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Of the eternity of the data
Is it important, is it reasonable, that all the data produced be kept for all eternity?
This is what most users expect from a service where they deposit their data, but the question deserves to be asked in a sustainable development context. Because this conservation has a cost over time that must be well covered in one way or another. To rely on infinite resources, or worse, to rely on future generations, is to make the same mistake as the pioneers of coal and oil.
Moreover, this conservation sometimes poses problems: there has been a need, particularly in Europe, to enshrine the “right to forget” in law. Everyone (except public persons) can request the deletion of data concerning them, or at least their dereferencing (since it is through referencing that they are accessible).
However, the very nature of PeerStorage, by shifting the cost of storage collectively to users, brings this issue to the forefront.
A path for reflection: a data must “live” as long as it is regularly consulted. The definition of “regularly” is based on an equation that can be chosen by the person who deposits the data and therefore pays for the initial cost of its storage.