The case for a decentralized internet | Tamas Kocsis

翻译人员: janice zhu 校对人员: jacks peng

Three years ago,

三年前，

I started building a decentralized web

我开始着手建立一个去中心化网络，

because I was worried about the future of our internet.

因为我很担心互联网的未来。

The current internet we are using is about gatekeepers.

我们现在使用的网络就像守门人。

If you want to reach something on the web,

如果你想进入某个网站，

then you need to go through multiple middlemen.

需要通过好几个中间人。

First, a domain name server,

先是一个域名服务器，

then a server hosting company,

接着是一个服务器托管商，

which usually points you to a third party,

它通常把你指引给一个第三方，

to a web hosting service.

去访问网站托管服务。

And this happens every time you want to reach a website on the web.

每次你想访问网络上的一个网址， 都会经历这样的过程。

But these gatekeepers are vulnerable to internet attacks

但是这些守门人容易遭受网络攻击，

and also makes the censorship and the surveillance easier.

也使审查和监管更轻而易举。

And the situation is getting worse.

而且这种情况正在变得越来越严重。

Everything is moving to the cloud,

一切都在向网络云端转移，

where the data is hosted by giant corporations.

由大公司来托管上面的数据。

This move creates much, much more powerful middlemen.

这一变动创造出更多、 更有权力的中间人。

Now, move to the cloud makes sense

向云端转移合情合理，

because this way it's easier and cheaper

因为对开发商和服务运营商来说，

for the developers and the service operators.

这种方式更简便、更廉价。

They don't have to worry about maintaining the physical servers.

他们无需为维护物理服务器操心。

I can't blame them, but I found this trend to be very dangerous,

我不能指责他们， 但是我发现这种趋势很危险，

because this way, these giant corporations

因为通过这种方式，这些大公司

have unlimited control over the hosting services.

对托管服务拥有无限的控制权。

And it's very easy to abuse this power.

这很容易就会导致权力的滥用。

For example, last year, a CEO of a company

例如去年，

一家为900万个网站 担当守门人的网络公司，

that acts as a gatekeeper for nine million websites

decided, after some public pressure,

其CEO迫于公众压力

决定封锁公司管理的其中一个网站，

that one of the sites it manages,

a far right page, should be blocked.

一个极右翼的网站界面。

He then sent an internal email to his coworkers.

紧接着他给同事发了一封内部邮件。

"This was an arbitrary decision.

“这是一个武断的决定。

I woke up this morning in a bad mood

今早醒来时我的心情很糟，

and decided to kick them off the Internet."

就决定把它们赶出互联网。”

Even he admits,

他甚至自己也承认，

"No one should have this power."

“没人应该拥有这种权力。”

As a response, one of the employees asked him,

一位员工回复了他并问道，

"Is this the day the Internet dies?"

“今天是互联网死亡日吗？”

I don't think we are actually killing the internet,

我不认为我们正在消灭互联网，

但是我确信

but I do think that we are in the middle

我们正身处一种 不负责任的集权化进程中，

of a kind of irresponsible centralization process

that makes our internet more fragile.

它令我们的网络更脆弱。

The decentralized, people-to-people web

而去中心化、人对人网络

solves this problem by removing the central points,

可以通过取消中心点、 取消网站托管服务来

the web-hosting services.

解决这个问题。

It empowers the users

它使用户能够

to have host sites they want to preserve.

拥有他们想保留的托管网站。

On this network, the sites get downloaded directly from other visitors.

在这个网络中，可以直接 从其他访客那里下载网站。

This means, if you have a site with 100 visitors,

这意味着，如果 你的网站有100个访客，

then it's hosted [by] 100 computers around the world.

那它就由来自世界各地的 100台计算机托管。

Basically, this is a people-powered version of the internet.

这基本上就是一个 以人为本的网络，

The security of the network is provided by public-key cryptography.

由公钥加密系统保障网络安全。

This makes sure that no one can modify the sites

这可以确保除真正的所有者外，

but only the real owner.

没人能修改网站。

Think of it like instead of getting electricity from big power plants,

这就像你不通过 大型发电站，而是在屋顶

you put solar panels on top of your house,

放几块太阳能板来发电，

and if your neighbor down the street needs some extra energy,

如果街坊邻居需要额外能源，

then they can just download some from your house.

他们就能从你的屋里下载一些。

So by using the decentralized web,

所以利用去中心化网络，

we can help to keep content accessible for other visitors.

我们可以帮助其他访客获取内容。

And by that, it means

这也就意味着

that we can also fight against things

我们也能够对抗

that we feel are unjust,

那些我们觉得不公平的事情，

like censorship.

例如审查制度。

In China, the internet is tightly controlled.

在中国，网络被严密控制。

They can't criticize the government,

人们不能批评政府，

organize a protest,

组织抗议，

and it's also forbidden to post

还被禁止在网上发布

a kind of emoticon to remember the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.

一种纪念天安门广场大屠杀 罹难者的表情符号。

With the decentralized web, it's not the government that decides

但在去中心化网络中， 不再由政府来决定

什么能被看到，什么不能被看到，

what gets seen and what doesn't.

It's the people,

而由人民来决定，

which makes the web more democratic.

这让网络更民主。

But at the same time, it's hard to use this network

同时，也很难利用这个网络

to do something that is clearly illegal

进行世界上流行的

everywhere in the world,

非法行为，

as the users probably don't want to endanger themselves

因为用户大概也不想因为 托管这类有问题的内容

hosting these kinds of problematic content.

而危及自身。

Another increasing threat

另一个日益加剧的

to internet freedom

对网络自由的威胁

is overregulation.

就是过度监管。

I have the impression

我感觉

that our delegates

我们那些

投票表决网络监管法案的代表们

who vote on the internet regulation laws

are not fully aware of their decisions.

