Yaron Goland’s thoughts on Tor suggest an interesting decentralized system…
You don’t know what you have to hide and by the time you figure it out, it will likely be too late. This is where Tor comes in. It makes it much easier to hide. The reason to use Tor isn’t so much because you have something to hide, the reason to use Tor is so when you find out you had something to hide you can rest a little easier knowing that your secret may be protected.
He has some interesting design notes about constructing a network of routers to serve this purpose.
UnderScan writes “Eric Ries, writer/programmer/CTO, authored an
article ‘Kenosis and the World Free Web’ at Freshmeat [Owned by
Slashdot’s Parent OSTG]. Kenosis is described as a ‘fully-distributed
peer-to-peer RPC system built on top of XMLRPC.’ He has combined his
Kenosis with BitTorrent & removed the need for a centralized tracker.
He states: ‘To demonstrate Kenosis’s suitability for these new
applications, we have used it to improve upon another peer-to-peer
filesharing application that Just Works: BitTorrent. BitTorrent does
one thing incredibly well. Using a centralized “tracker,” BitTorrent
manages efficient distribution of data that is in high demand. We have
extended BitTorrent, using Kenosis, to eliminate this dependence on a
centralized tracker.’ See also the Kenosis README for details on using
Kenosis-enabled BitTorrent.”
Four years ago, I wrote an article for freshmeat called “The World
Free Web” in which I described a way to make Web content available in
a distributed and anonymous way via Freenet. Back then, I expected, as
did many others, that Freenet was on the verge of completion, and all
that remained was to think of interesting new applications to write on
this new platform.
Now, for the record, I still have high hopes for Freenet and am still
a contributor to the Freenet Foundation. But as it stands, Freenet
simply does not work, and it is not a suitable platform for the
development of new applications.
Two years ago, Malcolm Handley and I started the Dasein Software
Partnership in order to create new peer-to-peer tools and applications
for the Free Software world. We started writing applications for
Freenet, but grew frustrated with Freenet’s lack of stability. Next,
we switched to The Circle, a distributed hashtable based on Chord.
Despite its maturity, it too is not stable or reliable enough to form
a suitable platform.
So we decided that we would need to create a new system, designed from
the ground up for simplicity, stability, and scalability. We call that
system Kenosis.
Kenosis is a fully-distributed peer-to-peer RPC system built on top of
XMLRPC. Nodes are automatically connected to each other via a
Kademlia-style network and can route RPC requests efficiently to any
online node. Kenosis does not rely on a central server; any Kenosis
node can effectively join the network (“bootstrap”) from any connected
node.
Rohit pointed out that Reader’s Digest, of all things, had an article (not on-line apparently) this month on how researchers are using fMRI to contribute new insights in behavioral economics.
Monkeys (and the article’s author) were observed using fMRI while participating in artificial trading games to investigate what parts of the brain are activated when the traders encounter cooperative or uncooperative behavior. The Cingulate cortext, long known to be involved in emotional and abstract thinking, shows particularly heightened activity after one player betrays another. The researchers hope to draw conclusions about what conditions build trust in trading communities
fMRI studies with monkeys who were trained in simple games of chance
have located particular neurons in the monkeys’ brains that fire at a
rate proportional to the expected utility of the payoff for whichever
outcome is currently being examined. This places these kinds of evaluation functions at a more basic level than had previously been suggested.
Boeing and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Information Trust Institute have teamed up to design trustworthy, reliable, and secure networked systems and software employed in critical infrastructures, with a focus on basic breakthroughs that can become practical and important commercial products within five to 10 years, according to institute director William H. Sanders. The Information Trust Institute will receive an undisclosed amount of funding from Boeing’s Phantom Works unit over the next five years for the purpose of investigating “trusted software,” and Phantom Works VP Gary Fitzmire says U. of I. was chosen on the strength of its trusted software research. The institute’s mission includes setting up science and technology for creating trustworthy networked information systems, the development of methods for evaluating such systems’ trustworthiness, and the administration of those methods to applications in systems including e-commerce, finance, emergency response, data and information processing, and aerospace. The institute has embarked on research projects that include misbehavior detection in wireless networks and a railcar health monitoring system, while the U. of I. last month solicited research project proposals based on the Boeing agreement. Submitted proposals included new software security and survivability techniques, and reliable and robust control of automated aerial vehicles.
From the article
The institute, which launched late last year, is part of the university’s College of Engineering, that recently signed one of its largest master research agreements ever with Boeing’s Phantom Works unit. The business is Boeing’s advanced research and development arm, and it’s providing undisclosed funding to the university over the next five years to support research in “trusted” software. The research will span topics related to security, privacy, reliability, safety and survivability.
