Tag Archives: Symform

Update: NSA surveillance, Bitcoin, cloud storage

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Just last month, Edward Snowden was honored with our first annual Wild Duck Privacy Award (we hope that he considers it an honor). The vigorous debate ignited by his revelations extend to the US Congress, which just voted on a defense spending bill Edward Snowdento  defund a massive NSA domestic spying program at the center of the controversy.

Although the bill was narrowly defeated, it is clear that Snowden has played a critical role in deliberative policy legislation at the highest level of a representative government. Even if this is the only fact in his defense, why then – we wonder, is Snowden a fugitive who must fear for his life and his freedom?

Snowden saw an injustice and acted to right a wrong. His error was to rely solely on his own judgment and take matters into his own hands, without deliberative process or oversight. But since it is the lack of these very same protective mechanisms for which he engaged in conscientious objection, the ethical dilemma presented a Catch 22.

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Stacks of BitcoinRegular readers know that we love Bitcoin. We covered the stateless currency in 2011 and 2013. Just as the internet decentralizes publishing and influence peddling, some day soon, Bitcoin will decentralize world monetary systems by obliterating the role of govern-ments and banks in the control of money flow and savings. Why? Because math is more trustworthy than financial institutions and geopolitics. You needn’t be an anarchist to appreciate the benefits of a currency that is immune from political influence, inflation, and the potential for manipulation.

Now, comes word of a Texas man charged with running a $60 million Bitcoin Ponzi scheme. The story is notable simply because it is the first skullduggery aimed at the virtual currency — other than internet hacking or other attacks on the still fragile infrastructure. Should we worry. Absolutely not. This story has little to do with Bitcoin and falls squarely under the category of Caveat Emptor. Widows and orphans beware!

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bitcasa-sIn February, we wrote about Bitcasa, the upstart cloud storage service with an edge over diver-sified competitors and other entrenched players: Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive, SugarSync, Apple iCloud, etc. WildDucks learned how to get truly unlimited cloud storage for just $49. Now they are launching unlimited cloud storage in Europe starting at €60 per year.

Bitcasa still captures our attention and sets our pulse racing. While we are disappointed that it lacks the RDDC architecture that will eventually rule the roost, their Infinite Drive technology is a barn burner. More than ever, it is clear that Bitcasa is likely to displace or be acquired by their better known brethren.

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Drew Houston-01sWe also wrote about Dropbox, but that posting wasn’t really a review. It was our plea to CEO, Drew Houston (shown at left), to adopt a fully distributed and reverse cloud architecture. That effort failed, but it is still our favorite of the entrenched players. More suited to pin stripe corporate adoption, but in our opinion, not quite a Bitcasa.

In a previous article, we introduced lesser known cloud startups with clever and unique architect-ture that yield subtle benefits: SpaceMonkey, Symform and Digital Lifeboat. That last one was in need of a life preserver. It flopped. But the IP that they created in the area of distributed p2p storage management will live on. We will all benefit.

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Stream Music Flowchart-s2Finally, in May we ran down the benefits of cloud music players and their likely future of streaming your own personal library of movies. Now, Jeff Somogyi at Dealnews has created a nifty flowchart to help you decide among many vendors in a crowded market.

Of course, a discussion of Bitcasa, Dropbox, SpaceMonkey and RDDC wasn’t our first discussion of cloud storage. Shortly after AWildDuck launched back in 2011, we applauded PogoPlug and their ilk (Tonidoplug, Dreamplug, Shiva, and other genres consumer grade network attached storage with internet access. They let you create personal cloud services and even stream media from a drive or RAID storage device attached to your home router.

 

Bitcasa: Unlimited storage, version history & sync

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bitcasa-sBitcasa has just emerged from “skunkworks” mode. The cloud storage startup made waves in 2011 as finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt and runner up at Startup Battlefield. After burning through an initial $2 million, they landed an additional $7 million in June 2012. While there were few updates during 2012, some analysts noted that they filed for 20 patents—a few are really slick! Now, during Feb 2013, they have unveiled a cloud service with an edge over all others (SkyDrive, iDrive, Dropbox, Sugarsync, etc). In my opinion, only Symform and SpaceMonkey come close to the model that I described 3 years ago (search for ‘Ellery’ and ‘RDDC’).

Bitcasa gives every user folder sync, a timeline for version recovery, and cloud storage without limits. And, I really mean limitless! By the end of next month, I may be using petabytes, as in millions of gigabytes! The space available to me shows exabytes are still available.  That’s more than all the grains of sand on the world’s beaches and all the stars in the heavens. How much does this cost? Just $99 a year, or $49 if you sign up early this month. (Promo Code: BETATHANKS). WildDucks can help this Blog by using our referral link. It tacks a free month onto your editor’s subscription.

I can’t guarantee that Bitcasa will be around next year. After all, most startups fail. But in this case, I crafted a substantially identical network architecture years ago. I understand the business model. Even with a high fraction of data hogs, the venture can profitably service users for the long haul. If an understanding of the secret sauce isn’t sufficient to assuage hesitation, this interview with CEO Tony Gauda will floor you. He combines the technical and marketing genius of Steve Jobs with the showmanship of Siegfried and Roy, and the smile of Barak Obama

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ImZWVxAQ_Q

Damon Michaels, a WildDuck contributor wrote:

Seems like a virtual drive. I need automatic backup of
my important data. I use Carbonite for this right now.

The folder-sync defaults to all drives in their entirety—even external drives and network attached storage! If you accept the default, it always backs up everything. But more importantly, Bitcasa reverses the model. As connectivity becomes more ubiquitous and speedy, they want you to use the cloud as your primary active storage. Eventually, it will even host your live EXE files (your apps) and your “bootable” OS. The synchronized copy on your PC will be the backup – as well as the one that is used when you cannot connect.

I proposed the fundamental principles used in Bitcasa architecture in this Blog, and 3 years ago in other articles. I called it a “Reverse Distributed Data Cloud” (RDDC). My spec adds distributed, P2P storage to the model. This reduces cost, creates redundancy, and makes a far more robust system. Not only does it get rid of the data center completely. With my model, it is unnecessary for the service provider to perform any backups. In effect, the live cloud is a RAID 10,000 constellation.

One architectural trade-off is the desire for massive de-duplication –vs– the compelling need for end-to-end encryption, in which only the individual users have the keys. These two features are incompatible. DropBox and Bitcasa claim that files are encrypted at the sender and that private keys are never given to the service. While technically true, that claim covers up a nasty little detail. They use a method called Convergent Encryption in which encryption keys are derived from a character string within the encrypted file. Although the service cannot decrypt a unique file (for example, your income taxes), they could compare a hash of your file to one provided by a government or alleged rights owner, thus proving that you have stored a copy of contested media. They could block access to movies and music that you have stored or even block your original upload. The good news is that with a full RDDC implementation, the need for de-duplication is greatly reduced or even eliminated. Therefore, a properly implemented RDDC can truly empower its uses with strong, end-to-end encryption.

I’ll report more about Bitcasa after a few months of use. For now, I feel ratified to see my dream taking shape at several American ventures. If you find this field as fascinating as me, check out Symform, SpaceMonkey and Digital Lifeboat. That last venture is floundering, and may be bankrupt by the time you read this. But they have some very compelling technology for p2p, distributed storage.