DINRG

Date: IETF 120, Vancouver (Transcript notes IETF 120; slides reference 125/120)
Chairs: Dirk Kutscher, Lixia Zhang
Note-taker: Shen-Jiao Li

Summary

The Decentralization of the Internet Research Group (DINRG) session focused on the technical and structural challenges of decentralization across messaging, social media moderation, and the emerging era of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Key themes included the difficulties of interoperable end-to-end encryption (E2EE), the centralization risks inherent in decentralized moderation tools (blocklists), and the necessity of a "sovereignty plane" and semantically meaningful naming (DNS-based) to ensure human accountability for AI agents.

Key Discussion Points

1. Chair's Opening Remarks

Speaker: Dirk Kutscher
Slides: chair's open remark
Dirk Kutscher opened the session by outlining the group's focus on analyzing root causes of centralization and studying decentralization approaches. He reminded participants that IRTF operates under research ethics and IPR rules (RFC 7418).

2. From Standards to Users: Leveling the Field for Interoperable E2EE

Speaker: Mallory Knodel
Slides: From Standards to Users: Leveling the Field for Interoperable E2EE
Discussion:
- Mallory Knodel discussed the current landscape of E2EE interoperability, citing the US DOJ case against Apple and the EU Digital Markets Act (DMA).
- Technical hurdles for federated E2EE include private key management, security assessments without full client control, and "bridging" architectures that may disrupt end-to-end properties.
- Concerns were raised regarding metadata expansion in interoperable systems and the "downgrade pathway" where security is negotiated to the lowest common denominator.
- Vittorio Bertola noted that while E2EE protects transport, the "gap at the app" remains, where the service provider can still scan unencrypted data on the endpoint. He also highlighted policy-level hurdles used by gatekeepers to stifle interoperability (e.g., location-based disabling of features).
- Lixia Zhang emphasized that identity and key management are the most fundamental problems for decentralization that lack a widely accepted solution.

3. Community Moderation Practices in Bluesky

Speaker: Saidu Sokoto
Slides: Open or Blocked Skies? Community Moderation Practices in Bluesky
Discussion:
- The presentation examined Bluesky’s "stackable" moderation model, specifically delegable blocklists.
- Research showed that blocklists amplify moderation impact by 100x compared to individual blocks. However, a significant trend toward centralization was observed: only 0.043% of users create blocklists, and the top 100 lists (controlled by just 79 users) cover 66% of all subscriptions.
- Data suggests that being blocklisted does not "silence" users; instead, blocked users often become more active or toxic (the Streisand effect).
- The study concluded that community blocking segregates social environments rather than removing participants from the network entirely.

4. Human-Centric Infrastructure for the AGI Era

Speaker: Arno Taddei (presenting for Frédéric)
Slides: Designing Human-Centric, Decentralized Digital Infrastructure for the AGI Era
Discussion:
- Arno Taddei introduced the "Phase Framework" (Federated Artificial Substrate Evolution) to address the architectural deficit in handling autonomous AI agents.
- The proposal argues for a "Sovereignty Plane" where every AI agent is "entangled" with a responsible human principal via cryptographic identity.
- The framework is based on four laws: Persistence, Adaptive Complexity, Tensi-stability (using ethics as a damping factor), and Continuity (Omega - distributed control).
- Frédéric (remote) emphasized that the current infrastructure was built for machines, not for a society of agentic AI. He argued for a quantitative framework to calculate the outcomes of decentralization decisions.
- An audience member noted that while AGI is currently compute-intensive and centralized, the history of mainframes-to-PCs suggests a future shift toward the edge.

5. Identifier Design in the Age of AGI

Speaker: Lixia Zhang
Slides: Why Naming Matters: Identifier Design for Decentralized Digital Infrastructure in the Age of AGI
Discussion:
- Lixia Zhang critiqued "Zooko's Triangle," arguing that the perceived trilemma is based on a narrow definition of decentralization as "absence of coordination."
- She argued that Decentralized Identifiers (DIDs) often fail: DID Web inherits DNS centralization, Ledger-based DIDs rely on centralized lookup nodes (e.g., Infura), and DID Keys lack the semantic meaning required to establish trust.
- The proposal is to use DNS as a globally unique, semantically meaningful, and scalable namespace while decoupling it from trust management. Entities should have "Global Names" but "Local Trust" anchors.
- Mallory Knodel questioned the role of intermediaries (e.g., Google/NYU) in controlling these names. Lixia responded that the goal is to allow autonomous organizations to manage their own namespace and trust anchors rather than relying on a few dominant global providers.

Decisions and Action Items

No formal consensus decisions were made, as per IRTF procedures.
Action Item: Participants are encouraged to join the DINRG mailing list to continue the discussion on the "Sovereignty Plane" and naming requirements for AGI.

Next Steps

The chairs suggested a potential informal follow-up meeting later in the week for those interested in further technical deep-dives into E2EE and naming.
Future sessions will continue to explore the research questions posed by Mallory Knodel regarding the survival of E2EE properties across interoperable systems.