Brave has announced the addition of InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) integration into its web browser, heralding a significant move toward decentralizing the internet. P2P This marks Brave’s commitment in collaboration with Protocol Labs to evolve its privacy-centric browser by embedding IPFS to not only speed up and secure the internet but also to ensure its open-access quality through decentralization.
The Movement Toward a Decentralized Internet
A Brave Update Months in the Making
Unveiled by Protocol Labs as far back as September 2020, the IPFS protocol aims to boost content availability, cut server expenses, and reinforce the internet's resilience against censorship and interruptions. version 1.19 This update resonates globally among internet users who are increasingly focused on privacy and censorship amid incidents like the modification of WhatsApp’s privacy terms and widespread social media account bans.
With IPFS, users now have an alternative to the widely adopted HTTP by leveraging a P2P hypermedia protocol, allowing multiple-source downloads to conserve bandwidth and vastly enhance data distribution while avoiding redundancy.
One inherent risk with the centralized internet is the data loss that arises as countless websites vanish daily, erasing information. Although initiatives like the Wayback Machine exist to archive these sites, they're insufficient alone.
IPFS: A New Way to Distribute content
With IPFS, decentralization aims to safeguard the world's web data beyond its fleeting lifespan and ensure unrestricted access by thwarting censorship and regulatory measures.
Brian Bondy, Brave's CTO and Co-Founder, talks about IPFS integration:
“Being at the forefront, we’re elated to equip our Brave desktop browser with native IPFS integration. This empowers our massive creator community, spanning over a million verified contributors, to disseminate content globally over a novel, secure protocol. With IPFS, users transcend the limitations of centralized servers forcing a singular failure point in content fetching. By adopting IPFS’s groundbreaking content addressing via CIDs, data retrieval pivots from server location to content basis. Integrating the IPFS open-source network marks a pivotal stride toward a more transparent, decentralized, and resilient web.”
A Comprehensive Guide for Novices on the Interplanetary File System
The concept of a decentralized web isn’t groundbreaking, as it melds with the so-called Web 3.0, where platforms like TOR drive it using their proprietary protocols like onion routing.
These endeavors remain championed by those advocating for a neutral, unrestricted internet and freedom of expression.
The recent update empowers over 24 million Brave users to effortlessly access ipfs:// URLs, either by setting up a node in a click or utilizing a gateway.
“By enhancing Brave with the essentials of the dWeb, IPFS forms a fortified front against data censorship stemming from corporate or state entities. Internet users worldwide still face access challenges with crucial content like portions of Wikipedia in Thailand, over 100,000 shelved sites in Turkey, and obstructed COVID-19 data in China, but can now bypass these barriers through IPFS on Brave.”
Although mainstream adoption of a decentralized internet is on the horizon, Brave provides users a window into this emerging era where privacy retains its utmost importance.
Nicholas Say hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, his life journey has taken him across continents from Uruguay to the Far East. His writings are prevalent, often delving into plausible technological evolution and forward-looking human innovation.
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