HTTP
- Client-server
- Simple to implement
- Served us well for 20 years.
BUT
- Central point of failure
- Allows for DDoS Attacks
- Allows governments to monitor, block and close sites
- Popular sites have to use load sharing
- Peaks of demand can easily crash sites or make them unavailable.
How could we do better?
Peer-to-peer:
- Harder to block
- The more popular particular content becomes, the easier it is to find
- Even if the originating site is offline, the content may still be
available
- Peaks of demand are automatically dealt with
- Popular sites don't need wide pipes.
Magnet Links
Saying not where to get it, but what you want
Fall-back to single source for long-tail content.
magnet:?xt=urn:sha1:YNCKHTQCWBTRNJIV4WNAE52SJUQCZO5C
?as=http%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fulysses.html
Bit Torrent
If someone already has the document you are downloading in their cache, they
can serve it to you.
If several people have it, they can share the task by sharing different
parts.
You get it even faster.
Example: Tribler
Tribler
Note (in blue progress bar) how the file is loading in bits, but priority
has been given to the start of the file so you can immediately start
streaming.
In Summary
Although you still need HTTP for long-tail, and single-use/personalised
content, replacing HTTP with peer-to-peer+magnet links makes the most of the
web:
- Harder to block and censor
- Faster
- Cheaper for web sites
- More available
- Resilient to peaks of demand
- You can phase it in without disruption to the web.
