In an earlier post, we tried to provide a brief overview the Blockchain Naming System (BNS).  For more on that post, please follow this link here.

Today, we are supplementing that post with some additional information we ran across that gives a more detailed overview of BNS.  The overview was put together by one of the Engineering Partners at Blockstack – Mr. Jude Nelson.  Mr. Nelson’s insight may help fill in the gaps.

It appears that the goal of Mr. Nelson was to write a document for both developers and technically-inclined users and to:

• give a brief overview of how the Blockstack Naming Service works
• describe how developers can use it to build decentralized web applications

Further to the above goal, Mr. Nelson opines that –

If you read this document in its entirety, you will understand the following concepts:

• Why a secure decentralized naming service is an important building block in decentralized systems
• How Blockstack applications can leverage BNS to solve real-world problems
• How the Blockstack Naming Service is different from other offerings in this space.

This project repository (Blockstack Core) is the reference implementation of the Blockstack Naming Service.

For example – Mr. Nelson starts at the beginning and runs through it appears all aspects of BNS – how, why, uses …

“Introduction

The Blockstack Naming Service (BNS) is a network system that binds names to off-chain state without relying on any central points of control. It does so by embedding a log of its control-plane messages within a public blockchain, like Bitcoin.

Each BNS peer determines the state of each name by indexing these specially-crafted transactions. In doing so, each peer independently calculates the same global name state.

Names in BNS have three properties:

• Names are globally unique. The protocol does not allow name collisions, and all well-behaved nodes resolve a given name to the same state.
• Names are human-meaningful. Each name is chosen by its creator.
• Names are strongly-owned. Only the name’s owner can change the state it resolves to. Specifically, a name is owned by one or more ECDSA private keys.

Internally, a BNS node implements a replicated name database. Each BNS node keeps itself synchronized to all of the other ones in the world, so queries on one BNS node will be the same on other nodes. BNS nodes allow a name’s owner to bind up to 40Kb of off-chain state to their name, which will be replicated to all BNS nodes via the Atlas network.

BNS nodes extract the name database log from an underlying blockchain (Blockstack Core currently uses Bitcoin, and had used Namecoin in the past). BNS uses the blockchain to establish a shared “ground truth” for the system: as long as two nodes have the same view of the blockchain, then they will build up the same database.

The biggest consequence for developers is that in BNS, reading name state is fast and cheap but writing name state is slow and expensive. This is because registering and modifying names requires one or more transactions to be sent to the underlying blockchain, and BNS nodes will not process them until they are sufficiently confirmed. Users and developers need to acquire and spend the requisite cryptocurrency (i.e. Bitcoin) to send BNS transactions.”

to everything in between – Atlas, motivations, architecture, how to use… Great resource!

“Summary

BNS is a decentralized naming system that produces names that are globally-unique, human-readable, and strongly-owned. It does so by embedding a database log within a public blockchain like Bitcoin, and replaying it locally to calculate the state and owner of each name. In doing so, a BNS node provides a full replica of all of the network’s state, which gives it the ability to service queries like prior name states and name historys.

BNS groups names by namespaces in order to provide different ways to register and use names, and furthermore implements subdomains to provide a cheap, scalable way to register many names for the cost of a single blockchain transaction.

Blockstack Core is the reference implementation of BNS, and provides a public BNS node with online documentation at https://core.blockstack.org.”

Reach out to Mr. Jude Nelson

Github

Twitter

Blockstack

Remember, Blockstack posits that the DNS of today has never been able to achieve what BNS has now achieved – namespaces (online identity) that are contemporaneously unique, human-readable and decentralized (ownership, portability, security…).

We think Blockstack BNS offers –

BNS provides namespaces that are:

• decentralized
• unique
• human-readable
• owned by you
  • portable
  • controlled by the owner (all the data you generate is now yours)
• pre-built with
  • public keys
  • encryption
  • private keys
  • digital certificates
• rooted in the blockchain for
  • consensus
  • ordering
  • transparency
• secure
• trustworthy

In a nutshell, when you use BNS to register a namespace (name or domain name), one gets a secure and trustworthy namespace backed by an encrypted blockchain registered address and a very secure encrypted private key. BNS provides the complete package to give you security, trust and peace of mind when you interact with the internet, the Blockstack internet.

