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+# NIP-068 Blinded Nostr Assets
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+Centralized file storage (e.g. Amazon) is great for availability and speed but susceptible to censorship.
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+Decentralized file hosting (for images, etc.) is a difficult problem to solve.
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+Nostr thrives on simplicity, so I'd like to suggest a way of utilizing centralized file storage defensively so that hosts are less likely to censor or deplatform content.
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+An image (or any file) can be encrypted with a password (maybe AES-256-CBC), given a random filename, and uploaded as a BLOB to a centralized host. The note that references the image URI will also contain the information necessary to decrypt the image. When a client loads a note referencing an encrypted image, it will fetch the BLOB and decrypt it locally to display it.
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+Although this increases client load, it prevents the host from assessing the stored content without having knowledge of the particular note that holds the decryption information.
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+This NIP is for defining how a file is encrypted and stored and how it is referenced, retrieved and decrypted in the client so that all clients can consistently recognize and handle blinded assets.
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+The ubiquitous availability of cheap programmatic cloud hosting can be seen as a kind of decentralized mesh we can use to our advantage as long as the content hosted is uncensorable. If the host can't see the content they won't have a reason to censor it. Unless hosts begin to ban encrypted content, this seems fairly robust.
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+If this made Amazon upset and they began to siphon notes from relays to index their blinded assets, we have another tool we can use: zaps https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/224
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+Consequently, if a lightning paywall is put up to prevent an angry host from indexing encrypted content, this also serves as a great generalized way for users to monetize their content.
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+Simply: if enabled, you must zap a note to receive the decryption information to decrypt the media.
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+There are many ways this paywall could be implemented. I'm looking to the nostr community for ideas.
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+AES-256-CBC encryption references
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+- https://stackoverflow.com/a/39412887
+- https://www.npmjs.com/package/aes-js