LBRY

LBRY is a blockchain-based file-sharing and payment network that powers decentralized platforms, primarily social networks and video platforms. The video-sharing websites built upon it, such as LBRY.tv and Odysee, have been described as alternatives to YouTube.

LBRY
Founded2015 (2015)
OwnerLBRY Inc.
Founder(s)Jeremy Kauffman, Jimmy Kiselak, Alex Grintsvayg, Mike Vine, Josh Finer
Key people
  • CEO: Jeremy Kauffman
  • CTO: Alex Grintsvayg
URLlbry.com
LBRY protocol
Developer(s)LBRY
Stable release
0.17.3.2 / November 26, 2019 (2019-11-26)[1]
Repositorygithub.com/lbryio
Written inC++[2]
PlatformWindows, macOS, Linux, Android, iOS[3]
LicenseMIT License[1]
Websitelbry.com

History

LBRY Inc., which builds the LBRY protocol and the platform based upon it, was founded in May 2015 by Jeremy Kauffman and Jimmy Kiselak.[4][5] Through 2015 and 2016 they were joined by Mike Vine, Josh Finer, and Alex Grintsvayg who they also described as co-founders.[6][7][8] Kauffman, Kiselak, and Grintsvayg all attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where they played ultimate frisbee together.[8] Kauffman remains LBRY's chief executive officer, Grintsvayg is chief technology officer, and Finer is the director of operations and analytics.[9][10] Both the company name and the LBRY project are pronounced "library".[9]

Odysee, a video website built by LBRY Inc. using their LBRY protocol, entered beta in September 2020 and officially launched that December. As of December 2020, 400,000 people had posted 5 million videos on Odysee, and the site had 8.7 million monthly active users.[9] In October 2017, LBRY Inc. released a media hosting site built atop the protocol called spee.ch.[11][12] It stopped being supported in December 2019, in favor of LBRY Inc.'s LBRY.tv website.[13][12]

Technology

The LBRY protocol is a decentralized file-sharing and payment network built using blockchain and BitTorrent technology.[14] It allows anyone to create an account and register content that cannot be deleted by the company.[15] LBRY uses BitTorrent technology to serve content without relying on their own servers by using peer-to-peer file-sharing.[16] The LBRY projects are open source.[14]

Due to the way blockchain is designed, there is no way for LBRY Inc. to moderate at the blockchain level their users or the content that they upload.[4] LBRY Inc. does moderate content on the websites they build on top of the protocol.[4] Most people access the protocol through the LBRY platform: websites including LBRY.tv and Odysee which are built on top of the LBRY blockchain.[4][9] Creators can record video content to the LBRY blockchain, as well as other digital content including music, images, podcasts, and e-books.[14]

LBRY Inc. also maintains their own cryptocurrency, "LBRY credits" (LBC), which they use as a part of a digital store they have built based on the LBRY blockchain. Using this currency, creators can charge viewers to stream their content or earn tips. Users of the platform earn LBC through using the platform and inviting others to it.[14]

Usage and reception

The LBRY platform's video sharing websites have been described as an alternative to YouTube.[4]

A now-defunct media-hosting website built by LBRY Inc. on top of the LBRY blockchain, called spee.ch, was used by groups such as Deterrence Dispensed to upload 3D printed firearm blueprints.[12][13] When LBRY Inc. stopped supporting spee.ch in favor of their new site, LBRY.tv, Deterrence Dispensed moved to LBRY.tv.[17]

The LBRY platform experienced a surge in popularity in late 2020 and early 2021, and LBRY Inc. said in January 2021 that their new user sign-ups had increased 250% from the previous month. Nathaniel Popper writing for the New York Times reported that many of the new users appeared to be supporters of former United States president Donald Trump, white supremacists, and gun rights advocates who were suspended from YouTube.[4] Robert Hackett and David Z. Morris writing for Fortune attributed the increased interest in LBRY and other blockchain-based platforms to the choice by Twitter and other popular social networks to ban Trump and many others after the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.[16]

Computer scientist and online extremism researcher Megan Squire described challenges faced by blockchains such as LBRY and the social networks built atop them: "As a technology it is very cool, but you can't just sit there and be a Pollyanna and think that all information will be free... There will be racists, and people will shoot each other. It's going to be the total package."[4]

Moderation

Due to the way blockchain is designed, there is no way for LBRY Inc. to moderate at the blockchain level their users or the content that they upload.[4] LBRY Inc. does moderate content on the websites they build on top of the protocol; on LBRY's platform, Odysee guidelines prohibit content including pornography and promotion of violence or terrorism.[4][9] Most people access the protocol through the LBRY platform: websites including LBRY.tv and Odysee which are built on top of the LBRY blockchain.[4][9]

Kauffman has criticized YouTube's content policies as "far too strict", pointing to the platform's decision to remove an interview with Scott Atlas, formerly a healthcare policy advisor to the Trump administration, that contained COVID-19 misinformation.[9] When asked about the use of LBRY Inc.'s sites to host blueprints for 3D printed guns, Kauffman has said that he would only remove the files from his websites if courts deem them illegal. Champe Barton writing for The Trace has said Kauffman "signal[ed] his support" for the distribution of such blueprints by sharing them on his personal Twitter account.[18]

References
  1. "lbryio/lbrycrd". GitHub. Lbry. January 29, 2021. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  2. "Contributor's Guide". LBRY.tech. Lbry. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  3. "Get LBRY". LBRY. Lbry. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  4. Popper, Nathaniel (January 28, 2021). "They found a way to limit Big Tech's power: Using the design of Bitcoin". The New York Times. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  5. Kauffman, Jeremy (May 24, 2015). "The LBRY Opens". LBRY. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  6. Vine, Mike (October 22, 2015). "Mike Vine Joins LBRY as Technology Evangelist". LBRY. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  7. Bryan, Samuel (January 6, 2016). "LBRY Means Business With Addition of Josh Finer, MBA". LBRY. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  8. Bryan, Samuel (June 7, 2016). "New Core Teammate Is An Ultimate Wizard: Meet Grin". LBRY. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  9. Ha, Anthony (December 7, 2020). "Odysee aims to build a more independent video platform". TechCrunch. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  10. "The Team". LBRY. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  11. Slattery, Brinck (October 30, 2017). "Always GIF Responsibly: Introducing Spee.ch". LBRY. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  12. Hanrahan, Jake (May 20, 2019). "3D-printed guns are back, and this time they are unstoppable". Wired UK. ISSN 1357-0978. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  13. Zarebczan, Thomas (December 8, 2019). "lbryio/spee.ch@ad87e2b". GitHub. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  14. Prakash, Abhishek (April 5, 2020). "LBRY: A Blockchain-based Decentralized YouTube Alternative". It's FOSS. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  15. Ovide, Shira (January 26, 2021). "What is a Blockchain? Is It Hype?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  16. Hackett, Robert; Morris, David Z. (January 27, 2021). "Tesla, GameStop, and the power of 'meme stocks'". Fortune. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  17. "Deterrence Dispensed". Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  18. Barton, Champe (July 25, 2019). "As Social Networks Crack Down, 3D-Printed Gun Community Moves to New Platforms". The Trace. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
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