Goo.gl and Bit.ly are two of the most famous link shortening service providers on the web and have delivered through the years. However, now that we have come to the open-source era, there could be a need for a decentralized URL shortener service.
Why?
A recent case involving Andreas M Antonopoulos, the famous author of the crypto guidebook “Mastering Bitcoin” has raised concerns that over time, centralized link shortening services could stop the spread of the good news about cryptocurrencies and even blockchain.
On November 3, a Twitter user, Wagna Santaner, who had downloaded one of Andreas’s crypto guides, alerted the author that link shortening service provider Bit.ly had blocked crypto-related links embedded in the book.
@aantonop why is https://t.co/AoYLleiBXx complaining on your book shortened links? They don’t point to any harmful location at all! pic.twitter.com/ylgUkRTcYi
— Wagner Santana (@wagnersantana74) November 3, 2018
This prompted the author to tweet a complaint to the service providers, especially with regards to the fact that around 200 Bit.ly links were embedded in his new book “Mastering Ethereum” which will be launched in four weeks time.
“Why are you blocking http://bit.ly links to crypto-currency sites?” Andreas asked in a tweet.
“I’m about to publish my 4th book, and it has about 200 http://bit.ly links in it. If you are going to block links, I will need to remove all 200 and replace them with a competitor[.]”
The big deal is that at the time of writing this article, link shortening service Bit.ly have not made any official response on why they blocked the crypto related links.
A Decentralized URL Shortner Will Rescue The Situation
Understandably, this is not the first time that a centralized entity is restricting the movement of cryptocurrency material. Earlier this year, media giants Facebook and Google also banned crypto related ads before making a turnaround in July.
On this basis, it seems the blockchain and crypto industry will have to come up with a decentralized URL shortener service that will be used to promote its links across the internet and of course e-books.
This was the notion raised by commentators on Andrea’s tweet with a particular user (Bluesplinter) referring to a statement which often comes up on the author’s podcast series and other materials.
Don’t rely on bitly or ANY shortener service. They are all a single point of failure.
Not your keys, not your bitcoin?
Not your shortner, not your link. ?
— Steve Blackwood (@Bluesplinter) November 3, 2018
A decentralized URL shortener service https://shrtco.de/ is already available, but it seems that more would be needed if the crypto good news would be spread freely on the internet.
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