[Ilc] Welcome to the ILC list

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Thanks for subscribing to the Internet-level consensus mailing list.
Now that we've got 50+ people on the mailing list, let's start the
discussion.

Consensus is the task of a agreeing on a particular value among
multiple valid inputs in a distributed system.  This problem is at the
heart of fault-tolerant replication and distributed transaction
processing.

An Internet-level consensus mechanism is one that accommodates the
decentralized nature of the Internet to agree on values without
relying on a centralized authority for configuration.  Specifically,
the goal is to achieve consensus in settings where there may be
Internet-wide benefit from agreement, yet the security concerns of
participants and the multi-national nature of the network preclude any
globally-acceptable consortium in which to concentrate trust.

We created this mailing list on the hypothesis that there's an unmet
need for this kind of Internet-level consensus.  So if you have
applications for such a technology, please speak up.

Other good questions to discuss:  What kind of properties do you think
Internet-level consensus should have?  What is the best form for an IETF
contribution in the area (i.e., a single global service, vs. a protocol
with many instances)?  Are there enhancements/improvements to other
Internet technologies that would make it easier or more efficient to
achieve consensus?  And finally, of course, what other questions would
you like to see discussed on the list?

David