并不完全清楚自己的决定。

For example, the European Parliament has a new law on the table,

比如，欧洲议会在讨论一项新法案，

a new copyright protection law,

一项新的版权保护法案，

that has a part called Article 13.

其中一部分被称为第13条。

If it passes, it would require every big website

如果这条通过， 将会要求所有大型网站

to implement a filter

部署过滤器，

that automatically blocks content

基于大公司制定的规则

based on rules controlled by big corporations.

自动阻止内容。

The original idea is to protect copyrighted materials,

它的初衷是保护版权资料，

but it would endanger many other things we do on the internet:

但也会危及我们在网上 做的很多其他事情：

blogging, criticizing, discussing, linking and sharing.

发博客、批评、讨论、建立链接和共享。

Google and YouTube already have similar systems

谷歌和YouTube已经有类似的系统，

and they are receiving 100,000 takedown requests every hour.

每小时可收到10万个删稿请求。

Of course, they can't process this amount of data by hand,

当然，它们无法人工处理 如此庞大的数据，

so they are using machine learning

所以它们利用机器学习

to decide if it's really a copyright violation or not.

来判别内容是否侵权。

But these filters do make mistakes.

但是这些过滤器也会出错。

They're removing everything from documentation of human rights abuses,

它们无所不删， 从侵犯人权的纪录片，

lectures about copyrights

知识产权讲座，

and search results

到关于新第13条的

that point to criticism of this new Article 13.

批评性言论的网络搜索结果。

Beside of that, they are also removing many other things.

此外，它们还会删除其他许多内容。

And sometimes, these filters aren't just removing the specific content,

有时，这些过滤器 不只删除特定内容，

but it could also lead to loss of your linked accounts:

还会导致你的关联账户信息丢失：

your email address, your documents, your photos,

你的电子邮箱地址、文件、照片

or your unfinished book,

或者尚未完成的书，

which happened with the writer Dennis Cooper.

作家丹尼斯 · 库伯 就遇到过这样的糟心事。

It's not hard to see how a system like this could be abused

不难看出这样一个系统是如何

by politicians and corporate competitors.

被政客和公司的竞争对手滥用的。

This Article 13, the extension of these automated filters to the whole internet,

第13条将自动过滤器的实施 扩大到整个互联网，

got strong opposition

此举遭到维基百科、Github、Mozilla，

from Wikipedia, Github, Mozilla, and many others,

以及包括万维网创始人

including the original founders of the internet and the World Wide Web,

温特 · 瑟夫和蒂姆 · 伯纳斯-李

Vint Cerf and Tim Berners-Lee.

在内的多名人士的强烈反对。

But despite this strong opposition,

然而，尽管遭到强烈反对，

on the last European Parliament vote,

在上一轮欧洲议会投票中，

two thirds of the representatives supported this law.

仍有三分之二的代表支持这项法案。

The final vote will be early 2019.

最终轮投票将于2019年初进行。

The result is important,

结果很重要，

but whatever happens,

但无论结果怎样，

I'm pretty sure it will be followed by many other similar proposals

我都非常确定，在全世界 范围内将会出现许多

around the world.

类似的后续提案。

These kinds of regulations would be very hard to enforce

这类监管法规很难在

through a decentralized web,

去中心化网络上实行，

as there is no hosting companies.

因为去中心化网络中没有托管公司。

The websites are served by the visitors themselves.

网站由访客自己托管。

I started to build this network three years ago.

我在三年前开始建立这个网络。

Since then, I've spent thousands, tens of thousands of hours

从那时算起，我已经在研发方面花费了

on the development.

成千上万个小时。

Why?

为什么呢？

Why would anyone spend thousands of hours on something anyone can freely copy,

为什么有人花成千上万个小时 在一个人人都能自由拷贝、

rename, or even sell?

重命名，甚至是售卖的东西上？

Well, in my case,

对我来说，

one of the reasons was to do something meaningful.

其中一个原因就是 做这件事情有意义。

During my daily regular job as a web developer,

我是一名网站开发员，

I didn't have the feeling that I'm working on something

日常工作中我并没有感觉到

that had a chance to be a bigger than me.

自己在做一些超出 个人意义范畴的事情。

Simply, I just wanted to make my short presence in this world

我只是想让自己短暂的一生

to be meaningful.

过得有意义。

Last year, the Great Firewall of China started blocking this network I created.

去年，中国的防火墙 开始屏蔽我创建的这个网络。

This move officially made me the enemy

这一动作因此正式将我和

of the government-supported internet censorship.

由政府支持的网络审查结为冤家。

Since then, it's been really a game of cat and mouse.

从此，真正的猫鼠游戏开始了。

They make new rules in the firewall

他们制定了新的防火墙规则，

and I try to react to it as fast as I can

那我就尽全力快速应对，

so the users can keep hosting content and create websites

以便让用户能保存 托管内容并创建网站，

that otherwise would be censored by the centralized Chinese internet.

否则再慢一点就会被 集权化的中国网络审查。

My other motivation to create this network was worry.

我创建这个网络的 另一个原因是出于一种担忧。

I fear that the future of our internet is out of our control.

我担心网络的未来发展会失控。

The increasing centralization and the proposed laws

日渐增多的网络集权和法律提案

are threatening our freedom of speech

正在威胁我们的自由发言权，

and, by that, our democracy.

也就是民主权。

So for me, building a decentralized web

所以对我来说， 建立一个去中心化网络

means creating a safe harbor,

意味着创造一个安全的避风港，

a space where the rules are not written by big corporations and political parties,

在那里，规则不再由 大公司和政治团体制定，

but by the people.

而是由人民。

Thank you.

谢谢。

（鼓掌）

(Applause)