Decentralized Media: Devon Read on Alexandria
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Decentralized Media: Devon Read on Alexandria

THELOGICALINDIAN - Ever feel bogged bottomward by ads back aggravating to admission media Ever get agitated that agreeable has been censored by governments or businesses Ever ambition peoplehad added ability in commendations to how agreeable is monetized These problems may be apparent with this new decentralized media project

Also read: Jaxx: The new Fleet of Bitcoin & Ethereum Wallets

Decentralized Media Distribution

The decentralized Library of Alexandria (DLOA) is already anatomic and accessible for download on the company’s webpage blocktech.com. The DLOA intends to use blockchain technology to accumulate admission and administration of online content, including video, books, blogs, media, and art.

Since DLOA is absolutely decentralized, peer-to-peer, and accessible source, institutions can no best ascendancy what media or agreeable is accessible on the internet. The end user will be absolutely empowered to ascendancy how he chooses to monetize agreeable after abhorrence of censorship or accepting to accord with third affair politics.

Luckily, Bitcoin.com had the befalling to appointment with DLOA’s architect and activity manager, Devon Read. We asked Mr. Read to allocution about this activity in detail and analyze all of its ablaze blueprint and acquiesce anybody to butt its utility.

Bitcoin.com (BC): Devon, can you acquaint us a little about yourself and your background? 

Devon Read (DR): A abundant annual of my accomplishments is on my LinkedIn page.

Decentralized MediaHere is the quick version: I had a abnormally assorted able background. I formed in column assembly in the ball industry, served as a Marine infantryman in the aggression of Iraq in 2003, worked in artefact architecture and administration as a business owner. But my aboriginal summer job at San Diego’s aboriginal dial-up ISP gave me unique insight into the austere problems our apple is facing, and I accept the blockchain and added decentralized technologies are a able key to creating the solutions our apple is so actively seeking.

I’ve consistently been one of those work-to-make-the-world-a-better-place people, so I’m complex in open-source, decentralized technologies because I accept it is area I can accomplish the best impact.

BC: How continued accept you been into Bitcoin and cryptocurrency?

DR: I started acquirements about it in 2013 and assuredly apprehend Satoshi’s white paper for myself in January 2014. I bethink the break because back I apprehend it, my apperception exploded with the absurd possibilities and confusing ability the blockchain has to break abounding of today’s problems, and I’ve absent a lot of beddy-bye anytime since.

BC: You are the architect of the Library of Alexandria project. What is the purpose of the project?

DR: If I had to abscess it bottomward to two words I would say that Alexandria’s purpose is to “save content.” What Bitcoin did for money, Alexandria aims to do for agenda agreeable publishing and distribution, by removing axial credibility of abortion and financially incentivizing users about the world.

It’s no abstruse that there are austere issues adverse the ball industry, abnormally in commendations to distribution. The basement that is appropriate to run accepted agreeable commitment networks is so expensive, industry experts accept that admitting earning added than bristles billion dollars in acquirement in 2024, YouTube’s accumulator and bandwidth costs prevented it from axis a profit.

And as South Park has been assuming us this season, announcement is boring killing the internet—ads accept become so advancing they consistently blast web browsers, which account bodies to about-face to ad-block software, which is now causing agreeable creators to attempt because ads are basically the alone way agreeable has been monetized on the internet to any amount of success.

In addition, agnate to the way that already addition begins to accept bitcoin, they tend to additionally apprentice how profoundly outdated the accepted cyberbanking systems are, the artlessness and ascendancy Alexandria offers to agreeable creators highlights the equally antiquated attributes of arrangement beheading and royalties administration in the ball industry.

BC: It appears that “Library of Alexandria” is a advertence to the actual library. Why did you accept the name and reference?

DR: The Ancient Library of Alexandria aggressive the name of our activity because it illustrates the botheration of absorption so well. Unknown volumes of abundantly important ability was lost because it was kept in a axial location—attack a distinct abode and aggregate is lost. The primary architecture/infrastructure/foundation, whatever you appetite to alarm it, of our accepted internet is distributed. In its accepted hub-and-spoke shape, the “hubs”—ISPs, DNS servers, CDNs and added nodes that anatomy the “backbone” of the internet are acutely accessible to attack. This is how claimed abstracts is stolen, how governments are able to abridge advice and why our admired shows on Netflix tend to absorber always back they’re aboriginal appear and anybody is aggravating to watch them at the aforementioned time.

The key affection of the Decentralized Library of Alexandria is that it is absolutely decentralized, area abounding agnate projects await on one or added axial credibility of abortion for their primary functionality. But calling decentralization a affection is a bit of an understatement, because it is so abundant added important than that—fully decentralized technology is best absolutely a generational bound forward.

It’s fun to anticipate about at this accurate moment of the generational bound to absolutely decentralized technology, because it is currently old abundant that industry experts accede that it will be as confusing as the internet itself, and yet new abundant that best of the means it will agitate our accustomed lives accept not yet been created. Two years ago back we started alive on Alexandria, best of the blockchain technology association had such adit eyes about the means that it was activity to agitate FinTech and the cyberbanking industry that the angle of decentralized agreeable administration was array of absolute off as ridiculous.

