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@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Clients can use LBRY to publish, host, find, download, and pay for content — b
Before LBRY, publishers had to choose between a centralized host such as Amazon or Youtube, or a protocol like Bittorrent. Centralized platforms suffer from several problems because their incentives are not aligned with the incentives of their users. Hosts engage in rent-seeking behavior, often extracting 30-55% of creator profits. They enforce opaque and arbitrary rules on creators, and change those rules without warning or community input. They choose to censor content at the behest of repressive regimes around the world, in exchange for access to more users and higher profits for themselves. Before LBRY, publishers had to choose between a centralized host such as Amazon or Youtube, or a protocol like Bittorrent. Centralized platforms suffer from several problems because their incentives are not aligned with the incentives of their users. Hosts engage in rent-seeking behavior, often extracting 30-55% of creator profits. They enforce opaque and arbitrary rules on creators, and change those rules without warning or community input. They choose to censor content at the behest of repressive regimes around the world, in exchange for access to more users and higher profits for themselves.
Bittorrent does not have these faults, but it has problems of its own. It is only useful if one already knows the infohash of the content they seek, and there is no way to discover these hashes within the protocol. Even using an external search engine does not provide a comprehensive list of what is available on the network. The are no incentives for users to seed content, and Bittorrent largely works because users earn status through private communities, are nice, or simply fail to understand what their client is doing. Finally, a lot of content on BitTorrent infringes on copyright, which taints the protocol's public perception and overshadows the many positives it has. Bittorrent does not have these faults, but it has problems of its own. It is only useful if one already knows the infohash of the content they seek, and there is no way to discover these hashes within the protocol. Even using an external search engine does not provide a comprehensive list of what is available on the network. There are no incentives for users to seed content, and Bittorrent largely works because users earn status through private communities, are nice, or simply fail to understand what their client is doing. Finally, a lot of content on BitTorrent infringes on copyright, which taints the protocol's public perception and overshadows the many positives it has.
LBRY offers a significant improvement over both options. It uses a blockchain to provide the good parts of a centralized host (a single place to store data, find interesting content, build a brand, and get rewarded for contributing), while removing the downsides (opaque and arbitrary rules, rent extraction, censorship). It is public and no one can be censored or blocked from using it. Its rules are clearly defined and cannot be changed without community consensus. The blockchain records everything that is published to LBRY, so interesting content is easy to find and infringing content is difficult to hide. Accessing the blockchain data is free, the costs for downloading content are transparent, and publishers earn 100% of the price they set. LBRY offers a significant improvement over both options. It uses a blockchain to provide the good parts of a centralized host (a single place to store data, find interesting content, build a brand, and get rewarded for contributing), while removing the downsides (opaque and arbitrary rules, rent extraction, censorship). It is public and no one can be censored or blocked from using it. Its rules are clearly defined and cannot be changed without community consensus. The blockchain records everything that is published to LBRY, so interesting content is easy to find and infringing content is difficult to hide. Accessing the blockchain data is free, the costs for downloading content are transparent, and publishers earn 100% of the price they set.