The topic of decentralization is very popular nowadays. This is due to the popularity of the blockchain which makes the term very popular. This article also talks about the topic of decentralization, but not specifically about the blockchain, but about the future Internet applications.
The origin of the Internet is a distributed, decentralized IP network connecting the world, but because the IP address is hard to remember, there is a domain name, and there is a centralized distributed root domain name service. The first application of the Internet is email service, which is a completely decentralized service. People can directly realize peer-to-peer communication through the mail service provided by mail servers all over the world. Later, there was Web service, which is also a decentralized Web site that provides various information publishing and information query services by Web sites distributed all over the world.
However, with the development of the Internet, Web services have had portal sites, search engines, chat software, social network services, e-commerce services, etc. These Internet applications have gradually formed the current height center. It depends on the services provided by a certain service provider, which has formed the current situation where several Internet oligopoly monopolizes these highly centralized services. These oligarchs control almost all Internet data, which is far away from the origin of the Internet. The original intention of the time has gradually lost the true value and spirit of the Internet.
The author believes that the future Internet will not forget its original intention and slowly return to the decentralization when the Internet originated. This trend is also indirectly confirmed by the popularity of blockchain and its applications. Blockchain applications are also a kind of Internet. Application, in line with the original intention of the Internet. As I wrote in my blog post "Internet privacy protection is the inevitable upgrade of Internet consumption": With the popularization and application of Internet services, people have begun to be dissatisfied with only being able to use Internet services, but hoping to use it to protect user privacy Internet service! The future Internet services must be decentralized services that can more effectively protect user privacy.
For the current various Internet applications, in addition to blockchain applications, there is also an application with a long history-email service is also a decentralized application, as long as you have an email address (mailbox), you can send it to all parts of the world Anyone who sends emails does not need to care which email service the other party uses. This is different from highly centralized social applications. Both parties of social applications must use the services of the same service provider to connect with each other.
However, the current decentralized mail service cannot meet the requirement that the future Internet service must be a service that highly protects user privacy. Therefore, according to the development trend, the mail service must be a fully encrypted email service. Only in this way can the user's privacy be satisfied. Protection needs. To realize email encryption, there are currently many encryptions on the market that use closed private protocols that are not feasible, because this cannot be supported by all application software, and it cannot become a widely used decentralized application. Even though some email encryption schemes use international standard technologies, they are very difficult to use and cannot be widely used.
The mail encryption and digital signature services implemented by MeSince technology adopt the S/MIME international standard technology that has been widely accepted and adopted. It is only based on this standard technology to innovate the automatic application for certificates, the use of automatic configuration certificates, and the automatic exchange of public certificates. The key and automatic time stamping service are directly integrated into the email client software-MeSince App, which innovatively realizes fully automatic email encryption and digital signature services that are as convenient as plaintext emails, making encrypted email services not only suitable for the future The requirements of centralization also meet the application requirements that people attach great importance to privacy protection. Therefore, encrypted email services must be one of the important applications of the Internet in the future.
Let’s look at the blockchain application again. Like the email encryption application, it also uses private key digital signature and public key encryption technology, also uses time stamp technology, and also uses a distributed database (one is to store block data, One is to store mail data). The purpose of the author's comparison and analysis is not to catch hot spots, but to illustrate a technology application trend, that is, future Internet applications. To protect privacy, digital signatures of PKI technology must be used to prove the digital identity of people and things, and certificates must be used. Encryption technology to realize the encryption protection of key data, time stamp technology must be used to prove the credible time of the event, and it must also be a distributed decentralized user data management, rather than relying on a service provider. Use the required service. For example, taxi-hailing services will no longer need the current highly centralized taxi-hailing services, but decentralized services that directly connect the car demander and the car service provider.
To realize the transformation from highly centralized to decentralized applications, it is first necessary to change the current system architecture of user identity authentication and service provision. The identity authentication service must be separated from the service provider, which can be like a block Like the chain, digital signatures are used to prove their identity, and everyone is on the chain to prove their behavior without relying on a centralized database; it can also be that the identity authentication service is provided by an independent third party in a distributed and decentralized manner. Identity authentication services, and each Internet service provider is only responsible for providing services to users. In this way, users’ Internet consumption behavior will not be accurately portrayed by big data, which can effectively protect user privacy. Of course, these are all current assumptions. I hope that they can be continuously improved and evolved in future Internet application practices and become a future decentralized Internet application solution that can effectively protect user privacy.
In short, the author believes that decentralized applications must be the future development trend of the Internet. Whoever grasps this development trend, whose application can become the next outlet, and who can win in the fierce Internet service competition, is worthy of Internet practitioners. Think deeply and act.