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any namespace (name/domain name) or dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet, that is distributed via the blockchain, bitcoin), you must use the Blockstack browser).

Download the Blockstack Browser

For help on installing and using the Blockstack Browser, please visit this link Getting started with the Blockstack Browser.

For a more in depth look into the Blockstack Browser, please visit these links – Inside the Blockstack Browser and Blockstack Browser: It does that?

Resources re: Blockstack and dApps

• Blockstack
• @blockstack
  • @blockstackapps
• Developers
  • Introduction
    • • Papers
      • Videos
    • Tutorials
      • (e.g., todo and multi-player storage)
    • Installation
    • Github
      • Javascript
      • Core API
• Blog
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Blockstack Meetups

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 TM by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar).

Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way.^TM A decentralized internet | The Way The Future.^TM Try out the new internet, The Blockstack Way.^TM Blockstack: The New Internet – It Makes The Internet You Use Better!^TM

The post Blockstack: Blockchain Naming System (BNS) – It Makes The Namespace You Use On The Internet Better! UPDATE appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.

Today, we will try and provide a brief overview of part of the Blockstack ecosystem developed to not only replace the Domain Naming system (DNS), but one that is designed to be better than the DNS.  The Blockstack architecture that is designed to replace DNS is called the Blockchain Naming system or BNS (identity).

The BNS is similar to the DNS in use today (e.g., thestackcafe.com, blockstack.org…).  But, BNS makes this part – the naming system (namespaces (names and domain names – e.g. abc.com and identification (IDs)) – of the internet much better.

Basically, BNS makes the namespaces used on the internet better because the namespaces are not controlled by third parties (namespaces are owned by the user (data and everything)), are less susceptible to manipulation and failure and BNS bakes trust and security into each namespace used on the Blockstack internet. 

Blockstack proposes: The DNS of today has never been able to achieve what BNS has now achieved – namespaces (online identity) that are contemporaneously unique, human-readable and decentralized (ownership, portability, security…).

BNS provides namespaces that are:

• decentralized
• unique
• human-readable
• owned by you
  • portable
  • controlled by the owner (all the data you generate is now yours)
• pre-built with
  • public keys
  • encryption
  • private keys
  • digital certificates
• rooted in the blockchain for
  • consensus
  • ordering
  • transparency
• secure
• trustworthy

Ultimately, in order to achieve the above, BNS roots a small piece – an important piece – of the namespace in a blockchain (this is the decentralization aspect).  By using a blockchain to store a small piece information (note: the information on the blockchain is encrypted) about the namespace, BNS is able to realize agreement (trust, consensus) on what was stored, when it was stored and the ownership of the same.

And, since blockchain(s) by their very nature are transparent and extremely difficult to tamper with and/or change, it makes BNS a better naming environment than DNS since it is more stable and more secure.

By including decentralization in namespaces, BNS appears to have broken new ground in the namespace arena in that BNS namespaces have achieved something DNS never could- overcoming Zooko’s Triangle (re: offering namespaces which are unique, human-readable and decentralized in one package).  BNS namespaces have all three seminal features at the same time – each namespace is at least unique, human-readable and decentralized. 

But, let’s step back and look at DNS and how BNS makes the namespace (names/domain names) better.

For example, DNS is:

• centralized and controlled by a few organization(s)
  
  • so it is easier to
    • attack and take offline
    • change the mapping/address of the domain name you are trying to visit (e.g. digital certificates provide a sense of security but susceptible too – green lock sign you see on the website – this is the correct site and you can trust it)
      • by changing the information at the DNS server
      • spoofing the reply from the DNS server

DNS has problems –

• it may have/provide decentralized public keys but the public keys are not human-readable (e.g. 1Bndg7esRTYUefui76TYgh4DW75TJkil09)
  • PROBLEM: no central server needed for public key but hard to read and but it is unique (i.e. it is not very good human readable name)
    • Just try and remember a public key day in day out – (gonna be tough and then when you have many of them, oh my!)
• it may have/provide unique and human readable name(s) but it is not decentralized (e.g. if you use social networks like twitter, twitter owns the namespace, not you so you cannot take the name or data with you if you want to use another social network)
• digital certificate fraud (e.g. bad/malicious certificates, so users of website end up trusting the bad certificate

Just think of all the massive data breaches (stolen identities, bad digital certificates… see also 17 biggest, World’s Biggest, Certificates) on websites and spoofing of websites that have happened in the past and may have happened to you. 

