Could WebWorkers be used for supercomputer power?

Question

This a general question really, not sure if this is the place for it (it might be deleted as quite general) so please don't heckle (I am just curious).

I have been reading up on WebWorkers API and had a thought.

WebWorkers can be limited to using only small amounts of processing power for each machine/user. This could be tailored to not affect user experience and might only slighly affect browser performance (if at all).

My question is, could they theoretically be used to turn a website/application into a highly distributed supercomputer?

Is it more of an ethical question as IF it could be done, is it wrong if the user is not aware?

Answer 1

It's possible, unethical and likely illegal.

It is certainly possible to do. In fact you don't even need to use web workers to do it. It is probably unethical to do if the user is not aware but it may not actually be degrading to the user experience or even noticable. It may even be illegal and you should get some legal advice.

For example, if you have an aplication where users are aware that they help folding proteins while playing your game or something like that then it may be a great application. If, on the other hand, you want to mine bitcoins using the processing power and electricity of your unsuspecting visitors then you are asking for trouble.

Answer 2

Yes, WebWorkers can be used for supercomputing a.k.a. distributed computing.

In fact, that's exactly what CrowdProcess does: http://crowdprocess.com/

DISCLAIMER: I work on CrowdProcess.

Websites can join the platform and supply it with processing power from the browsers that visit them without disrupting the website visitors experience in any way.

Developers can use the platform for their distributed computing jobs. Check the documentation to know how this happens: http://crowdprocess.com/doc-index

The website visitor can opt-in, opt-out or simply agree with the terms and conditions of the website that provides the platform with the browser's processing power.

We ask the website owners to tell the users what's going on in any way they find appropriate for their audience. CrowdProcess is aware that no one should power this platform against their consent and will. That's why we develop projects with a higher purpose: forest fire behavioural prediction, genetic sequence alignment and medical computer vision just to name a few.

Our vision is that one day soon we will have enough commercial applications running on the platform that allow us to pay websites for the processing power they provide.

Answer 3

I have found two companies...

Seti at home http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

• Gives the user the chance to give some processing power to help them analyse data from their telescope.

Folding at home http://folding.stanford.edu/English/About

• Users can give processing power to research labs for all sorts of scientific research and study purposes (including protein strings).

It seems it is LEGAL (via WebSockets or ajax) as long as you give details in Terms and Conditions, but not recommended as better ways to do heavy processing exist (see above 2 examples).