Browser mining got a pretty nasty name these days. Mainly because webmasters used it without letting visitors know about it, or, even worse, because hackers took control of other sites and injected their mining code into them.
But browser mining doesn't have to be that way. The web, as we know it, is probably the biggest untapped market by the blockchain so far and one that really is a perfect fit: decentralizing revenue on top of decentralized information distribution.
I can really see a future in which webmasters could monetize their web properties using a tiny fraction of their visitors idle computation power, without exposing them to meaningless ads. Just because AdSense is taking the biggest part of the pie right now it doesn't mean it have to be this way.
While this future is relatively distant, small steps are made every day.
One of the projects that aims to do this is JSECoin.
If you follow my posts for more than 3-4 months, then you probably remember a big "scandal", in which I was accused of running a miner code in steem.supply. While this was true and I never denied it - even more, I wrote a few times about it - the wave of criticism got out of hands (as it happens often on Steemit) and it reached a point where the founder of JSECoin himself had to step in and support my position.
And my position was that I couldn't control the way JSECoin displays their warning, and it was their job to do it. Eventually, I came up with my own version of warning(s) but after a few weeks I decided to take that code away from steem.supply. I still use it on other sites I run, by the way, as I still believe in this project.
Many critics suggested at that point that such a system should be made opt-in. In other words, site visitors should willingly choose if they want to give away a small percentage of their CPU as a way to support the site. JSECoin was reluctant to that, and their argument was that "advertising is not opt-in. If it would be, nobody will willingly choose to see ads". Or if they would, it will be a very, very small percentage.
But lately, they changed their mind and decided to actually make JSECoin opt-in. The modification will be rolled out this Friday.
It's important to know that JSECoin was already opt-out, meaning you were presented with a warning about the mining snippet, but you could only opt-out, or decline running that script while browsing the site. With opt-in, visitors are openly expressing their acceptance to the mining script.
What that means for the webmaster running the code? Site visitors will see a bigger warning and they'll be able to choose wether or not they'll agree to donate CPU cycles to the site owner.
It's a very bold step and it will definitely result in some publishers going away from the platform.
But it's also a very significant step towards transparency.
Disclaimer: I support this project and I own a small amount of JSECoin. Links are referral links, so proceed at your own will.
I'm a serial entrepreneur, blogger and ultrarunner. You can find me mainly on my blog at Dragos Roua where I write about productivity, business, relationships and running. Here on Steemit you may stay updated by following me @dragosroua.
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I know the feeling. That's why I created steem.supply, an easy to use and accurate tool for calculating your Steemit rewards |
JSECoin is a very interesting concept of utilizing CPU with javacript code, i agree with showing proper warnings to the user before utilizing their computing power, if user is really interested in the content of your site then he would not mind sharing resources for sometime.
I read your blog and took a look on coinmarketcap and notice that the coin is not listed there...which is really strange!
Do you know why?
On the other side a very interesting concept as this is the first time i hear about JSECoin!
It's still in alpha. It will be listed once they'll release the code as open source. There's a roadmap on their site about this.
Thanks a lot for the info! I will take a look on their site...
This site uses cookies...by proceeding on you give permission for us to....yadda yadda
seen that more than once have you?
and yet...people proceed to visit those sites...
I don't see a rilly big difference from mining.
Yes, completely agree. That's where it will end up, in 3-5 years.
I like it.
I'm seeing the possibility that AdSense promised but never delivered on.
People can make money that way without the middle man.
If i have to choose between advertisement and mining then i would frankly choose mining. I find advertising Intrusive. Some ads these days already come with back door mining script. On one side they are showing you ads and are also mining using your CPU power. This is double edged sword. If the author of a website chooses to mine crypto instead of showing ads and declares it then i am more than willing. But i would like a time limit. If i am on a social network or any website where i stay for long, then allowing them to mine for one hour or 2 hours in completely ok. More than that i may not agree because that would mean that i would have to pay a hectic electricity bill. CPU consume a lot power and give a very small hashing rate.
i don't know why they criticise it if they are using your site they better be thankful as they see ads on other sites one is using minding as a monetisation method
Transparency is usually a good thing. Especially these days when security is a concern. If someone found this was running on their machine without their knowledge that it might trigger virus flags ad then they would have to publicly explain themselves etc etc etc.
This way it is like the cookies warning (like @everittdmickey said) and everyone is used to that these days.
It's an interesting concept that might be worth looking into when I do my next crypto buying round. (just waiting on the SBD price to spike again)
I just wound up mindful of this kind of thing inside the most recent couple of days, however a colleague of mine said that this kind of thing has been going ahead since around 2014, which kinda stunned me.
As I would like to think, on the off chance that you don't think about it (know being the key definition, here), it's obtrusive, wicked, 'dark cap' and in this manner on an indistinguishable level from malware/spyware, and it ought to be dealt with all things considered.
Getting awareness..... very informative post on mining thanks @dragosroua
nace post
These terms just got to technical than I can bear at the moment. I think I need to do more reading to properly fit into this line of discuss.
You have created a beautiful post ... like your post .... Hopefully, everyone will love it ... waiting for the next post.
Bun articolul!