP/IP, HTTP and SMTP especially, plus more modern entrants like RSS and BitTorrent. But even those aren't so new anymore, and it seems like the era of the open protocol might be coming to an end, supplanted by the drive to create proprietary closed platforms. This week, we discuss whether the open protocol is dead, and what that means for the future of the open internet.
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For numerous years, Google had embraced XMPP for Google Chat in the
Constant legal attacks on the file sharing community really shattered a lot of decentralized, open source communities. Heavy Bittorrent users were also heavy users of other decentralized protocols. Aggressive online surveillance and profiling has further shrunken those communities down. NSA didn't help anyone and the way Snowden revealed what he did scared more people away.
Open protocols are hardly dead, but more needs to be done to bolster them up. Security. Ease of management. Redundancy. UI/UX. Speed.
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Open Platform Protocls
Keep in mind, proprietary protocols may be 'closed source', but they are also 'proprietary' too. Someone DOES have the source code, and you can bet your bottom dollar that if SOMEONE has it, the government has it. Closed-source protocols is government-speak for 'we can see what you do, but since we don't trust you with matches, you can't see what we are doing to you'.
No thanks, I know enough about WWII Nazi Europe to know this is NOT a solution, only a larger problem for all.
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Re:
Fixed IP addresses, and use of the hosts file would also increase privacy by a more direct routing of traffic to friends and family.
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I guess the answer is 'yes'. At least for Techdirt.
Both of which require me to permit them to execute code in the form of Javascript on my own machine - a security hazard and a violation of my privacy.
A simple link to an audio file I could have listened to - As has been possible since 1994 or so. Or for that matter a direct link to a streaming protocol.
I am always saddened to find such a thing on an otherwise enlightended site.
Before Techdirt and others kill them, I would like to note that protocols tend to be open, free, and available to all.
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Re: I guess the answer is 'yes'. At least for Techdirt.
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Re: I guess the answer is 'yes'. At least for Techdirt.
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Re: Re: I guess the answer is 'yes'. At least for Techdirt.
I associate rss with small snippets of text, not media files, so never looked. Perhaps putting that link by the other media file links would be helpful to others as well?
At any rate thanks! My bad.
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