Comment by soltanov
8 hours ago
Falling back to DERP relays means trusting and funding centralized relay boxes. That solves connectivity by conceding peer-to-peer. You end up with client-server architecture plus extra cryptographic tax.
8 hours ago
Falling back to DERP relays means trusting and funding centralized relay boxes. That solves connectivity by conceding peer-to-peer. You end up with client-server architecture plus extra cryptographic tax.
There's a distinction to be made between p2p as a network topology and p2p as a redistribution of power and agency. It's true that relays are an unsatisfying fallback to deal with the networks we have, but they still allow for meaningful p2p in sociopolitical terms. Relays that support the spirit of p2p need to be federated, stateless, and end-to-end encrypted.
you dont need relays if you use dat.
blind relays are optional and literally only relevant for specific really difficult carrier grade network conditions where direct connections might not always work.
...but even then, relay is really dynamic and any dat peer is automatically and dynamically participating im the process ..p2p, not federated