The collaboration will focus on “fundamental innovations that can become viable and significant” marketable products in a five-to-10-year time frame, said William H. Sanders director of the institute.
https://commerce.net/mindystaging/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/commercenet-logo-1.png00amshttps://commerce.net/mindystaging/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/commercenet-logo-1.pngams2005-01-10 18:17:112005-01-10 18:17:11Boeing’s new Information Trust Institute with UIUC
Sony Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) Paris director Luc Steels describes the facility as “a scientific lab, but not all innovation is based on science and not all science leads to innovation.” The lab was inspired by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in its establishment as a place where researchers can exercise their creativity with an unusual degree of freedom, rather than being forced to rigidly adhere to a corporate mandate to develop strictly commercial products. “[It’s] probably for prestige and advertising purposes, but nevertheless, it’s unique and great that a big corporation will put some of their profit to identify people they consider the smartest in the field and let them come up with new ideas,” notes Emory University professor Philippe Rochat. Steels says Paris is an ideal locale for the lab, given the richness of its culture as well as its reputation as a hub of scientific research that is attractive to potential employees as well as visiting academics. Steels’ previous experience includes the directorship of the University of Brussels’ Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and his work with emotional speech synthesis technology that is now used in Sony’s QRIO humanoid robot. Among the facility’s six researchers is Atau Tanaka, who develops musical systems that make listening a vehicle for social interaction by integrating mobile technology and peer-to-peer networking. Another project of note at Sony CSL Paris focuses on unique search engines for digital music libraries.
https://commerce.net/mindystaging/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/commercenet-logo-1.png00amshttps://commerce.net/mindystaging/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/commercenet-logo-1.pngams2005-01-10 18:13:522005-01-10 18:13:52Sony’s Paris research lab
Tor
DecentralizationYaron Goland’s thoughts on Tor suggest an interesting decentralized system…
He has some interesting design notes about constructing a network of routers to serve this purpose.
Kenosis: P2P RPC that decentralized BitTorrent
DecentralizationBen Sittler noticed that Kenosis got Slashdotted yesterday:
From http://kenosis.sourceforge.net/
Kenosis is:
The inventor recently quoth:
Economics and Monkey Brains
CommerceRohit pointed out that Reader’s Digest, of all things, had an article (not on-line apparently) this month on how researchers are using fMRI to contribute new insights in behavioral economics.
Monkeys (and the article’s author) were observed using fMRI while participating in artificial trading games to investigate what parts of the brain are activated when the traders encounter cooperative or uncooperative behavior. The Cingulate cortext, long known to be involved in emotional and abstract thinking, shows particularly heightened activity after one player betrays another. The researchers hope to draw conclusions about what conditions build trust in trading communities
fMRI studies with monkeys who were trained in simple games of chance
have located particular neurons in the monkeys’ brains that fire at a
rate proportional to the expected utility of the payoff for whichever
outcome is currently being examined. This places these kinds of evaluation functions at a more basic level than had previously been suggested.
Boeing’s new Information Trust Institute with UIUC
Innovation, SecurityACM News Service
“Boeing, U. of I. to Work on Computer Trust Issues”
Chicago Sun-Times (01/06/05); Knowles, Francine
Boeing and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Information Trust Institute have teamed up to design trustworthy, reliable, and secure networked systems and software employed in critical infrastructures, with a focus on basic breakthroughs that can become practical and important commercial products within five to 10 years, according to institute director William H. Sanders. The Information Trust Institute will receive an undisclosed amount of funding from Boeing’s Phantom Works unit over the next five years for the purpose of investigating “trusted software,” and Phantom Works VP Gary Fitzmire says U. of I. was chosen on the strength of its trusted software research. The institute’s mission includes setting up science and technology for creating trustworthy networked information systems, the development of methods for evaluating such systems’ trustworthiness, and the administration of those methods to applications in systems including e-commerce, finance, emergency response, data and information processing, and aerospace. The institute has embarked on research projects that include misbehavior detection in wireless networks and a railcar health monitoring system, while the U. of I. last month solicited research project proposals based on the Boeing agreement. Submitted proposals included new software security and survivability techniques, and reliable and robust control of automated aerial vehicles.
From the article
The institute, which launched late last year, is part of the university’s College of Engineering, that recently signed one of its largest master research agreements ever with Boeing’s Phantom Works unit. The business is Boeing’s advanced research and development arm, and it’s providing undisclosed funding to the university over the next five years to support research in “trusted” software. The research will span topics related to security, privacy, reliability, safety and survivability.
The collaboration will focus on “fundamental innovations that can become viable and significant” marketable products in a five-to-10-year time frame, said William H. Sanders director of the institute.
Sony’s Paris research lab
InnovationACM News Service
“Sony Research’s Parisian Play Station”
Technology Review (01/10/05); Pescovitz, David
Sony Computer Science Laboratory (CSL) Paris director Luc Steels describes the facility as “a scientific lab, but not all innovation is based on science and not all science leads to innovation.” The lab was inspired by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in its establishment as a place where researchers can exercise their creativity with an unusual degree of freedom, rather than being forced to rigidly adhere to a corporate mandate to develop strictly commercial products. “[It’s] probably for prestige and advertising purposes, but nevertheless, it’s unique and great that a big corporation will put some of their profit to identify people they consider the smartest in the field and let them come up with new ideas,” notes Emory University professor Philippe Rochat. Steels says Paris is an ideal locale for the lab, given the richness of its culture as well as its reputation as a hub of scientific research that is attractive to potential employees as well as visiting academics. Steels’ previous experience includes the directorship of the University of Brussels’ Artificial Intelligence Laboratory and his work with emotional speech synthesis technology that is now used in Sony’s QRIO humanoid robot. Among the facility’s six researchers is Atau Tanaka, who develops musical systems that make listening a vehicle for social interaction by integrating mobile technology and peer-to-peer networking. Another project of note at Sony CSL Paris focuses on unique search engines for digital music libraries.