Understanding The Importance Of P2P Network Management In Decentralized Data Storage

We live in the information age. The world is drowning in data and it’s only getting harder to keep up with. Large central databases such as Google, Facebook, and Microsoft are for-profit companies — they make money by selling user data to advertisers. But this means you never own any of your own data, and can often find yourself unable to access your files or recover them when the company goes under (think: Google Drive).

The solution? Decentralized storage systems such as Filecoin and Sia that allow individuals to sell unused hard drive space without any profit motive agenda.

So how does it work?

Files are broken up into tiny pieces, called “bricks”, and sold for 30 cents apiece. Data consumers can then use to store their own files or pay to rent out empty storage space. The market value of each brick will increase during the course of the year as more people use it, so the data consumer can decide whether to buy more storage or upload more data at higher prices without selling storage space. And, unlike other coin sale models, no one has control over who gets paid what — you trade your unused hard drive space for what you’d get if you purchased a new computer hard drive from a company with a profit motive agenda.

You can also purchase data storage instead of selling your own. For instance, if you’re the sole user on a large Sia network, you can save money by renting out excess storage space to other nodes on the network. This is like having your own personal cloud but without having to pay for an entire server system. And you don’t have to worry about the company going under, because each user has their own private keys and all data is encrypted.

Data consumers receive 90% of the value they spend on Sia network storage (or 70% if they use Siacoins). The cost of hardware and electricity for servers is baked into the network’s operating costs, so the price for data storage is, therefore, extremely low. The higher price we pay for publicly traded data storage puts our money back into our pockets and rewards the Sia team with a modest amount of profit — no more than what we could buy back with utilities and hardware

Filesharers also receive 90% of the value they spend on Sia network storage (or 70% if they use Siacoins). The cost of hardware and electricity for servers is baked into the network’s operational expenses. As such, filesharers do not pay anything to upload their own files to Filecoin.

In total, Sia will be able to store more data on a smaller network. The more storage users purchase, the cheaper it is for everyone. In this way Sia’s business model is similar to that of Amazon, where filesharing drives the network’s adoption by making it affordable and easy for users to put their own data online.

P2P Data Storage by Decentralized Companies

Decentralized data means data that is stored via P2P networks. Technology has come a long way since the emergence of the Internet, but the backbone of all the technology that was created to work with it remained centralized. The Internet is full of servers that host this data. While being able to host any amount of information makes life easier, it also poses a threat to personal information. This poses an issue in the way personal information is viewed and used by corporations.

A decentralized data network can be adopted by any business or individual in order to help them store their private information without placing trust in third-party corporations, because there are no third parties in this kind of network. This means that data is used directly between participants, whether they are end users or service providers. This is the only type of network that can guarantee censorship resistance.

Conclusion

Decentralization is a necessary condition for personal information to be fully private, but it is not enough because decentralization alone does not guarantee privacy. With centralized data storage comes the risk of third-party monitoring, tracking, retention, or distribution of personal information. With decentralized systems being open source, there are no restrictions in terms of how the data are used.

Users control when their information becomes public due to the ability to block publishing when browsing websites in specific browsers.