The Client - Server Architecture

What is a Client-Server architecture?

The client-server approach enables any general-purpose computer to expand its capabilities by utilizing the shared resources of other computers it is connected via a network.

A client-server network allows computers such as mobile phones or laptops to access resources and services from a central computer on the Internet. This is what happens when you log in to servers located in the data centers of social media platforms or any games or cloud services that you use on daily basis.

A major advantage of the client-server network is the central management of applications and data, where the rise of cloud computing has emerged.

What does the server do?

The server that you connect to handles things like querying and interacting with its database, accessing files on a server, interacting with other servers, processing your inputs, and structuring web applications.

What does the client do?

Client-side refers to the specific app, social media platform, or website you are running on your computers.

The client is used for sending requests to the central server on your behalf. It helps you access the content you would like to see such as the user interface and do other stuff like reading and/or writing cookies, interacting with local storage, interacting with temporary storage, creating interactive web pages, and functions as an interface between client and server.

How do they talk?

The client-server relationship communicates in a request–response messaging pattern and must adhere to a common communications protocol. Client-server communication typically adheres to the TCP/IP protocol suite.

Privacy Risks

Today, centralized app nodes are controlled and operated by the planet’s richest organizations, collecting and storing billions of people’s data.

Data stored in a huge centralized database is quite vulnerable. Hackers need to break through just one system to compromise valuable user data. Often, the data is being used to micro-segment individuals to serve them better ads.

Centralized client-server architecture is not healthy as it allows a cluster of servers or a core decision-making entity or individual to have all the power within the system.

Social media defines the experience of being online on Web 2. These social media products and services are handling billions of users' data to generate big data inside their centralized computers.

As the internet became more centralized and commercial, the risks of living lives inside the servers of tech giants were more apparent than ever, especially for vulnerable groups such as children.

The constant invasion of privacy and unfair censorship of choosing the narratives of what content is being shown to users has even been used to sabotage democracies.

A Web 2 social media site, for instance, can censor any news, post, or tweet at any time they want to create filter bubbles and echo chambers.