Difference between revisions of "About"

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(updated centralization notes)
m (wording fix to centralized section)
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<big>'''Is Open-Transactions [[CENTRALIZED|centralized]]?'''</big>
 
<big>'''Is Open-Transactions [[CENTRALIZED|centralized]]?'''</big>
* The vision is not of a central server that you must trust. Rather, the vision is of federated servers you don't have to trust.
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* No—quite the opposite. Open-Transactions is highly '''decentralized'''.
 
* Typical centralized servers have power over their users, but in OT, '''no server has power over the clients it serves''', because:
 
* Typical centralized servers have power over their users, but in OT, '''no server has power over the clients it serves''', because:
* An OT server cannot change user transactions—it merely notarizes them.
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# An OT server does not control user transactions—it merely notarizes them.
* Anyone can operate an OT server, and users can go to any OT server to notarize transactions. Thus OT servers compete with each other to attract users to use their notary services.
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# Anyone can operate an OT server, and users can go to any OT server to notarize transactions. Thus OT servers compete with each other to attract users to use their notary services.
* Anyone can download an OT client, and use it to execute transactions on any OT server, or any group of OT servers.
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# Anyone can download an OT client, and use it to execute transactions on any OT server, or any group of OT servers.
* OT uses triple-signed receipts, so transaction parties have independent cryptographic proof of transactions and balances.
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# OT uses triple-signed receipts, so transaction parties have independent cryptographic proof of transactions and balances.
* OT servers do not store user assets. Rather, cryptocurrencies are stored in voting pools so the server can't steal them.
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# OT servers do not store user assets. Rather, cryptocurrencies are stored in voting pools so the server can't steal them.
  
 
In every way, '''the user is in control, not the server'''—even when you're using servers you do not trust. These characteristics generate a '''federated''' network architecture—similar to the internet, and it has the same virtues as the internet—openness, decentralization, resilience, censorship-resistance, and user control.
 
In every way, '''the user is in control, not the server'''—even when you're using servers you do not trust. These characteristics generate a '''federated''' network architecture—similar to the internet, and it has the same virtues as the internet—openness, decentralization, resilience, censorship-resistance, and user control.
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Bitcoin donation address: 1NtTPVVjDsUfDWybS4BwvHpG2pdS9RnYyQ
 
 
'''IRC:''' #opentransactions at irc.freenode.net
 
 
Mailing list: [email protected]
 
 
[http://opentransactions.org/mailman/listinfo/ot-dev_opentransactions.org Subscribe to mailing list]
 
  
 
[[Components and GNU Licensing]]
 
[[Components and GNU Licensing]]
 
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[[Vulnerabilities|Potential vulnerabilities]] of Open-Transactions
 
[[Vulnerabilities|Potential vulnerabilities]] of Open-Transactions

Revision as of 16:16, 3 October 2014