COVER STORY
28 April 2016
randomly distributed across all the
users.
“The cool thing about that is those
locations where that data is stored
is constantly changing so if you turn
your computer off, people still need
to access it, so the network copies it
across to another node that it knows is
online,” says Lambert.
“So it’s making it even more secure,
where in the centralised web it’s
insecure because a lot of the time it’s
not encrypted but it’s also not secure
because the location stays the same
and people generally know where to
look.”
The retrieval process is also more
secure because the password needed
to access data is locally stored: all
you need is a PIN, a keyword and a
password. The pin and the keyword
locate your data on the network and
then the keyword delivers it backs to
your machine, where the password
decrypts it.
“The password never leaves your
machine,” adds Lambert. “You never
send your password to the network
in the same way that you would with
other services.”
I ask whether MaidSafe will protect
locally stored passwords, and Lambert
accepts there is still an issue with keystroke logging software and ‘end-point
security’; there are USB-type plug-in
devices like Trezor, Lambert adds, but
it is an issue they are alive to.
ANOTHER potential problem with the
software, which is similar to blockchain
technology (in that it is a distributed network), but crucially different
because it offers complete anonymity,
is that it could be used for nefarious
purposes, which makes it harder for
the security services to stop criminality.
While ideal for ordinary private citizens who want their digital footprint
to remain private, it is not so great if
you are GCHQ or the NSA. “I think
this will present problems for security
services,” adds Lambert. “But mass
surveillance of data doesn’t actually get
them anything. It’s been proven time
and again that being able to read my
emails and your emails doesn’t actually
catch more terrorists. These events are
so freak that nothing can predict them,
so having this information is useless.”
Lambert adds: “The other thing is
that it also presents opportunities for
government, which has its own difficulties trying to hide information.”
Another interesting debate will be
on the issue of rewards. The centralisation of Bitcoin through the growth
in size of mining firms is at times
detrimental to that network, Lambert
“It’s a crazy
thought. That’s
why I like it. Skype
itself was a pretty
crazy project for a
lot of people”
Michael Jackson, MaidSafe
adviser and former COO of Skype
argues. “It’s something we are acutely
aware of,” he adds. “There’s no point
having a decentralised network only
for it to become centralised again,
so we’ve put a mechanism into the
farming (end users are ‘farmers’ and
developers are ‘builders’) algorithm
whereby you earn a certain rate until
you get to about 20% above the average. So let’s say the average amount of
data stored on each node on the network is about 40GB; you will continue
to earn up to about 50GB and then
20% above the average rate the earn-
ing algorithm will flatten out, so you
won’t earn any more.” It sounds like a
neat solution to stop power accumulating at the top but again you can also
argue that hard-coding a rule into the
network is interference in the concept
of the free market.
MAIDSAFE IS a company that has
generated an awful lot of interest
among its user community; to raise
the amount of money it did through
a grassroots crowd-sale is quite staggering. But without the product being
rolled out, it’s very hard to quantify
what its impact on the market will be.
We have all heard about attempts to
disrupt existing business models, but
to disrupt the entire internet seems like
an impossible dream. When I catch up
with Michael Jackson, who has moved
on from Skype (he is now a partner of
Luxembourg-based venture capitalist
Mangrove Capital Partners), I’m keen
to know whether MaidSafe is a horse
worth backing.
“It’s a crazy thought,” he says.
“That’s why I like it. But Skype itself
was a pretty crazy project for a lot of
people. I was involved with that right
from the beginning. We had all of these
people saying, ‘You can’t do it’, ‘You
won’t do it’, ‘Nobody will let you do it’.
But in the end the proof was there; we
FUTURESCOT
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did manage to pull it off. And of course
Skype had very few resources but it
went on to make a pretty big impact.”
On the practical side, Jackson, who
stresses he is a friendly adviser (he has
visited the company in Troon, describing their office as a bit like a “Nissen
hut”), says the promise and philosophy
of MaidSafe is great, but the onus is
now on them to deliver.
“For all the ideas, the proof is in the
customers, or users, if you want to call
them that.”
“It’s a massive project; the idea of
turning the privacy concept of the
internet on its head is really quite
ambitious. And it’ll take a very long
time to be meaningful. So I think v