A P2P Architecture for Social Networking

Social networking systems are usually huge centralized systems owned by a single company. However, this solution has many drawbacks (e.g., lack of privacy, lack of anonymity, risks of censorship, and operating costs). This chapter proposes a novel P2P system that leverages existing, widespread, and stable technologies such as DHTs and BitTorrent. In particular, it introduces a key-based identity system and a model of social relations for distributing content efficiently among interested readers. The proposed system, called Blogracy, is a micro-blogging social networking system focused on (1) anonymity and resilience to censorship, (2) authenticatable content, and (3) semantic interoperability using activity streams. This chapter presents the model and the implementation of the Blogracy system, discusses the experimentations to study its behavior, and presents their results regarding (1) communication delays for some simulations of node churn, (2) delays measured in test operations over PlanetLab in direct communication, and (3) through the I2P anonymizing network.