Is Sia the new BitTorrent?

[elastictshirt]

I recently discovered Sia, and am a big fan. Sia is a cryptocurrency based cloud storage protocol for distributed cloud storage. In short: you pay a fee, upload your content which is then distributed to N different nodes on the Sia network (basically, other users on the network). Content is saved redundantly and encrypted. The cool thing is, with a short share code *anyone* can download *your* content from the network. *Except* they don't download it from you. Rather, they download it from the hosts (aka: users) on whose servers the content is stored. I really find it brilliant. It just seems the perfect file sharing tool to me.

Problem is that Sia is still in its early days. There isn't a portal for distributing share codes and such. However, the protocol and software is entirely open source, and there is a robust API with which to build new applications.

I am a developer who is tinkering with the idea of building a portal for sharing content on the Sia network. I would not really have an economic incentive to do so. I think so because history has taught us that centralized repositories of torrents, say, don't live very long. So, the code would have to be open source to make it easy for *anyone* to create their own portal.

I don't expect many here to have even heard of Sia. Still, I would like to gather some feedback from the file sharing community before diving into coding things for Sia.

First, as a starter, in the likely chance that you're not familiar with Sia, here's the GitHub repository:
https://github.com/NebulousLabs/Sia

The README there covers the basics on Sia. The people using Sia are mostly chatting in their forum at http://forum.sia.tech and on Bitcoin Talk (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1060294).

My question to you folks are:
1) Does Sia complement existing file sharing protocols?
2) Does it have the potential to replace some of the existing protocols?
3) Uploading content to Sia requires payment with Siacoins (a cryptocurrency). The cost is generally well below other cloud storage providers, like Amazon and Dropbox. Still, given that you have to *pay to play* will this be a major obstacle for Sia to be adopted by the file sharing community?

I'd love to hear some thoughts on Sia in general on this forum. Feel free to ask, by PM or otherwise, if you have any questions.

[anon]

I'm not familiar with the ins and outs of this particular system, but this part:

you pay a fee, upload your content ...

Is unlikely to gain much sympathy (click here to see how a similar idea triggers highly negative comments). Most filesharers aren't keen on seeing it monetized, especially in such a direct manner.

With that said, people do pay for seedboxes, so.

[elastictshirt]

I see what you mean!

Well, I guess in that case it would be helpful to explain the payment mechanism of Sia.

First to note is that the currency used for payment on the Sia network (Siacoin) is not controlled by any one entity (i.e. it is not centralized). Siacoin is mined like bitcoin (and, there was no pre-mine). You can also earn Siacoin by sharing your own local storage. So, you could use the Siacoins earned to pay for storage on the network. Note how you pay the other users on the network. The other users, like yourself, would be renting out their storage and be paid the Siacoins that you paid. Vice versa: when they store stuff on your drives, you get paid. Renting out your local storage is voluntary, and independent of whether you upload or not. If you do not earn Siacoin by mining (using the graphics card on your PC), or rent out storage space, you need to buy your Siacoins on an exchange.

Once content has been uploaded, however, it can be shared with an unlimited number of people at no additional cost. Storage costs vary (as hosts set their own price) and are currently 0.5 US cent/GB or less.

Mind you; Sia was not created for file sharing *per se* (as the idea you linked to was). It is being created primarily for facilitating a very low cost cloud storage network for large enterprises. The idea is to utilize empty space of everyone's harddrives, and rent that space out for cost less than Amazon, Dropbox etc. It so turns out, though, that Sia has some very nice file sharing features as well, which I mentioned earlier.

EDIT: Finally I should add that hosting torrents isn't free either...

[mjmacky]

With that said, people do pay for seedboxes, so.

I'm people, and I've been people for over a year now. Seeding was a burden, and accidentally wiping a drive in my NAS was another burden. I gladly pay for the convenience of relieving myself of that burden.

Presently, if I gave up my seedbox, I'd have no way to download anything. My internet service is so fucking spotty that I'd probably be up to my scalp in HnRs.

16 KBps is hell. The worst of it is that I rely on that same connection for my income.

[IdolEyes787]

Invalid point. My livelihood depends on me being charming and you don't see me making any concessions to that.

As for my opinion about Sia, I find her to be a great singer but it's a little weird how she needs to have that half naked little girl in all her videos.

Before you get angry, don't tell me that we all weren't thinking that.

[mjmacky]

Invalid point. My livelihood depends on me being charming and you don't see me making any concessions to that.

As for my opinion about Sia, I find her to be a great singer but it's a little weird how she needs to have that half naked little girl in all her videos.

Before you get angry, don't tell me that we all weren't thinking that.

I really don't care for any of her songs, and the little girl could be hotter and more naked.

