This is our vision a couple of localized and connected human species. it's conjointly a thought on a way to get there. Decentralization makes humans additional resilient and eventually free. we provide an alternate to this path wherever all humans are going to be connected to a matrix-like entity which will management it all.
The Pierre de Fermat Project
We envision a world wherever folks will freely move electronically while not uncalled-for third party interferences. each for social and industrial interactions. No spying, no censorship, no taking a cut on personal transactions between people, no mining of personal data, no uncalled-for middlemen. A world wherever folks ar additional vital than entities like firms and states, a world wherever folks have the alternatives and also the suggests that to move directly between one another.
We have been living within Associate in Nursing in progress trend towards centralization of power and management. In modern world one or two of entities (giant firms or conglomerates and a few states) dictates what a large share of the planet population will or cannot do. during this current path it's not troublesome to predict that sometime within the future some entity can management it all and there's once things will go extremely unhealthy. Pierre de Fermat may be a community of individuals standing up against this trend, attending to produce a future wherever humans are going to be connected between them however in an exceedingly localized manner.
We need direct device to device communication, with knowledge being keep at user devices and apps engineered to move with one another directly, over the net however while not surfing the net or requiring any service from any company or establishment. we'd like Person-to-Person Apps which will run freelance of any entity. this can be the Pierre de Fermat Project vision.
Project standing
The project is twenty seven months recent. the primary year some of individuals joined forces to forge the vision and style the system design. The second year over 100 individuals collaborated to prove the thought was viable. we have a tendency to square measure currently at the start of the third year, already manufacturing production quality code. Over the course of ensuing twelve months we have a tendency to expect to unleash all the web of individuals parts (there square measure several, and it's a technically difficult project). From there we'll go to bootstrapping the P2P economy, making tools and client-side infrastructure to simply develop device to device P2P Apps.
The ideas of Bitcoin, Ethereum and therefore the web of individuals share lots of comparable properties. however if you are taking a more in-depth look, you may notice some major variations. Here we tend to explore those variations and find out how any redistributed app will cash in of the individual services these networks give.
What is Bitcoin?
In the starting, Bitcoin solely had a white book, that outlined a protocol to make a p2p electronic money system. If you scan that white book, you may notice the subsequent sections:
Introduction, Transactions, Timestamp Server, Proof-of-Work, Network, Incentive, Reclaiming space, Simplified Payment Verification, Combining and cacophonous price, Privacy, Calculations, Conclusion.
In short, Bitcoin’s thought works like this: we've got a server that processes transactions that run on prime of a p2p network. These transactions embrace the accounts from and to that the coins square measure sent. They additionally embrace a really basic script language that is understood by the server. as a result of this script some individuals known as bitcoin programmable cash.
Then there's a accord mechanism known as Proof-of-Work (PoW) that allows the network to agree on the standing of the general public ledger, storing all group action data. This ledger is named a blockchain. there's additionally associate degree incentive to run these servers that is split in 2 parts: 1) supply of latest coins and 2) transactions fees paid by purchasers.
This system has the subsequent properties:
Decentralized: just like the web, the Bitcoin network isn't owned by anyone specifically. any person will own nodes and participate, however not the complete network itself.
Open Standard: it's attainable for anyone to implement the network protocol. This protocol was outlined by its anonymous founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, and was later improved by the community.
Open System: totally different wallets will interoperate between one another with ease, since they're all chatting with an equivalent network with the bitcoin protocol. This explains why there square measure many various wallets on the market and that they all will transfer bitcoins between one another.
Permissionless: Anyone will run a Bitcoin network node. Anyone will use the network. Anyone will write bitcoin billfold package. All that's attainable while not permission of any third party.
Dumb: it's a dumb network that pushes innovation to the sting, giving end-users management over the pace and direction of innovation.
Shared Asset: The ensuing network may be a shared commons quality anyone will use. The group action prices and time is sort of aught.
Incentivized: there's associate degree economic incentive to run a network node and support the bitcoin network. if truth be told there square measure two: Earning group action fees and generating recently issued coins.
