I central authority with escape hatches is okay, I think.
One could start their own DNS server with different records than the ICANN ones, thus ignoring their authority.
As long as that possibility exists, it’s fine.
The problem being that once that single authority becomes 'the standard' getting anyone to switch/use any alternative becomes almost impossible
There are many alternatives to (ICANN) DNS, but since none have support built into major browsers, they end up being a pain to use, which hampers adoption.
The most successful is probably the Onion network and that's far from mainstream.
I don’t think there’s a way to avoid that kind of zipf curve when it comes to “mainstream” as it’s rarely the technical merits that makes something mainstream. The network effect is very strong.
It’s usually the force of large, powerful (or early) organizations.
Realistically I’m okay with a single overwhelming popular entity as long as I, as an individual, can choose have my alternative.
Re:Bluesky Is Not Decentralized
by packetlost on Saturday October 26, 2024 @11:34AM
(#41955396)
It's not really possible to avoid bootstrapping on a centralized authority in general, and DNS seems like a mostly reasonable backstop for that. As others have said, you can make your own DNS network and people have.
ICANN is rather centralized. This is the biggest concern I have with ATProto, I would have expected it to work over P2P i.e. IPNS, or even some sort of a blockchain rather than a centralized web server.