However, because of my able history, it was absolutely accessible to me. You know, my partner’s grandfathering grew up in a abode after accouterments or electricity and went to academy in a one allowance schoolhouse, and afore he died he had become a huge fan of the internet and corresponded with her via email all the time. It’s agitative to anticipate about what activity will be like aback I’m 80 and attending aback with the internet as my starting point. I achievement that we will be able to say that we fabricated a addition to attention the ‘free and accessible internet.’ It’s why Alexandria’s tag band is “long alive art, history & freedom.”

An accomplished affinity is the way the HTTP blueprint decidedly disrupted the bi-weekly and annual publishing businesses because it fabricated it accessible for anyone to broadcast and allotment agreeable freely. Before HTTP, putting advice in advanced of a abundant cardinal of bodies appropriate massive basement advance up front, so the incumbents were not able for new competitors who had about aught basement cost.

The DLOA agreement disrupts the agreeable administration business by acceptance anyone to administer and monetize their agreeable after relying on any third parties at all. Right now, proprietary media marketplaces like iTunes, Spotify & Netflix are the alone options for affairs agreeable online, and they attempt with one addition for users based on what appraisement options they action and what absolute agreeable is accessible in their catalogs, in the aforementioned way that afore HTTP, newspapers and magazines competed for barter by relying on exclusives and breaking stories.

The DLOA agreement itself is blocked from the end user in the aforementioned way that HTTP is, and like HTTP did for advice publishing, DLOA badly reduces the barrier to access into agreeable administration and monetization, authoritative it accessible to aloof about anyone. But the end of agreeable exclusivity doesn’t beggarly the end of agreeable marketplaces like iTunes, Spotify and Netflix. We anticipate apps like these will eventually attempt analogously to the way Chrome, Safari & Firefox do, based on their specific appearance and functionality, not what agreeable they accept exclusivity over.

BC: Can you allocution a little about the platform’s features?

DR: To acknowledgment this question, it’s important to analyze amid the DLOA protocol, the arrangement architectonics and blueprint that administer how those networks collaborate with one another, and the Alexandria browser applicant itself (the app that is acclimated to search, browse, and adore the agenda agreeable appear to Alexandria).

Some appearance are abased on the browser applicant itself. For example, abutment for Decentralized Mediaspecific media types or how subtitles are handled, and appealing abundant all of the blow of the appearance begin in accepted web browsers and media players. But the DLOA agreement provides the ‘generational bound forward’ appearance I was talking about, like the adeptness to alone and permissionlessly broadcast and monetize a allotment of agreeable after relying on any proprietary marketplaces, the adeptness to allotment links that cannot anytime be censored or removed, and such an absurd access in the ability of book accumulator and administration over HTTP that a blueprint comparing them shows an about altogether changed relationship.

To explain that accession way, in accession to creating the DLOA protocol, we are additionally developing an Alexandria browser client, which we intend to accept all of the accustomed appearance you would apprehend from media players like Netflix, Spotify or Youtube. Additionally accumulate in apperception that all of the accepted agreeable administration platforms, including Netflix, Spotify, Youtube, etc, will be able to accept the DLOA agreement as the accumulator and administration balustrade for their agreeable while application the aforementioned accustomed interface of their front-end. And whichever companies takes that footfall aboriginal will end up with a huge advantage over their competitors due to the amount accumulation and added ability over earlier protocols.

The DLOA protocol offers agreeable creators absurd levels of ascendancy over how their audiences can collaborate with their art. Want to advertise your song for some abstruse amount like $0.805 because you alive abreast the 805 freeway, accord it abroad chargeless because it’s your birthday, acquiesce addition artisan to sample a area of your assignment in their own song for a collapsed amount or a percent you determine? Soon it will be accessible to do all of that with DLOA. Audiences can additionally adore agnate levels of customization and ascendancy like user-determined alternate CC or debit agenda subscriptions, non-coercive “freemium” options like accidental adamantine drive amplitude to the arrangement in barter for agreeable or sitting through ads by best instead of by force.

BC: How absolutely does Pin to Play work? I was abashed by what happens back you “pin” media to get it for free.

DR: Pin to comedy is a non-monetary barter of value. By “pinning” a allotment of content, you are autumn a bounded archetype of the book on your claimed adamantine drive and administration it to the network. This increases the aegis and acceleration of the administration of this file. So your claimed adamantine drive amplitude and bandwidth, that is the amount you are offering, in barter for a allotment of agreeable back you “pin to play.” For those that are accustomed with BitTorrent, pinning is akin to seeding. And again, the administrator has absolute ascendancy over this function, chargeless how abounding pinners will accept a abatement to pin, and how abundant of a abatement they’ll receive. It does not necessarily accept to be free, though.

BC: Will the appliance eventually be accordant with earlier software and computers?

DR: Absolutely. The alone attached agency is development time so appropriate now, so we are absorption our efforts on the widest admirers we can ability and developing for the average of the alarm curve. We will aggrandize to accept as abundant affinity as accessible as we can advance it. And aloof to say, we charge added developers so if you are account this and are a developer who shares our ethics and eyes I achievement you’ll get in touch!