Putting of these properties along at an equivalent time is incredibly necessary, since those properties permit permissionless innovation whereas attracting users by associate degree economic incentive, derived from cheaper transactions as a results of disintermediation.
The most common implementation is named “Bitcoin Core”. At the start it had it all together: it absolutely was a consumer (wallet), and additionally a network node, and additionally a group action server. Their operators were then rewarded by the 2 incentives: group action prices and mining new coins. This was the primary generation blockchain based mostly system and from there everything else evolved.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum may be a second generation blockchain system, a Bitcoin kid. It inherits an equivalent basic properties from bitcoin and generalized the thought during this way: does one bear in mind the script on every group action that elevated bitcoin to a programmable cash status? If you allowed the script to be a private program of discretional quality, then you'd modify the system not solely to method money transactions however to method nearly any style of transactions that rely on pre-defined circumstances. Ethereum known as these programs sensible contracts.
These changes opened the door for a full new style of purchasers applications, too: they're not restricted to cash transactions and wallets, however are often any reasonably application for various use cases. purchasers will then post sensible contracts to be autonomously dead by the network during a trustless execution setting (aká trustworthy). Today, with such associate degree infrastructure in situ, individuals square measure currently able to produce any style of localized application. Ethereum evolved by adding a lot of parts to their system, like some to pass messages from consumer to consumer and maintaining localized storage.
Ethereum transmitted all properties of the bitcoin network. The project is younger than bitcoin, however it already has 1/10 of its market cap. Ethereum’s mission is to modify p2p applications by permitting purchasers to act through Ethereum system parts, chiefly by the suggests that of sensible contracts.
What is the net of People?
The Internet is that the international system of interconnected laptop networks that use the net protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. A network of networks. On prime of the net lies the Web:
The World Wide net (abbreviated “WWW” or “Web”) is associate degree data area wherever documents and different net resources square measure known by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), interlinked by machine-readable text links, which may be accessed via the net. These documents square measure served to consumer applications by an internet server.
The Internet of Things (IoT), is that the association of physical devices, vehicles (also named as “connected devices” and “smart devices”), buildings and different items—embedded with physical science, software, sensors, actuators, and network property, sanctioning these objects to gather and exchange information.
The Internet of individuals (IoP) may be a network of networks of individuals overlayed on prime the net. totally different styles of profiles square measure interconnected and every profile sort within the IoP defines a network of individuals United Nations agency self-identify therewith style of profile. of these interconnected networks kind the net of individuals. IoP are often additionally outlined as associate degree data area unnatural to a special style of document supposed to store a person’s on-line profile and different associated resources. These documents square measure interlinked to outline public relationships between these profiles.Paste your text here and click on "Next" to observe this text editor in chief do it's factor.
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The IoP is also a second generation blockchain system, a bitcoin child, and Ethereum’s youngest brother. It too enables any type of p2p applications but with a different approach: Instead of generalizing bitcoin’s only use case (payment) by allowing a turing complete scripting language, IoP broke Bitcoin into pieces and then added more pieces respecting the fundamental rules of Bitcoin, allowing IoP to inherit all of Bitcoins properties plus adding more features with different use cases.
The first thing we did was to start from a fork of Bitcoin itself. Then we split it into these components:
Token Server: This server is responsible only for processing transactions. It does not issue new tokens. This is a step forward from Bitcoin, since PoW has proven over time to centralize the network. PoW is replaced by a hybrid PoS/PoW consensus protocol. Token Servers are incentivized only by transaction fees paid by end users.
Minting Server: Its responsibility is the issuing of tokens to the network. Reliable operators of full nodes are incentivized by receiving these newly issued tokens as well as other contributors to the IoP project voted by the community.
Unstructured Network: This is a general purpose p2p network node creating an unstructured network. Any server in the system can run on top of it.
These first two servers are the foundation of the IoP system. This is where we differentiate ourselves from Ethereum: We do not generalize the script in transactions, so we don’t process smart contracts.
