WebRTC for P2P [was Re: Replacing corporate search engines with anonymous/decentralized search]

[Eric Mill]

> On Sun, Jan 12, 2014 at 6:53 PM, Jesse Taylor <jessetaylor84 at riseup.net>
> wrote:
> WebRTC sockets in browsers for P2P would be an interesting project;
> this has been brought up here and there for various purposes, yet I
> can't find many resources on this either.
>
> interop is much better than when i last checked!
>   http://www.webrtc.org/interop
> and WebRTC is actually working in the browser i'm using:
>   https://apprtc.webrtc.org
>
> widespread use given a compelling use case is feasible, and a much
> lower bar than third party application installs or Java apps require.
>

I am a huuuge fan and optimist for WebRTC. It has only just barely begun to
be available in the latest stable versions of modern browsers, so we are
still in the calm before the storm of experimentation. (A bit like
WebSockets a few years ago, but the ramifications of P2P connections are, I
think, more profound than adding real-time capabilities.)

One website I use to get across the power of WebRTC is Sharefest:
https://www.sharefest.me/

It's file-sharing without a cloud. The central service just assigns UUIDs
and does the initial signaling, but the file transfer happens P2P. Extra
neat feature: the file and associated permalink stays "alive" as long as
any one person has their tab open. (It warns you if you're the last person
and you try to close the tab.)

As WebRTC gets mind-share and browser-share, I think you'll see a lot of
effort devoted to lowering the usability and accessibility barrier to
decentralized technology on the web.

-- Eric

-- 
konklone.com | @konklone <https://twitter.com/konklone>
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