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Anonymous Network I2P 0.7.2 Released
Mathiasdm writes "The Invisible Internet Project, also known as I2P, has seen its 0.7.2 release (download). I2P uses multiple encryption layers, and routing through several other computers to hide both sender and receiver of messages. On top of the network, regular services such as mail, browsing, file sharing and chatting are supported.
This release (and all of the releases since 0.7) is at the start of a new development period, in which the I2P developers wish to spread the word about the secure network. This new release includes performance improvements, a first edition of an experimental new desktop interface and security improvements (by limiting the number of tunnels a single peer can participate in)."
By abbreviating I2P instead of IIP they save a whole zero characters.
I initially read that as "Anonymous Network 127.0.0.1 Released" and thought "did I miss April Fools this year?"
"And then I visited Wikipedia
I'm in a bit of a rush but how is this any different then say TOR? I read over the about I2P page and it sounds like a similar setup. If I'm wrong (which I most likely am) please correct me.
This is far from the first P2P to attempt hiding IP etc. I have not used this system, but all the others that have done (and do) the same thing end up with the same problem -- the system ends up being painfully slow to use.
Oh well, maybe THIS one will not be?
Yeah, I know how this is gonna be received:
"Shit, the people of our country might be able to share free and uncensored speech and information among themselves.
Wait, I know how to fix this! Headlines! "OMG Secret Pedophile and Terrorist Network" - anyone who wants to be anonymous on the internet /must/ be a pedohile or a terrorist. If you have no pedophilia or terrorism plots to hide, you have nothing to hide!"
I designed one of these about a decade ago and did some prototyping. Since I don't seem to have the time to realize it, here are a few extra features that could be added (if i2p does not already include these).
Encrypted-file-fragmenting, auto-globally-migrating, auto-redundant replicating "virtual" data store layer. Stored files automatically seek to be replicated enough times to be guaranteed perpetually persistent, and also seek to move to newer and better physical storage sites, and to globally distribute themselves, and auto-cache near user when needed.
With this addition, we may have the basis for, for example, a Facebook-like on-line identity avatar which is not owned by a single company like Facebook but just floats around all over the P2P network, and is truly owned by the person who it is about.
With that freeing up of the online identity from external control, we could extend it to include important identity information needed for the citizen to function in society. Medical records, different identity numbers for different government agencies, your real-world address, etc. All of these properties about you could be placed online by you following standard protocols and placed only onto a secure virtual site in the i2. Permission model would of course be default no permission, opened incrementally to authorized and authenticated other parties.
If we had this, the onus could now be placed on governments, medical systems, post offices, etc. to come to your avatar and request permission to know your address, or your medical number etc. No more change of address rigamerole. No more problems in your paperwork or medical history maintenance because you happen to move to another state or country.
etc.
It all relies on the open standards for the info and privacy protocols, and on the confidence of the person to put their info into a secure, encrypted, and non-owned virtual internet location.
Where are we going and why are we in a handbasket?
Okay, you want a faster network that doesn't have multiple layers, encryption, etc.? Fine -- use the NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS, ABC, NBC, LMNOP supported and approved network. Sorry to break it to you guys, but a global, multinational, digital, and public communications network is going to have interests on it you aren't going to like or want to see what you're sending. This is true no matter who you are. That's the nature of a PUBLIC communications network. Suck it up. Our governments inability to protect our rights, combined with the corporate and multinational interests killed so-called freedom. Now we have to pay a premium to have it back.
Be glad speed is the only thing you're losing in this deal. Historically, you stood to lose a whole lot more for these kinds of innovations. Like your life.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
No, this means you can live in another, RIAA-free dimension, where the Intarwebs have never reached more than 2Kbps ;)
Since most ISPs are now metering (and arguably DRMing) by GB transferred rather than just going by bandwidth, the same thing will happen anyway.
I've been using I2P on-and-off for quite a while, and it is way faster than 2Kbps. BitTorrent over I2P can reach speeds of 50KBps and it could probably go faster if there was a mature BitTorrent client for I2P. Latency is low as well. Overall, I2P is much more usable than TOR.
It only takes one man to change the Wisdom of the Crowd to Tyranny of the Masses.
Doesn't sound half bad when you put it like that :)
Sounds like its similar, does it also encrypt its local store?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
My vision is to create, first of all, a network where any node can connect to any other node (unlike the current Internet, which has been infested by NAT).
