Introducing Tent

2012-08-22T18:05:00Z

Tent is a new protocol for open, distributed social networking.

What makes Tent different?

Tent is decentralized, not federated or centralized. Any Tent server can connect to any other Tent server. All features are available to any server as first-class citizens. Anyone can host their own Tent server. Tent servers can also be run as Tor hidden services to create a social darknet for at-risk organizers and activists. Anyone can write applications that connect to Tent in order to display or create user content.

Relationships are between users, independent of their service providers, so users take their data and relationships with them when they change Tent service providers. Every user decides which other users can follow them and what information will be shared with each of their followers.

You are your memories and relationships

We use social networks to advertise our identities, communicate with friends, families, co-workers, customers, and brands. The content we create in the form of messages, uploaded media, and social graphs is not only valuable, it has come to define each of us. This information, our relationships and our data needs to be under our own control. When a user leaves a social service provider for any reason, that user should be able to take their relationships, not just a copy of their data, with them. Tent lets them.

Planning for the Future

Tent supports extensible formats for post types and profile information. As developers' needs change they are free to create new open formats for data exchange. Tent is built on HTTPS, JSON and OAuth, each of which handles hundreds of millions of transactions online each day. We designed Tent to grow and adapt with its users.

The Tent Ecosystem

Tent is not specifying the economics of an ecosystem. There will be many options for users, from free to paid to self hosted, from ad-supported to advertising-free, with providers that serve different market segments and types of users. Since anyone can set up a Tent server or become a service provider, niche needs should quickly be met, based on demand.

There are many spectrums of need:

technically experienced	inexperienced
rich	poor
ad tolerant	ad intolerant
verified	pseudonyms
public	private
centralized	distributed

Next steps

The first Tent server implementation will be available as an open source repository very soon. A hosted version for users unwilling or unable to host their own will follow quickly.

In the meantime, we encourage anyone with feedback or suggestions on the protocol or who is developing apps or services supporting Tent to add your services to the list in the GitHub repository via pull request. The same goes for post-types and profile info-types: a community site will launch soon, for now, use pull requests or reach out directly: info@tent.io

Read more about Tent in the FAQ and developer documentation.

The Tent Manifesto

2012-08-22T18:00:00Z

Every user has the right to freedom of expression.

Free speech is a necessary feature of all open societies. Speech can not be free if communication is centralized or intermediated. Users must be able to say anything to anyone they want on their own terms.

Every user has the right to control their own data.

This includes who can access the data they create and how that data is later used.

Every user has the right to choose and change their social services providers.

This includes the right to negotiate reasonable terms of service collectively or individually.

Every user has the right to host their own social services.

All social service providers must be treated equally, regardless of the number of user accounts hosted.

Every user has the right to communicate with any other user, regardless of their service provider.

No service provider shall interfere with the communications of any group or pair of users, or exclude any users on the basis of their service provider.

Every user has the right to take their data and relationships with them.

User relationships, like content, belong to the user. When changing service providers, users have a right to transfer their relationships and data, and for those relationships and data to be forgotten by the former provider.

Every user has the right to choose their own name.

Pesudonyms, multiple accounts, and anonymity are an integral part of communications and must not be restricted.

Different users have different needs.

No single company, product, or platform can solve them all equally. The only ecosystems capable of serving these needs are protocol-based and decentralized. No user's needs need be served poorly for others' needs to be served.

Communication must be decentralized.

Only decentralized systems provide protection from outside control. Decentralized systems limit the consequences of a single element failing. Centralized systems by nature limit what can be shared and by whom. In distributed systems, users have the power.

Communication protocols must be standardized.

All communication from spoken language to digital packets requires a basic set of shared ideas. Global communication systems require a greater degree of detail to be interoperable. These standards must be available to and extensible by the community of users in order to adapt to changing needs.

The internet is capable of more.

Closed and fragmented systems have stifled growth and change. An open social web will create a new generation of tools, services, and content impossible in today's systems.

Conversations change the world.

Every revolution, whether political, scientific, or ideological began as a conversation. The rules, conventions, and ethics of communication can be determined only by those participating. Conversation is too important to trust to any third party.

We're introducing Tent, an open protocol for distributed social networks. Everyone controls what happens to their content.