So basically, what we do is to solve the problems distributed applications have:
How do we find other users of the same app or even of other apps in the network?
How do we allow client apps to communicate with each other?
Where should the app data be stored?
To solve 1.) we introduced the following components:
Profile Server: This server is responsible to host end users’ profiles, of any type (depending on the app that uploaded the profile). Lots of different apps upload different types of profiles to the network, sometimes linking them together. This creates a network of networks of people, thus the name Internet of People. To adhere to Bitcoins basic properties, we incentivize this type of server via clients paying with minimal micropayments the Profile Servers hosting their profiles, like transaction costs we invent service handling costs. These fees cover also the next two components that must be running on the same machine.
Content Address Network: This is needed to find content by its hash. When appropriate, Profile Servers push their profiles to this network.
Location Based Network: This is needed to find people by their average geo-location. If you know your friend’s name and the city he lives in, that should be enough to find him.
To solve 2.) we introduced the following components:
STUN Server: Enables two clients that are behind firewalls to connect to each other in a device to device p2p way.
TURN Server: Relays data between two clients when a p2p connection using a STUN server is not possible.
Latency Based Network: It is a p2p network organized by latency. It helps clients to pick up the best common node to use for example a TURN Server between them.
STUN and TURN Servers are incentivized by micropayments paid by clients in IoP tokens. This is critical to inherit all of the Bitcoin properties. Latency based network nodes run on the same machine as the TURN Servers. The incentive is the same as for the other servers since they are run by the same operator.
To solve problem 3) we diverged from our older brother and other projects that propose to store app data inside smart contracts, a decentralized storage, the cloud or so on. We believe that the most secure and private place to store data is at the end users’ own devices. This means that any IoP app (client app) stores its data on end users devices.
Certainly, this is not possible in all situations: end users devices, especially mobile ones, go offline every time you turn them off or don’t have data access. For other end users to access a user’s public data, the devices should be online at the time of the request.
To solve that, we allow client apps to attach some information about the user’s profile to the Profile Server. This way non-sensitive information can be kept online. The rest (sensitive info + info that does not need to always be available) is kept at end users’ devices. Finally we add to the Profile Server the responsibility to serve queries against that extra information, and the result is a system-wide discovery layer where anybody — users of any IoP app — can freely discover anybody else over a permissionless network either by their profile or by their extra info attached, which can be anything: Flats they are renting out, products they are selling, etc..
In an open network like this, anybody can find anybody else, but they also need to be able to interact with each other. We have to solve a whole new space of problems, like: What if I find another chat user, for example, and I want to chat with her, will I be able to do it? What if she is using a different IoP chat app than me?
To enable interoperability between IoP applications of the same type, we defined the concept of Application Services. These are specialized communication channels that can be either open or closed at end user devices. For example, all IoP chat apps using the standardized chat application service as a channel, can speak to each other, meaning that in IoP, one User can use an IoP chat app similar to Whatsapp and the other an app more similar to the Messenger. This interoperability is very powerful because it enables private networks of any kind to interact with other networks through the IoP, which is acting as the connecting tissue.
Finally the IoP concept is completed – when we add these two last components – which are very useful to clients IoP apps:
Proximity Server: It allows some IoP apps to check in their profile at the closest proximity node, so as to enable other clients to query that node and learn about the people around them. This server is incentivized with micro-payments.
Reputation Server: It allows people to rate other people’s profiles, so that anybody can check the reputation of anybody else on the different roles they play online. This server is incentivized with a fee paid by clients posting reputation info.
The main properties of the Internet of People
By strictly respecting blockchain properties while inheriting them, we end up having a system, called Internet of People, that is:
Decentralized: It is a p2p decentralized network and like the internet not owned by anyone in particular.
Open Standard: It is possible for anyone to implement the network protocol. This IoP protocol is to be defined by a standards organization called IoP Consortium in which anyone can participate.
Open System: Different apps of the same type using the Internet of People can interoperate between each other as long as they follow the standard protocol.