These types of issues are at the center of the problems of centralization and DNS centralization.  Basically, DNS has never been able to provide three seminal features at the same time: unique, human-readable and decentralized namespaces in one package (one of three is always missing).

Well, no more, we now have BNS which is similar to DNS only much, much better.

Blockstack believes that BNS has solved the problems (e.g. offering all three seminal features at the same time and in one package) associated with DNS centralization.  BNS is not susceptible to manipulation (e.g. names are tied to the blockchain (hard to tamper with)) and it does away with the other problems associated with centralization (e.g., bad digital certificates, potential outside attack & mapping/routing problems…).

BNS – in a little more detail – provides:

• decentralized naming system (e.g. no central authority has control)
• unique names
• that is owned by you and no one else (portability features)
• human-readable names (e.g., thestackcafe.id and not something like – 1Bndg7esRTYUefui76TYgh4DW75TJkil09)
• automatically provides public keys, digital certificates and security at the outset of registration
  

• when registering a BNS name(s) and domain name(s)
  • both are associated with public keys by default
    • so all namespaces (names/domain names) get digital certificates
      • and if BNS associates public keys to namespaces (names/domain names) by default
        • all namespaces (names/domain names) websites have security certificates and security from the outset
• all of the above being tied to a blockchain
  • that you can trust (well established blockchain (e.g. bitcoin)
    • since blockchain(s) by their very nature are extremely difficult to tamper with and/or change
      • to change the blockchain – where this is stuff is tied to – one would have to go back and change the blocks in the chain (very very very very very very…hard)
        • So if it ain’t easy, most nefarious types will most likely pass on it and go for the easy

BNS provides names and domain names that have two very unique ownership features:

• names and domain names are owned by cryptographic addresses of the underlying blockchain (from the outset of registration)
  • when you register a BNS namespace (name or domain name)
    • it is registered on the blockchain (e.g. it is owned by a cryptographic address on blockchain)so it is encrypted (secret, unique…) and registered on the blockchain (cryptographic address) (remember – blockchain(s) are very hard to tamper with so security and trust exist automatically at a level that far surpasses the centralized DNS system – it is much better on BNS)
• names and domain names are owned by its associated private key (strong encryption from the outset of registration)for example
  • ECDSA-based private keys used in bitcoin is used to encrypt the namespace (name/domain name) from the outset of registration – Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm
    • (wikipedia – In cryptography, the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) offers a variant of the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) which uses elliptic curve cryptography.)
      • So the namespace from the get go is owned by a private key with a strong encryption protocol (again hard to tamper with)

Decentralized BNS is much better than the centralized DNS.  BNS is decentralized, unique, human readable, with public and private keys, encrypted and registered on a blockchain which makes it secure, trustworthy and very hard to tamper with.

In a nutshell, when you use BNS to register a namespace (name or domain name), one gets a secure and trustworthy namespace backed by an encrypted blockchain registered address and a very secure encrypted private key.  BNS provides the complete package to give you security, trust and peace of mind when you interact with the internet, the Blockstack internet. 

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any namespace (name/domain name) or dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet, that is distributed via the blockchain, bitcoin), you must use the Blockstack browser).

Download the Blockstack Browser

For help on installing and using the Blockstack Browser, please visit this link Getting started with the Blockstack Browser.

For a more in depth look into the Blockstack Browser, please visit these links – Inside the Blockstack Browser and Blockstack Browser: It does that?

Resources re: Blockstack and dApps

• Blockstack
• @blockstack
  • @blockstackapps
• Developers
  • Introduction
    • • Papers
      • Videos
    • Tutorials
      • (e.g., todo and multi-player storage)
    • Installation
    • Github
      • Javascript
      • Core API
• Blog
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Blockstack Meetups

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar).

Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way.^TM A decentralized internet | The Way The Future.^TM  Try out the new internet, The Blockstack Way.^TM  Blockstack: The New Internet – It Makes The Internet You Use Better!^TM

The post Blockstack: Blockchain Naming System(BNS) – It Makes The Namespace You Use On The Internet Better! appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.

Update – 1.25.2018: Just off the Grid[dle]^TM – Team Graphite just pushed out an update for Windows users related to the multi-player storage functionality.  Now Windows users should be able to share documents and sheets.

