In a world of digital clouds, who's moving them ?

Seif-Allah Homrani — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 11:39:02 +0000

Introduction

As stated in Global Survey on Internet Privacy and Freedom of Expression, UNESCO (2012), The internet-based communications rely more on the intermediates for processing data like Cloud computing providers who runs the Internet infrastructure right now.
Amazon servers make up so much of the internet that is can be merely impossible to separate the two. According to the Stamford, Amazon owns nearly half of the world's public-cloud infrastructure market (47.8%) leading by a wide margin Microsoft (15.5%), Alibaba (7.7%), Google (4%), and IBM (1.8%).

Basically, that means that the half of the current web is running and controlled by Amazon Web Services aka AWS. GOOSEBUMPS

AWS's down means Web's down

If you use Netflix, Pinterest, Airbnb, Slack, or any of Adobe’s web services, you’re indirectly using AWS. And, of course, you use AWS anytime you use any Amazon product, whether that’s Alexa or Amazon Video. New York (and many, many other media publishers) use AWS. In general, cloud computing, as pioneered by AWS, has allowed for the tremendous shift in how the internet behaves and feels — why everything feels like a piece of software, even if very little of it is actually stored on the physical device you’re using.

But that also means that when AWS suffers downtimes, suddenly a big chunk of the web you either rely on for work or rely on for distraction are also affected. In 2017, its S3 (Simple Storage Service) servers went down in February and again in September, resulting in many, many websites just outright breaking.

Holy Terms vs Censorship-evading

AWS vs Signal

On June 2018, Parts of Amazon Web Services' US-East-1 region have experienced about half an hour of downtime, but some customers' instances and data can't be restored because the hardware running them appears to have experienced complete failure.

Plenty of AWS users took to Twitter to apologise for the outage’s effect on their services. One such complainant was Open Whisper Systems, maker of the Signal secure messaging service. Signal and AWS recently clashed over “domain fronting” , a technique Signal uses to enhance privacy but which AWS doesn’t like because it exposes it to risk.

Signal

@signalapp

Amazon threatens to suspend Signal's AWS account over censorship circumvention: signal.org/blog/looking-b…

18:53 PM - 01 May 2018

AWS vs Parler

The social media platform Parler, which gained immense popularity among conservatives, was banned by AWS after Trump's banning from nearly all other social media platforms.

Amazon Employees For Climate Justice

@amznforclimate

Enough is enough. Amazon hosts Parler on @awscloud.

As Amazon workers, we demand Amazon deny Parler services until it removes posts inciting violence, including at the Presidential inauguration.

We cannot be complicit in more bloodshed and violent attacks on our democracy.

06:55 AM - 09 Jan 2021

“Recently, we’ve seen a steady increase in this violent content on your website, all of which violates our terms,” wrote the faceless AWS Trust & Safety Team. Of course violent content is bad but we understand Parler already makes that clear in its terms of service. Of course we can’t confirm today that because Parler was apparently naïve enough to host those on AWS servers too.

AWS net worth

According to forbes, AWS could be worth nearly $400 billion on a standalone basis.
Given Amazon’s leadership position in the public cloud market and the favorable market dynamics, we expect the company to sustain and build upon its current strong position despite increased competition from the likes of Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud.

Web without AWS: 404

I think it's obviously clear now who's actually running, controlling, censoring and owning the Internet. and if you still have any doubts, I suggest you this blog post by Kashmir Hill where she tries to try the Amazon-free Internet.
https://gizmodo.com/i-tried-to-block-amazon-from-my-life-it-was-impossible-1830565336

Blockchain - The Bigger Picture

Seif-Allah Homrani — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 11:21:22 +0000

Introduction

According to IBM:
Blockchain defined: Blockchain is a shared, immutable ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network. An asset can be tangible (a house, car, cash, land) or intangible (intellectual property, patents, copyrights, branding). Virtually anything of value can be tracked and traded on a blockchain network, reducing risk and cutting costs for all involved.

Why blockchain is important: Business runs on information. The faster it’s received and the more accurate it is, the better. Blockchain is ideal for delivering that information because it provides immediate, shared and completely transparent information stored on an immutable ledger that can be accessed only by permissioned network members. A blockchain network can track orders, payments, accounts, production and much more. And because members share a single view of the truth, you can see all details of a transaction end to end, giving you greater confidence, as well as new efficiencies and opportunities.

Where can we apply Blockchain technology?

Food Safety - Walmart

Walmart has been working with IBM and Hyperledger for over a year on using the blockchain to digitize the food supply chain process. In fact, supply chain is one of the premiere business use cases for blockchain (beyond digital currency). Walmart is using the IBM Food Trust Solution, specifically developed for this use case.

“We built the IBM Food Trust solution using IBM Blockchain Platform, which is a tool or capability that IBM has built to help companies build, govern and run blockchain networks. It’s built using Hyperledger Fabric (the open source digital ledger technology) and it runs on IBM Cloud,” Bridget van Kralingen, IBM’s senior VP for Global Industries, Platforms and Blockchain explained.

Document Signing

With blockchain, you can imagine a world in which documents are embedded in digital code and stored in transparent, shared databases, where they are protected from deletion, tampering, and revision. [https://mydocuments.tn/] is a Tunisian solution made by ATI and UniversaBlockchain collaboration.

Supply Chain

Singapore-based VeChain created a permissioned blockchain-based supply chain to monitor products as they move along from manufacturer to store shelf.

Blockchain Demo

This is a very basic visual introduction to the concepts behind a blockchain by Anders Brownworth introduce the idea of an immutable ledger using an interactive web demo.

This is part two in my basic visual introduction to the concepts behind a blockchain. We build on the concepts from the previous video and introduce public / private key pairs and signing using an interactive web demo.

DEV Community: Seif-Allah Homrani

In a world of digital clouds, who's moving them ?

Introduction

AWS's down means Web's down

Holy Terms vs Censorship-evading

AWS vs Signal

AWS vs Parler

AWS net worth

Web without AWS: 404

Blockchain - The Bigger Picture

Introduction

Where can we apply Blockchain technology?

Food Safety - Walmart

Document Signing

Supply Chain

Blockchain Demo