2. Goals of the SAFE Network
Furthermore, understanding which features are at the core, and which are higher level or add-ons will help to focus development and create a stronger foundation made to last. The separation between core goals and non-core goals is unofficial, but an attempt to rank the importance of features.
2.1 SAFE Network Core Goals (unofficial)
The primary goal of SAFE Network is becoming completely autonomous; impossible to change, break or stop by any single entity or group of actors.
The first iteration of the SAFE Network will achieve the following core goals (discussion):
- de-centralize ownership of certain network functions so that they cannot be changed or disabled by any group of actors(*3)
- function: identity proofing
- function: access control
- function: communication
- function: information storage
- protect all information perpetually(*1) from unpermitted access, interception, tampering or deletion
- preserve stored information, and end-to-end communications, and global access to these perpetually(*1) and for free(*2)
- provide a digital medium of exchange
- (*1) The meaning of perpetual is not clear yet. 30 years?
- (*2) Free, except for the cost of broadband access and the user terminal.
- (*3) That the threshold is to making changes is unclear yet. A majority?
A future iteration is expected to achieve the following additional goals
- function: computation
Trustless network, autonomous network, and de-centralized network may be very similar ways to express the same goal.
2.2 SAFE Network Non-Core Goals (unofficial)
Certain goals not included in the previous section, but on the roadmap, could be considered non-essential, or merely good-to-have. This is a list of such goals, and is subject to change:
Independent but important add-ons
- multiple identities
- de-centralized name resolution
- CLI interface and API
Convenient and promoting adoption
- SAFE Browser
- Language bindings
Nice to have but not as important
- RDF Format
2.3 Benefits
Benefits will be the results of SAFE Network achieving its goals. Many individual benefits may not be unique to SAFE Network, but the combination of a large number of them might be.
Relevant to the user
- No censorship
- Perfect privacy
- Full control over own data
- No loss of data or access issues ever
- No loss of ability to communicate ever
- Always on; 100% availability
Cryptocurrency benefits relevant to users
- No transaction fees
- Anonymous and untraceable transactions
Open Questions
Does permanent availability of published data not contradict having full control over own data?
Relevant to the developer
- No need to implement and maintain reliable data storage
- No need to implement and maintain basic security measures
- No need to implement authentication
- Get paid for development of software
- Inherently scaling storage infrastructure
Relevant to technical progress
- Scalable immutable transaction ledger
- Scalable cryptocurrency (without a block chain)
Relevant to our planet
- Consensus at low power consumption
- Secure cryptocurrency at low power cost (in contrast to PoW)
2.4 Roadmap and Beyond
This is intended to be an immutable record, allowing over time a comparison of prediction to actual. Official Project Roadmap and a summary:
- Alpha 2 - Live - Interact with a network of MaidSafe vaults using SAFEBrowser - PUT limits apply, minimum forum membership level required. Data will not be carried forward to next releases.
- Self-Authentication - logging into network without centralized permissioning
- Self-Encryption - splitting files into chunks, hashing, encryption
- Disjoint Sections - splitting (and combining/) sections based on network size
- Message Relay - early iteration - messaging capability without signature verification
- SAFE Fleming - A guess August 2019 - PARSEC, Node Ageing, Secure Messaging, and potentially (!) vaults at home and test SafeCoin. Since then, there was a staff reduction in 2019. Actual delivery of a first Fleming testnet was in April 2021, but with more features than initially planned. Since the staff reduction, the focus has been on “feature completeness.”
- SAFE Maxwell - A guess May 2020 - The scope was TBD but could include: test SafeCoin, wallet, vaults at home, farming, identity management, spam handling. This was the plan before the staff reduction.