UPDATE – 1.30.2018: Just off the Grid[dle]^TM– We heard that the developer of the multi-player storage dApp Graphite will be joining the Blockstack team in Berlin to exhibit the Graphite dApp during the show.  Great news for Graphite and Blockstack.

What is Graphite?  According to Graphite (screenshots from Graphite’s website), Graphite is the decentralized application (dApp) that empowers you to create and write something new (documents or sheets) without giving up your privacy (think of Graphite as a privacy-focused replacement for Google Docs—something that lets you own your writing).  The purpose of Graphite is to allow the user of the application on the blockstack internet architecture to create, store and share any document or sheet in a secure and decentralized way.

When a user creates documents or sheets with Graphite, the user:

• Owns its data

• Owns its documents

• Owns its workflow

• Can control access to its files (share (documents and sheets) at its discretion)

Graphite firmly believes that when you create something, the creator:

1. should own it
2. should be able to store it where the creator wants
3. should be able to access it when the creator wants to
4. should be able to use it how the creator wants to use it
5. should be able to share it (control on who to share it with).

And, when you use Graphite in connection with the Blockstack browser (provides the platform for encrypting (saving) and decrypting the data (loading it)), Graphite (or Blockstack):

1. never has access to your information (data is encrypted only for the user to see or share…)
   
2. does not store your data (this is done on the storage platform the user selected via blockstack browser)

Graphite lists some of the applications features including auto-save, preview, printing and many others.

To get started with Graphite, first make sure you have the Blockstack Browser installed and running (See Blockstack: Getting started… and *CAVEAT below).  Then, navigate to the Graphite login button (icon) which will start the application using the Blockstack browser on your local machine (screenshots may be slightly different depending on updates to blockstack browser).

Now, the user chooses to Login with Blockstack and is then redirected to the “Welcome” screen from Graphite in which the user has to approve the sign-in request.  At this juncture, the user is taken to the Graphite home page (redacted and may be appear a little different for the user):

Graphite home page for document and sheet creation (below) –

As shown below, we have created a couple of test documents and saved them only for our use (unless you want to give someone else access in order to share or collaborate – see multi-reader below and *Caveat).  For example, we created and saved a couple of encrypted files (e.g., GRT and Test of Graphite) to one of our chosen storage platforms (e.g., in this case we are using the default storage provided by Blockstack).  As shown below, the “Your Documents” page appears as follows with the above mentioned file(s).

Multi-Reader Access: Blockstack – via the blockstack browser – introduced/enabled the multi-reader storage capability which will allow users to share documents sheets with other users (e.g., user A may give access to its data to user B)(See this link from the developer of Graphite – Graphite too).

ONE *CAVEAT – YOU WILL NEED A BLOCKSTACK I.D. PURCHASED FROM THE BLOCKSTACK NAMING SYSTEM (BNS) IN ORDER TO USE THE SHARING FEATURE OF GRAPHITE AT THIS TIME…

Some screenshots of an example of multi-reader in action using Graphite:

• Right hand side – SHARED FILES in drop down menu

• Choose a file to share and then click the Edit button.  A pop-up will open up asking for the I.D. of the person – who is also using the Blockstack Browser – that you want to share the file with.  Enter the I.D. and select SHARE.  Now, that person with that I.D. on blockstack will be able to access the document, edit it etc.  Go try it out and begin creating and/or sharing your creations with others.

What a great dApp!  Graphite has brought the blockstack community the first working decentralized secure and encrypted word processing application (sheets too).  Go check out Graphite and try out the word processing application and begin creating and/or sharing your creations.

Note: If you do not have the Blockstack browser, please see this link (note – to enable the full functionality of any dApp built for the Blockstack ecosystem (e.g., building a new internet, a decentralized internet, re-decentralizing the internet) you need to use the Blockstack browser).

Thanks again for visiting The Stack Cafe^TM and we look forward to hearing from you. Please help us put out the word on Web^3.0 by posting a comment below and signing up for e-mail notifications for future updates (right side-bar). Let’s help build the new internet | The Decentralized Way^TM. A decentralized internet | The Way The Future^TM.

The post Blockstack: A New Decentralized App – Graphite appeared first on The Stack Cafe™.