So, I work for a company that provides CDN services so take that into account, but, putting on my personal, not work, head, this type of service worries me for two reasons.
1. It's asking website owners to install JavaScript that uses the website owner's visitors' bandwidth for purposes other than visiting the website. That feels misaligned and not something I'd expect as a user visiting a website.
2. It also puts me, the end user, in an odd position because I don't control the content that is being stored and served from my machine.
Putting those two things together I find myself worrying about the following scenario: I visit site example.com that serves content that is legal in my jurisdiction. example.com is using arc.io and while I'm browsing example.com some content that is illegal in my jurisdiction is served to someone. This puts me in a position where illegal content was stored and served from my machine.
I think that puts me in a dangerous position just for surfing example.com.
If I signed up for Arc Rewards then I might get paid for storing and serving illegal content.
> It's asking website owners to install JavaScript that uses the website owner's visitors' bandwidth for purposes other than visiting the website.
We endeavor to create a communal web where everyone cooperates and benefits, and we want to make that as easy as just visiting your favorite website. Everyone shares a little surplus bandwidth to help each other load the web faster, sustain their favorite sites, and earn rewards. Everyone wins.
That's a different web than the current web. Right now, with the current web, no one shares and nothing is shared with you. The web isn't communal; it's adversarial. Ads interrupt you and trackers stalk you. We want to change that.
It will take time. Just like how the once frightful notions of getting into a stranger's car (Uber) or sleeping in a stranger's house (Airbnb) are now banal. These things take time.
But, of course, if preferred, an opt out is two clicks away. Sites with Arc must display Arc's widget in the lower left so visitors can learn about Arc and easily opt out (or back in).
> I think that puts me in a dangerous position just for surfing example.com.
When one visits nytimes.com, they don't know what files will be downloaded and cached on their computer before they hit [enter]. They trust nytimes.com not to hand them inappropriate content (porn, violence, etc).
Arc has that same responsibility -- to only cache appropriate, legal content. It's our responsibility to get that right. And we will.
- Sites, and their content, are reviewed and vetted before they get access to Arc's CDN.
- Automated checks are run on assets for appropriateness, a la Google's SafeSearch Cloud Vision API. Inappropriate content never enters the network.
On top of that, only fragmented, encrypted data is cached on devices. Devices never receive the full puzzle -- only a single, fragmented puzzle piece, scrambled beyond recognition.
Hope that helps.
Also, and wholly unrelated: big fan of Movie Code. =]
Honestly, I consider this on the same level of malicious behavior as if a site added a bitcoin mining script on their page to "share" some of my CPU. By your own admission, opt out is two clicks away, and even that requires you to 1) recognize the Arc logo and 2) know what it does and that you can opt out.
I hope Arc.io gets added to most popular ad/tracking/mining blocker list soon. I hate when sites do something you did not consent with. Their site including - they ask to opt out without offering to opting in first.
1. It's asking website owners to install JavaScript that uses the website owner's visitors' bandwidth for purposes other than visiting the website. That feels misaligned and not something I'd expect as a user visiting a website.
2. It also puts me, the end user, in an odd position because I don't control the content that is being stored and served from my machine.
Putting those two things together I find myself worrying about the following scenario: I visit site example.com that serves content that is legal in my jurisdiction. example.com is using arc.io and while I'm browsing example.com some content that is illegal in my jurisdiction is served to someone. This puts me in a position where illegal content was stored and served from my machine.
I think that puts me in a dangerous position just for surfing example.com.
If I signed up for Arc Rewards then I might get paid for storing and serving illegal content.