Ask HN: Is it possible to make a decentralized version of a VPN? Blockchain?
Perhaps even federated? What would be the pros and cons of such approach?
At the moment, most VPN servers are hosted in high bandwidth locations. However, the servers are still "centralized" in many level the least which is ownership. Of course, a decentralized VPN service crosses lines with mesh networks and peer-to-peer architectures that potentially make the need for VPNs useless. The thought, nevertheless, might still be worth exploring. Let me know how you think about it. Thanks This has been tried a few times. People mesh their tinc VPN meshes together, but they face the same issues that commercial VPN providers have. You get a few bad apples in the mesh and the entire thing gets ripped offline after a few scary letters from law enforcement or lawyers. Or did you mean something else?