-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Something I've been thinking about: On a theoretical basis, how would Tor's architecture be classified?
Two extremes of the scale I'm talking about would be: * Fully centralized, like plain ol' client/server; * Fully decentralized, which Gnutella comes close to. Now, Tor's data-carrying architecture is primarily decentralized - anyone can run a node, and these nodes are chosen (more or less) at random. However, the idea of directory authorities clouds this a bit* - and the fact that there's a directory authority consensus system, clouds it even further. If there was a single directory authority, I'd consider the system to be partially decentralized (or mixed): While the data infrastructure is fully decentralized, all clients look to a central authority for a listing, producing a single point of failure (or - for the paranoid - manipulation). With multiple directory authorities which must produce a consensus, though, I don't know how this would go. It's even further from centralization than the example above, but not fully decentralized. Does anybody get what I'm saying? Sorry if it's just technobabble. *: Please don't take this as trying to spread FUD - which some people have done in the past when mentioning directory authorities. It's not my intention. - -- F. Fox AAS, CompTIA A+/Network+/Security+ Owner of Tor node "kitsune" http://fenrisfox.livejournal.com -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iQIVAwUBSFcUr+j8TXmm2ggwAQh24A//Xf0hJM/qbdYNY0kB4z946V8BBQQlKASj 3HuAVTZNvHoHPqrHKiyLgi314hlWNIcFHGorH5iz9pNt4LsPl60yKyS8XUVfqU+x V10oKiCB5wOPfVHR+DVqpW47L6HE7JSl3Fu/aG6D03/rSy6lQCSv9mBO46i6k5LI vVlwZ2K/lh/evthjxCWCRcimu5F8tG86GWiXx2BrSO8W7tyVtJXzXrDjOzRuwRGp Q1kORapAFusXeZ6LNuZ/b9UARW2f71a2KFZKjdYlaEXKPkDIQs0a4fGQW31f3JpW tyq5xroyos4my11U9D7zHxxG/gekWvgBUOPjvMb8UbQzG+TAJzGpnbDk+ZLwYI38 y7zSz1bA+xZ8nbc/4dsrM2HmtN9V/1++PCfNiDvxDyGgrmgY1qsMyulxw+HDte3K cJPSUQQVZV6RX69eJ/uQ2yvi3fjN71UMiRX6AYxxhmoU+Epe9E7vCgeby/2U1gpf VD9pjNF15Hr4c7kuTEmsAx/lz4FO62NKsZJC2UXRpT7vLb6dg/XeBG8HLbPzTniI ULxmS9j9g5p2Wqg0ipGqhBac8PnawM6thIGbCtMAkFRkWxM8Ms7kfGnTUsqx262J V9ocnBIiMDI4H1PuGSCxpHzsFT0UDjlhngQn+8N9LZKStFi07Qd8JPiA62N4sSPI B6X7vYoc3wQ= =Ikx1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
