DeroDNS – Decentralized Contact Manager

Decentralization will significantly change our concept of DNS (domain name service)

The concept of DNS domain name service is changing. In the decentralized world DNS is not really a service anymore. We will start using the term public key identity. The user no longer pays a centralized authority to be able to use a .com or other dot addresses. A user is always under the scrutiny of these organizations to hold their domain address but never has full control of this address. Centralized authorities like GoDaddy or Name Cheap can seize or shut down a DNS for whatever reason they want. They have the power to literally destroy an online business by simple seizure. In the new world of mass censorship that we now live in this is going to happen a lot more.

If you intend to build a business using a centralized domain name it now carries a lot more risk to your business and brand. As the development of decentralized platforms increases, governments become more authoritarian pretty much making everything illegal and AI can hack a centralized server in minutes the idea of centralized domain name services will some day be history.

With decentralization your public payment address on any blockchain can be your identity and your signature can verify information by signing your entries into a blockchain. No one can modify your entries or information. Your public key signature will essentially become your brand, your ID, a link to your web site and in many cases a business identity.

In the case of DeroDNS this is all captured in a smart contract. Users can identify themselves using their Dero public address. Others can look up information about that public address using the DeroDNS app. This type of identity is all possible today with encryption and is far more secure in terms of identifying a person than even a drivers license. The public key identity becomes a trusted source while giving users the option to remain anonymous.

What is a decentralized contact manager?

We all use some sort of contact manager. All Android devices link up to Google contacts, addresses and calendars. There are two problems with the way this technology manages your information.

The first problem is its all cloud based which means there is a central server under corporate control that someone is monitoring and managing. Today the managing is done using AI. The same holds true for web domain names. Corporations could do just about anything with your data or domain name. Maybe you decide to exercise freedom of speech in the United States. Your domain name could end up being seized, de-listed from search engines or deliberately DNS attacked.

The second problem with centralized systems is cyber attacks or EMP weapon attacks which unfortunately is becoming more and more likely. The world has not seen what a large scale cyber attack or EMP weapon could do. Both have the potential to bring society to a complete stop.

In a decentralized system your information is available to the masses regardless of internet censoring and cyber attacks. If an EMP weapon was used it would take out centralized data centers but will not take down a entire decentralized system.

Why would anyone use a decentralized contact manager?

Lets discuss how something like DeroDNS could be used. First the architecture. It is built using a Dero Smart Contract. This smart contract functions much like a database but this database is decentralized meaning there is a copy of your entry on every machine that hosts a Dero node. Depending on the application all or some of this data can be made readable by the public.

Why is there a cost to post and edit entries? Because these entries are hosted on a blockchain. There is a benefit to on chain data with some cost. It significantly reduces spam making for a much cleaner dataset. This potentially means real people behind the entries not bots or AI.

Decentralized contact manager hosted in a privacy based blockchain has some big advantages. First it can allow for full anonymity which is what we recommend. If you are going to add an entry do not use real names. It is not necessary nor required. Even though its labeled as a contact manager or place to post domain names the user can chose to remain completely anonymous by using alias names, decentralized web hosted addresses and other decentralized communication tools such as Session. Users can still just post standard web domain names, there are zero restrictions. The next thing to consider is there is nothing stopping a user from posting an entry or updating an entry at any time.

Lets talk about a decentralized central point of contact …

Example…. You make a DeroDNS entry and the community knows your entry number is 34 along side your Dero public address. Only a user with control of the private key could make or update that entry. You provide a controversial news web site link, again exercising your freedom of speech. It turns out the hosting provider decided to shut down that website for whatever reason and then you get another email that your domain name is also being seized. You decide to rehost your site with a different domain name on a different server. Of course you just lost all your web traffic because users have no idea how or where to find your new site and you can bet Google is not going to help them. This is where DeroDNS shines. You could simply make an update to entry number 34. Now users have the ability to see not only did you change servers but you had to change domain names as well. They can be confident you are the person that made these changes based on your Dero signature so if your doing eCommerce they will know its still the same person they are doing business with. Where this really works well is when you change from a centralized domain name to a decentralized link such as IPFS, ZeroNet, Qortal or Onion or various decentralized DNS like .bit domain names.

How about another example which actually happened a few years ago. Facebook had a major outage taking down Facebook and WhatsApp messaging. It pretty much stopped all major texting applications. Lets say you needed to get an emergency text out at this time. Example to an international contact. How would you get them to make contact with you in a grid down scenario and how would you establish a new system of communication proving you are the actual person at the other end of the communication. Again this is where a decentralized contact manager could help. Both users know who is tied to a specific Dero address or DeroDNS entry. They could go to the DeroDNS app and see if their contact has made an update like added a Session ID or post another way to make contact in the message section. There is a much higher chance the Dero blockchain will be up and running while Facebook scrambles to bring billions of users back online.

Lets say you lost your Session key maybe your mobile device was stolen but still have your Dero seed phrase. You can make an update to your Session key in DeroDNS and the public will know it is still you. There are many benefits of a decentralized central point of contact. The list of uses and scenarios will likely continue to grow as censorship and wars take out data centers and bring down free speech.