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(Proje Hakkında)

About the Project

Objective

By utilizing existing Internet protocols and services, and making additions to them, the goal is to create a new multi-layered and open-source infrastructure where:

  • Users have ownership over any kind of data they generate, can determine its usage, and ensure the security and continuity of these data,
  • Data can be serialized on a decentralized infrastructure to communicate with each other, enabling easy, fast, and secure access to all data,
  • The source, validity period, and accuracy of data can be determined.

Motivation

The Memoristic Project emerged with the aim of finding solutions to some longstanding problems encountered by both users and developers, as mentioned above, to protect our personal rights and security, to use the available technology more efficiently according to our needs and demands, to develop and improve data sharing and functionality.

For these and similar purposes, it is planned to establish working groups and environments, bring together open-source projects developed in different fields, make changes according to usage and purpose, complete missing parts, prepare RFCs, and introduce a new Internet Protocol and compatible software.

After completing the technical infrastructure and starting to use the protocol, it is envisaged to initiate education and data sharing activities on various subjects such as Identity, Academics, Media, Sustainability, Communication, Reliable & Traceable Resources through different groups.

Primary Problems

During internet usage, many issues that have become habits and considered indispensable pose possible risks, create problems, and complicate usage.

Some of the prioritized problems to be addressed while establishing the protocol infrastructure include:

  • Domain Names

    Data stored on unused domain names due to their paid and time-limited nature, mostly utilized through leasing, may become inaccessible after a certain period. References to such domain names from external sources, such as reference links and email services used on them, will become invalid accordingly.

    Official institutions can easily block users' access to such services and data via the domain name system, which operates through fixed and centralized servers. 1

  • Old, Unclean, Unverified Data and Sources

    Search engines often fail to lead users to reliable and accurate information. Users now have to filter and verify outdated, renewed data themselves. Additionally, verifying the source of obtained information becomes an extra task for users.

    Current algorithms and AI-supported solutions are far from solving these issues.

  • Data Repository

    Data stored on central servers can continue to exist only as long as permitted by the server owners. Particularly, data produced by external contributors are at risk of being removed at any moment. Companies and individuals are not as decisive about the future of their own data as server owners.

    Examples include the closure of numerous Google services or the recent shutdown (by Amazon) of "dpreview," among many others.

  • User Login Processes, Personal Data, Email

    Many institutions and companies with central servers attempt to gather the maximum amount of personal information from users and build their databases. Users are forced to log in with their email addresses, at best, to use these services. Nowadays, this trend is increasing, and users are even required to log in with their email addresses to access any article or blog post on some sites. Users cannot decide how these collected personal data will be used.

    Despite the development of alternative and more secure communication methods, the slow progress of the email infrastructure, existing security vulnerabilities, insufficient two-way encryption, and the aforementioned reasons force its usage. (Additionally, the domain name problem mentioned above also affects the email system. We can lose our data on sites where we logged in with an email address associated with a domain name we decided not to use anymore.)

  • User Profile Management

    Due to some of the reasons mentioned above, users have to create profiles from scratch for each platform they enter, make the desired changes separately on each one, and manage the notifications of the platforms one by one according to their current availability or busyness. Within the Memoristic Project, it is planned to enable users to manage these from a single digital identity wallet2.

  • Traceability

    Because individuals have to use different systems for different tasks, traceability and communication with other users become more difficult. For example, when someone wants to follow the work of an academic, they may need to search for each platform where the work is presented separately. Similarly, developments regarding any academic topic that one wants to follow may require searching through various separate platforms. Although some solutions are reached through applications similar to hashtags within a single environment, they are not sufficient in many cases.

  • Redundant Duplicate Data

    Especially concerning "products," the same data is repeated in every different environment where that product is present. For instance, technical information about a product, despite having the same content, is re-entered each time the product is sold on different platforms. Occasionally, incorrect data entries can misinform customers.

    Information that should be entered "once" by the product owner should be usable in all other environments where information about that product is available. Also, historical information about discontinued products can be used through verified sources.

  • Platform Dependencies

    Some data that users want to share force them to use certain platforms despite having other options. For example, a shared music playlist cannot be opened from another platform with the same content. Datasets created for everyone's use within a certain environment remain limited to that platform, and even if they can be transferred to another environment, contributions from external sources cannot easily converge on a common platform.

    Collaborative work on the same data may not continue in the environment preferred and comfortable for the individual.

  • Data Processing, Authorization, Access Rights

    Data often collaboratively created by independent individuals are claimed by different institutions and companies, and the individuals who put forth this information are not freely allowed to use it. Such data, emerging in different environments and forms, cannot be comparatively analyzed.

    Processes previously possible through APIs in many environments are now increasingly being prevented by the owners of these environments.

  • Verifiable Identity Information, Right to Anonymity

    One of the most important rights of internet users is to remain anonymous when desired. Both the Right to Anonymity and the use of real identity when necessary have not yet reached a complete solution or clarity.

    Authentication methods and the reliability of authenticators need to be resolved and clarified primarily.

    Additionally, it is not yet clear how much of the verified and reliable information will be shared with whom and in what way.

    According to recent reports, even absurd and nonsensical solutions like "checking the user's age by looking at their current appearance through the camera" are being considered to keep children away from harmful environments. This highlights the seriousness of this issue and the need for immediate resolution.

  • Troll Accounts and Fraud

    Especially in financial matters, users who lack sufficient technical knowledge to identify the authenticity and reliability of the other party are more exposed to the risk of fraud.

    Clear methods for determining whether the other party in any matter is a troll account, whether the websites they are directed to are reliable, or the origin of the emails they receive have not yet been established.

  • Notifications & News Sources

    Users have to use different social media accounts, messaging and chat applications, SMS, and email systems preferred by the service provider to receive notifications on any topic. Sometimes, providing personal phone numbers is even necessary to access certain notifications.

Note

The main purpose of the project is not to index the Internet as it is and solve all its problems but to facilitate users' access to and sharing of useful, clean, and reliable information that they decide for themselves.

  1. For example, in recent years, the Turkish Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK) completely blocked access to Wikipedia for a considerable period and occasionally restricted access to platforms like YouTube and Twitter. Recently, access to all sites ending with "vercel.app" (06.12.2023), "readthedocs" (08.12.2023), and "r10.net" (11.12.2023) was banned. ↩

  2. Although resembling those used for cryptocurrencies, the Digital Wallet mentioned here will have different use cases. ↩