Protocol developer explains how decentralized Bluesky really is

Bluesky is based on the decentralized network protocol ' AT Protocol ', but it is often pointed out that 'it is not as decentralized as decentralized SNS such as Mastodon'. In response to this criticism, Brian Newbold, a member of the AT Protocol development team, explains 'What is decentralization in Bluesky?'

Reply on Bluesky and Decentralization | bryan newbold | WhiteWind blog
https://whtwnd.com/bnewbold.net/3lbvbtqrg5t2t

How decentralized is Bluesky really? -- Dustycloud Brainstorms
https://dustycloud.org/blog/how-decentralized-is-bluesky/

Bluesky was originally developed as an example of a social networking service that could be implemented using a distributed network protocol called the AT Protocol. The AT Protocol consists of three main components: a PDS that stores each user's data, a Relay that aggregates the information from each PDS and outputs it as one huge data stream, and AppView that processes the data received from the Relay to generate timelines, search indexes, etc.

Anyone can freely host 'PDS', 'Relay' and 'AppView'. PDS is relatively easy to host, and many core Bluesky enthusiasts host their own PDS servers.

I tried using 'PDS (Personal Data Server)', a mechanism to host Bluesky data on a proprietary server - GIGAZINE

Some users are using AppView to develop their own services, such as the blog posting service ' WhiteWind '. Relay also requires expensive infrastructure to process huge amounts of data, but it is technically possible to host it yourself. Newbold estimates that the cost of hosting a Relay server will be 'at most $512 (about 78,000 yen) per month.'

hrm! that Linode number is quite a bit more expensive than the couple hundred/month that both Alice and I found.

even linode block storage (expensive!) seems to be on the order of $512/month for 5TB?

current relay impl stores most data as files-on-disk; postgresql is an index

— bryan newbold (@bnewbold.net) 2024-11-08T17:15:59.965Z

As mentioned above, the system that underpins Bluesky can technically be hosted by anyone, but it comes at a huge financial cost. For this reason, Christine Lemar Weber, designer of the decentralized SNS protocol 'ActivityPub' used by Mastodon and others, points out that 'Bluesky and the AT Protocol are always backed by companies,' and 'From an economic perspective, Bluesky and the AT Protocol are centralized systems that rely on centralized authority.'

While acknowledging the opinion that 'hosting the AT Protocol requires large resources,' Newbold said, 'the need for large resources does not mean that only for-profit companies can participate. ' Newbold cited Wikipedia and the Debian project as examples of non-profit organizations that use large resources to provide services, and pointed out that there are instances in the Fediverse that have large budgets.

Newbold also pointed out that people have different definitions of the word 'decentralization.' Lemar Weber defines 'decentralization' as 'the result of distributing power throughout the system structure so that no node holds a particular power,' while the Internet standard on centralization and decentralization, RFC 9518 , defines 'decentralization' as 'a state in which there is no need to rely on a single point.' In other words, Bluesky does not meet Lemar Weber's definition of 'decentralization,' but it does meet the definition of RFC 9518.

Lemar Weber said, 'Bluesky's development team is made up of good, talented people.' While expressing his gratitude to Lemar Weber, Newbold said, 'Please do not trust Bluesky or the AT Protocol based solely on the track record of the development team. We are working hard to make people recognize that the AT Protocol itself is legitimate and useful, even if the development team is terrible,' showing his intention to increase the reliability of the protocol's mechanism itself, rather than the reliability of personal trust.