Author: Yaacov Akiba Slama 2019-11-09 20:36:30
Published on: 2019-11-09T20:36:30+00:00
The discussion revolves around the proposal of pre-payment to remove the need for trusted parties in the lightning network. The idea is to have a mechanism to fight against spam by paying to send messages, which may lead to a truly distributed system that cannot be censured. However, there are concerns about the concentration of power in the hands of big and strong actors, as seen in email servers. Reputation-based systems tend to concentrate power and can lead to propaganda. Rate-limiting is seen as an economic decision with political implications, while pre-payment is voluntary and political. In the case of Lightning, big nodes may censor as they please since they have access to a lot of metadata. Overall, the discussion highlights the need for a balance between decentralization and censorship-resistance, while also considering the potential impact on power dynamics.
Updated on: 2023-06-02T21:10:06.416273+00:00