Then, on top of that network, various interesting services can be built, including one that provides anonimity.
In interface, it could all be compatible with current IP networks, so that existing software can be used for it.
Does such a network exist already?
I've made some baby steps in implemeting one myself, but without much progress. One difficulty I've run into is that I can't seem to get tap devices to work (i.e. create something that looks like a network interface and then process the packets that go over that interface in my software). I get the device created and set up, but I'm not seeing any traffic on it.
Please correct me if I got my facts wrong.
From their FAQ:
Sorry, I had to laugh a bit there. That's VERY naive. In anonymizing networks, HTTPS is the only thing that protects you from possibly corrupt exit nodes by encrypting the traffic between your browser and the destination webserver. To claim I2P doesn't need HTTPS support is misleading or at least ill-phrased.
Is I2P meant for using with torrents? I know with TOR, the majority of users hate people using it for torrents because it bogs down the network. Is this not the case with I2P?
xkcd
Yes, it is designed to handle high bandwidth protocols including, but not limited to, BitTorrent.
Indeed. It seems that i2p is mainly a darknet. Access to the normal Internet seems not really to be encouraged.
/MC
Unlike with Tor, each user is a router (especially true for high-bandwidth users). Obviously people are not a router to the regular net (as that could get people in trouble), but all users route data through the I2P network itself.
In other words, if you want high-bandwidth bittorrenting, it helps a lot to contribute bandwidth yourself (makes you well-integrated). This keeps leechers to a slightly lower level.
Secondly, as torrents consume a lot of bandwidth, they also provide cover traffic for other people who might not more anonymity.
Join the anonymous, help develop the network: http://www.i2p2.de
Yes, speeds are survivable. Now try to actually find some torrents... What is needed is not a better client (though it wouldn't hurt) but they need to reach a 'critical mass' of users.
Karma: 2.71828182846 (Mostly due to small, fun pills)
"Now try to actually find some torrent" and "critical mass' of users."
Getting it to a critical mass of users is going to be a very important goal, but ironically I think help will come from companies like Phorm. As a lot of people are going to want to seek ways to avoid being so mercilessly exploited by companies like Phorm. Its ironically a very good rallying cry to effectively market I2P as a means to avoid Phorm. (I2P isn't perfect (yet) at avoiding Phorm, but its a lot better than not having it).
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
Now we just need some fools running bittorrent through this and then we can DDOS the entire internet. Yaaaa....
Regardless that it is anonymous, in the end I am the one responsible for what my node does.
What we really need to move towards is a disconnected Mesh network, where I am not providing Internet Access. My AP connects up with X other AP's in the area and we create a mesh. That's the network. Starts out small, like the Internet did. Eventually everyone ends up on the mesh network, too. I can access CNN because it's got a mesh address. My traffic flows from my AP through perhaps hundreds others to get to CNN wirelessly.
True, today's speeds would impair this. Caching needs to be worked out. But this is where, IMO, the future is. No ISP fees. I pay for my AP and I'm online. I have a 1TB HDD cache. Content I get is SHA1'd and cached for others making the same request.
This would allow anonymous access. We just need to build it. Seems something that could be built into DDWRT to me.
I dream of a society where people (at least the ones who have not been found guilty of serious crimes, like Mafia, Terrorism or Pedophylia) can walk around with black masks on their faces, and this wouldn't be seen as a bad thing, because anonymity would be seen as a fundamental right of human beings.... On a side question, which is the most "anonymity-friendly" country in the world? Maybe Austria? I recently read that there people can put ads on newspapers, even controversial ones (like "no rent to black or muslim people"), and the laws protect your right to not have your identity spoiled by the newspaper to third parties...
No, the reason services like this suck is that real anonymity is costly, especially when you're one of the few who believe in it. A good analogy would be how you would send a private message through snail mail, if the norm was to send only publicly readable postcards, and anything else was immediately considered suspicious enough to examine in detail. What you'd probably end up doing is (slowly) sending the normal amount of postcards, but spreading a hidden message out between them all, with some sort of embedded code that's difficult to detect.
There are limits.Its no good, when A punched B in the face, and quickly become anonymous. Racial discrimination can be tolerated when its personal, but not when its being advocated. the advocator should not evade its responsibility. I2P should be a balance and the absolute anonymity should not and will not ever exist.