[STHNSv3]

My question to you folks are:
1) Does Sia complement existing file sharing protocols?
2) Does it have the potential to replace some of the existing protocols?
3) Uploading content to Sia requires payment with Siacoins (a cryptocurrency). The cost is generally well below other cloud storage providers, like Amazon and Dropbox. Still, given that you have to *pay to play* will this be a major obstacle for Sia to be adopted by the file sharing community?

1) No Sia does not anyway complement FILE SHARING. But then again thats more of an opinion as you need to understand the history and terminology of it. As most people when they say FILE SHARING they refer to as P2P(1G/2G/3G) and its mostly free and not associated with money. The concept of file sharing as I don't need to tell you is very old but the definition has changed and is up for users discretion.

2) Sia will not even have 1% of total digital bandwidth footprint of global p2p traffic. If someone where to release stats from major MPLS and break down the bandwidth by network you wouldn't see its protocol footprint. You will however see HTTP, Torrent and other p2p.

3) Remember RapidShare? They also had these type of idea where you would upload and if users download then owner gets points and they trade it for full member with faster bandwidth and storage. If I were to convert to Sia and upload 7000 files now close to 500GB which is public for me how much would it cost? And how would I distribute it? You need to also consider the platform as its also the method of delivery. User discovery is what keeps p2p platform alive. The biggest flaw with torrent is also its greatest strength.

[elastictshirt]

1) No Sia does not anyway complement FILE SHARING. . .

I have not thought deeply about the semantics of file sharing. But if you can SHARE FILES through the protocol, then that is FILE SHARING by my definition. I totally understand the aversion against paying for content, i.e. its the very reason people share in the first file (to avoid paying). It is very salient that you pay when using Sia. BUT it is also important to understand how much you pay, what you are paying for, and who receives that money (more about that below).

Still, would you not agree that 'traditional' p2p isn't free either? Its mostly the seeders that pay the burden, by paying for hosting/storage, electricity and asymmetric bandwidth consumption. I've never come across a 'file sharing calculator'. Is there such a thing, and has anyone ever calculated the cost of hosting uploads over a period of time?

3) Remember RapidShare? They also had these type of idea where you would upload and if users download then owner gets points and they trade it for full member with faster bandwidth and storage. If I were to convert to Sia and upload 7000 files now close to 500GB which is public for me how much would it cost? And how would I distribute it? You need to also consider the platform as its also the method of delivery. User discovery is what keeps p2p platform alive. The biggest flaw with torrent is also its greatest strength.

There is a big difference between RapidShare (and similar providers) and Sia as the latter is decentralized: Sia is a p2p protocol, not a provider. There is no Sia Inc.

You're right about discoverability. There are currently no repositories of shared content of Sia, hence my post, as I'm interested in (read: am) developing one.

The cost of of uploading 500 GB at todays exchange rates would be about 65,000 Siacoins, which equates to about $1 - one - USD. Your files are then stored for ~6 weeks on the network, after which they need to be renewed (and you'll have to pay again). Sharing/downloading is free. Content is stored encrypted, and Reed-Solomon error correction is built into the protocol to ensure files can be retrieved even if a large proportion of the network goes down. The cost you pay goes to the owners of the hosts where your content is stored. If you rent out your own space, you could of course earn the Siacoins you needed to upload (though only at a rate of 20% as your content is duplicated 5 times over when you upload, to ensure redundancy).

The Sia whitepaper is here if you want more details on the technical/algorithmic implementation:
http://sia.tech/whitepaper.pdf

[mjmacky]

todays exchange rates would be about 65,000 Siacoins, which equates to about $1 - one - USD.

The liracoin. No, the pesocoin.

Well, let's get down to the juicy nut of it. What drives your interest? Are you soliciting advice about financial investments, or has your curiosity been piqued such that you want to get involved so long as it doesn't seem a wasted effort? Those are leading questions, so I'll only accept answers askew. You have demonstrated capability of critical thought and are well enough worded, so I don't think I've made too extravagant of an inquiry. What's your goal?

[STHNSv3]

todays exchange rates would be about 65,000 Siacoins, which equates to about $1 - one - USD.

The liracoin. No, the pesocoin.

Well, let's get down to the juicy nut of it. What drives your interest? Are you soliciting advice about financial investments, or has your curiosity been piqued such that you want to get involved so long as it doesn't seem a wasted effort? Those are leading questions, so I'll only accept answers askew. You have demonstrated capability of critical thought and are well enough worded, so I don't think I've made too extravagant of an inquiry. What's your goal?

Leading question is why do you care? Last I checked and as I addressed this before you sit in file sharing forum and you share nothing nor you do nothing. But you seem to just drive up your silly post count to get free UseNET daily downloads. Learn something then get involved and start something.

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