Permissionless: Anyone can run a network node. Anyone can use the network. Anyone can write apps that consume the network’s services.
Dumb: It is a dumb network, that pushes innovation to the edge by giving end-users control over the pace and direction of innovation without third parties’ influence.
Shared Asset: The resulting network of people is a shared asset anyone can use.
Mobile First: The IoP allows mobile devices to connect to each other while overcoming the limitations of not being able to receive incoming TCP/IP connections which are blocked in many jurisdictions because of being behind firewalls.
Incentivized: There are economic incentives to run every different type of server.
We expect to be releasing the whole set of IoP components during the next months. In 2017 our work should complement the one already done by Ethereum and Bitcoin.
Conclusion
If you were about to design a decentralized app in the early 2017, what should you use? Bitcoin, Ethereum, or the Internet of People? You could use none of them, all of them, or any combination: It depends on what your app needs.
Does your app need to handle payments in cryptocurrency?
Fine, you will need to use bitcoin, as it is the most popular cryptocurrency and chances are high, that your target audience will know about it and have access to an exchange where they can buy them.
Does your app need part of its functionality to run on a trustless execution environment?
Fine, you need smart contracts. Today the most popular and advanced platform is Ethereum, so you should think about putting some of your app logic on a smart contract. A typical example is a p2p betting app. If I were to bet with you and the bet is recorded and executed only on our phones, then – once the result of the event we are betting about is known – any one of us can cheat, just by deleting the app and not paying the winner. In this situation we need a 3rd party execution environment that runs independently of you and me. If we don’t want to trust a 3rd party company, then we need a trustless execution environment. This is the case where we need Ethereum.
Does your app needs to connect device to device in a p2p way?
Fine, you need the Internet of People. IoP helps you easily create apps that connect device to device in a p2p way without using any centralized third party for any of the following: discovery of the remote device, the signaling processes involved (agreeing on communication details), or usage of a STUN or TURN server if needed.
For example, you can do all this without going through a private search engine or telling your end users to exchange their accounts, IDs or aliases via email, chat or other unsecure trustful networks. You can connect their devices directly without using Google push notifications, or any other company’s signaling, STUN or TURN servers.
Does your app need to know who is around and the reputation of those people?
Fine, you need the Internet of People. Let’s say you are building a taxi application that is p2p IoP ready, specifically the one that passengers use but without intermediary third parties involved. What unique advantages would using IoP bring to you in contrast with Ethereum or Bitcoin?
Re-usage of the user base: As the IoP is a shared asset as a network of people, you might not need to even build the taxi app for drivers: if someone did it before, you can just reuse the current network of drivers already in the network. We are not talking here about reusing software, but a whole shared user base created by other individuals / entrepreneurs / companies.
Proximity Service: IoP provides a proximity service that is perfect for the taxi use case. Instead of needing to scan the profile network, your passenger app just needs to connect to the physically closest IoP Proximity Node where all taxi drivers driving around are currently checked in. One query on one node and your app has the list of all taxi drivers around your end user, listing sorted by individual price offer or further service offers – any use case for different apps is possible here.
Reputation Service: You might want your end users to know these taxi driver’s reputation. IoP Reputation Service for People provides just that.
This way, when your end users hit the request-taxi-button, your app will go to the closest Proximity Server Node, request there a list of all taxi drivers checked in, and to the Reputation Service to get reviews for these drivers. It would filter out those below a certain threshold and order the list, for example by proximity to your end user. Then it will connect to the profile server of each driver, and request a quotation for your trip over a p2p connection to the taxi driver’s device. After receiving the answers (automated by the taxi driver apps) it would reorder the list again, probably by price and proximity, as your app wishes. Finally, it would request the ride from the first on the list, having the rest as a fallback. In short, with the help of IoP, you created a decentralized marketplace around your end user on the spot, and of taxi drivers with no affiliation to any company at all. A Free Market – meaning disintermediation and cheaper rides – over a public infrastructure (IoP) with negligible costs. This is so powerful that you might be able to disrupt big players in any industry.