BC: I see some similarities amid your appliance and LBRY. Can you busy on the differences? Do you accede their belvedere to be “competition”?

DR: When we started Alexandria anybody still anticipation decentralized agreeable administration was a crazy idea, but there are now a few added projects alive on agreeable distribution, which is great. I apperceive a brace of them, like LBRY, are absorption on a distinct allotment of the decentralized agreeable administration puzzle, and they accept some absolutely absorbing account for that allotment of the puzzle, but I don’t apperceive the capacity of their absolute plan.

What I can say is that to fundamentally clean the architectonics of agreeable administration and monetization is a huge and able problem. We’ve been alive on Alexandria continued abundant now that we accept had to accost and acquisition solutions for the abounding centralized processes and mechanisms that charge to be replaced in the accepted paradigm, in adjustment to action the aforementioned appearance and functionality that users are currently acclimated to in absolutely decentralized ways. We accept congenital an ecosystem that works interdependently to advance best arrangement ability and alternate account for all parties involved. A abundant accord of this behind-the-scenes cipher has been built, but is not yet accessible to the end user.

We additionally accept a awful abundant development plan to put the blow of the pieces in abode to absolutely carbon the incumbents functionality. Also, I am a big apostle of co-opetition, abnormally in the branch of accessible antecedent software development. In a time back there is so abundant that is amiss in the apple and so abounding of us that affliction acutely about authoritative it better, I anticipate we charge to not aloof attempt to accomplish anniversary added better, but acquisition as abounding opportunities to abet as we can in adjustment to aftermath the best accessible solutions for the world.

We are absolutely accessible to accord with added agnate projects that accept acceptable ideas.

BC: Can you go into detail on Florincoin?

DR: In a nutshell, we chose Florincoin because it was the aboriginal blockchain to allowDecentralized Media messages to be anchored in a transaction. This different affection was all-important for us to body a decentralized, blockchain-protected basis for our library of content.

It’s additionally important for me to say that we are not Florincoin whales active some affectionate of abiding pump and dump scheme. It’s an barefaced suspicion accustomed some of the scams the industry has apparent and so I aloof appetite to be bright about that.

Between the Alexandria activity itself and the amount associates of our team, we own about 2-3% of the currently accessible accumulation of Florincoins. We accept that decentralized agreeable distribution—because it is unalterable, uncensorable and can be monetized fairly—will admission access to art and knowledge, which are important pieces of authoritative the wold a bigger place. So, our charge is to the activity and not any specific cryptocurrency.

We accept consistently been accessible about the achievability of alteration admonition and application a altered blockchain for the basis if that becomes the appropriate affair to do for the candor and backbone of the activity bottomward the road. That said, we durably accept it is the appropriate choice, at atomic for now, but a abundant best altercation of our use of Florincoin can be begin here: https://github.com/dloa/alexandria-docs/blob/master/how-to-secure-index.md.

BC: Using Library of Alexandria seems a bit complicated for the end user. Are you all planning on streamlining and simplifying the application?

DR: Yes, of course, affluence of use is a huge antecedence for us and I anticipate should be for anyone architecture next-gen decentralized technology. But again, its important for me to analyze amid the DLOA protocol and the Alexandria browser. The DLOA protocol can be acclimatized by absolute agreeable administration apps, and their users would collaborate with it application the aforementioned front-end interface they are already acclimated to. This agency that end users could be application the agreement and not apprehend it above apprehensive why the agreeable they watch aback has added in affection and speed.

The Alexandria browser is the front-end appliance that we are architecture to browse the agreeable in the library, and admirable artlessness and affluence of use are actually amount priorities for us.

BC: Is there annihilation that we did not allocution about that you would like to add?

DR: We are currently architecture partnerships with several added projects, and I’m blessed to be able to acknowledge that the aboriginal of these is with Ascribe. Their aggregation is brilliant. They acutely accept the accepted problems with absorb administration and DRM and their solutions are inspired, so we’re absolutely aflame to be alive with them to accord their users admission to Alexandria’s publishing and administration balustrade while letting Alexandria’s users booty advantage of their agreeable allegation technology.

I should additionally acknowledgment that we are adopting money. We’ve been alive on analytic the circuitous problem of decentralized agreeable administration and monetization for a continued time. We accept alive software, an acutely able-bodied plan, and so far accept we accept been able to abode every abeyant affair we accept encountered. If you are an broker that is absorbed in actuality complex in what we anticipate will become Bitcoins aboriginal analgesic app, I achievement you’ll get in touch!

What a admirable and affected project. Bitcoin.com is extremely beholden Mr. Read chose to allege with us and busy on this project. DLOA is not alone advantageous for bodies who adore agenda content, it is acutely important for agreeable creators who appetite to share their creations and accept adaptability in how they accept to monetize them. It should be agitative to see how this accessible antecedent apparatus continues to advance and what type of agreeable gets published. The app solves so abounding problems that both agreeable creators and lovers may eventually alarm it one of the Blockchain’s analgesic apps.

What do you anticipate about this project? Let us apperceive in the comments below!