federalist
Infrastructure
peer-to-peer website hosting
SHOW HN2021
433points
186comments
#61of 2,533 in 2021
Top 3%of 2021 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
17 positive, 32 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 14 critical, out of 66 comments about the project. Thread score +0.12.
Idea: 12 for, 8 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 3 againstDocs: 1 for, 1 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstExecution: 1 for, 0 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Clever combination of existing decentralization technologies
From 3 comments
Bravo dude! Absolutely phenomenal work. I'm going to star this and attempt to tinker with it in a few days. I love seeing stuff like this get built, IMO the more interesting…
betwixthewires on HN> I don't take any credit for this since I just weaved the great technologies others already made together! You should absolutely take credit for your part in this. Others may…
blooalien on HNVery cool and actualized proof-of-concept. "Decentralization" beyond a marketing term.
RobLach on HN
Real proof of concept of decentralization beyond crypto hype
From 3 comments
Very cool and actualized proof-of-concept. "Decentralization" beyond a marketing term.
RobLach on HNThis is what decentralization is about, not crypto.
nynx on HNInstead of blockchain/web3, I wish these type of projects would pop up more. They are drowned (in my circles) out by 'decentralized everything blockchain' hype... we need this…
tluyben2 on HN
Objections
Censorship resistance claims overstated; blocking and filtering still possible
From 2 comments
I would love it if someone could change my mind on this: The words unblockable and uncensorable have been misused in the documentation. Real-world example: 99% of my colleagues…
vgb2k18 on HNThese sorts of things are still blockable through DNS and IP filters cutting off access to the root nodes and such I would guess. As such, what is the use case?
champagnois on HN
No anonymity built in; whistleblowing use needs Tor or VPN
From 3 comments
Very nice work ! I wanted to do something similar a long time ago but never took the time. Congratulations ! A few points: - is this using webtorrent-the-library or…
rakoo on HNSeems a great project! I've always dreamed creating something like this! One thing I want to know is, your project support users' anonymity?
warabe on HNOut of the box, there is no anonymity built into federalist. You can use Tor or VPN to for anonymity. As this develops from a POC for developers to an end user software…
publiush on HN
Users must host files themselves, so unpopular content may vanish
From 1 comment
This doesn't solve the problem that users have to host files themselves, which makes the network unsuitable for many use cases. With torrents and IPFS, only popular content will…
Geee on HN
Handshake lookups rely on a third-party resolver service
From 2 comments
Isn't this just trusting whoever runs https://query.hdns.io ? https://github.com/publiusfederalist/federalist/blob/3670867764ef8a914cbcbd9affcb2efa24700814/include/hresolver.js#L2
throwaway94294 on HNGood catch! It's temporarily using hdns.io as many people still do not have an hsd node installed. A later version will be shipped with a light weight SPV resolver, at which…
publiush on HN
Requests
Document the anonymity threat model and recommend Tor or VPN in the README
From 1 comment
This looks like a great project, thank you. One aspect of censorship resistance is the ability for people to publish and read content anonymously (or pseudonymously). Could you…
dane-pgp on HN
Add a built-in Handshake node or SPV resolver
From 2 comments
This is a fantastic work! The best part of Federalist is reading and displaying the websites from BitTorrent using BEP-46. The Handshake part is less impressive for me…
neiman on HNGood catch! It's temporarily using hdns.io as many people still do not have an hsd node installed. A later version will be shipped with a light weight SPV resolver, at which…
publiush on HN
Support for browsing sites from a normal web browser
From 2 comments
Seems cool at first glance! I've never heard of Handshake, will be looking at that more in particular. So I see the address in the screenshot starts with federalist:// Is it…
f0e4c2f7 on HNThank you! I do think there is a way - since the beautiful WebTorrent (https://github.com/webtorrent/webtorrent) can do so in browser. I'm keen to see something like this in a…
publiush on HN
Questions
How does it compare to ZeroNet and IPFS with ENS?
From 2 comments
How is this different from ZeroNet [https://zeronet.io/]?
michaelscrypt on HNHow does this compare to IPFS+ENS (InterPlanetary File System + Ethereum Name Service)?
everfree on HN
Does it work over I2P or Tor?
From 2 comments
Would this work over I2P?
timbit42 on HNSeeds for the torrents can change and, although not recommended, in terms of bloating the Tor network, using Tor will also help. With the recent attack on exposing Tor users, it…
publiush on HN
How are abuse and illegal content handled?
From 2 comments
> censorship resistance Can someone tell me what is going to happen if let's say a terror group decides to use this for propaganda purposes, along the lines of religious…
schleck8 on HNWhat would happen if I created an illegal site? CP or selling guns?
lolspace on HN
Alternatives named
ZeroNet
From 2 comments
How is this different from ZeroNet [https://zeronet.io/]?
michaelscrypt on HNThis is a fantastic work! The best part of Federalist is reading and displaying the websites from BitTorrent using BEP-46. The Handshake part is less impressive for me…
neiman on HN
IPFS with ENS
From 2 comments
How does this compare to IPFS+ENS (InterPlanetary File System + Ethereum Name Service)?
everfree on HNThis is a fantastic work! The best part of Federalist is reading and displaying the websites from BitTorrent using BEP-46. The Handshake part is less impressive for me…
neiman on HN
Skynet (Sia)
From 2 comments
This doesn't solve the problem that users have to host files themselves, which makes the network unsuitable for many use cases. With torrents and IPFS, only popular content will…
Geee on HNThis is a fantastic work! The best part of Federalist is reading and displaying the websites from BitTorrent using BEP-46. The Handshake part is less impressive for me…
neiman on HN
Freenet
From 1 comment
This is a fantastic work! The best part of Federalist is reading and displaying the websites from BitTorrent using BEP-46. The Handshake part is less impressive for me…
neiman on HN
Beaker browser
From 1 comment
How would you compare this in a use-case sense to something like Beaker browser? Also -- and I'm unfamiliar with handshake -- but is the sort of thing that could work over ad hoc…
derbOac on HN