OneSwarm is a fully decentralized peer-to-peer network

The problem of security information transmitted in file-sharing networks today is very acute. The popular peering protocol Bittorrent does not provide virtually any protection against prying eyes, giving the IP of all peers in full view. The Pirate Bay, I remember, promised to develop its own anonymous protocol, but, apparently, the matter died down.

Another problem with bittorrent is partial centralization. No servers - no network (DHT does not count, because not completely independent). Obviously, the future is in completely decentralized networks - third generation networks. On one of these, I would like to tell.

Somehow, while reading torrentfreak, I stumbled upon the mention of a new development at the University of Washington, providing complete decentralization and anonymity of users. The new client is named OneSwarm (“one swarm”). Develop it, as I said, the guys from the University of Washington, known to us even the creation of a client BitTyrant . I was very interested in the development, and I decided to translate the client into Russian - I was very surprised at the interest from far away Russia)). My translation was in the first version of the client with localization support. Today OneSwarm has already been translated by enthusiasts into so many languages.
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OneSwarm is based on Azureus , and has all its functionality, i.e. Supports backward compatibility with bittorrent. In fact, OneSwarm is not even a new protocol, but an add-on over a bit torrent.

Let us understand in more detail what this thing is. OneSwarm implements the concept of friend-to-friend (f2f), i.e. users only exchange files with those they trust. “Such a protocol is doomed to low popularity” - exclaim you, but do not rush to conclusions. The traffic in OneSwarm comes to you not only from directly your friends, but also from friends of friends, etc., but passes through the entire sequence of direct friends between you and those who have the file you are looking for. A little messy, but look at the picture, and everything will become clear:



Thus, you only connect with someone you trust, but it is impossible to find out where the file came from initially. Of course, the growth of the load on the network is inevitable - such is the fee for privacy. But do not forget that the traffic to you can go not only one chain of friends, but all possible. And to increase their number is quite realistic.

From theory to practice

Like Azureus, OneSwarm is cross-platform, so no one is left offended. Download and install ( Windows , Mac OS , Linux 32/64 ). The client has a web interface, so after installation and launch you will open a browser at http://127.0.0.1:29615 and show a fairly friendly interface. In addition to the web interface, there is also a classic Azureus.

Adding friends is possible in several ways: among them, the exchange of public keys , adding via GTalk / Gmail , invites and through mass automatic key exchange using a single server (community server).

Key exchange

Here everything is trivial. Click on the link in the left block of the menu “Add friend” and in the opened window insert the code sent to us by a friend, and send your code to it.



After a couple of moments, a friend will appear in the block on the left. You can select friend status. Friends in OneSwarm vary in visibility level to friends with limited visibility and friends with unlimited visibility. Unlimited allows you to see their shared material, search for it and download it. Limited only allow you to search by its shared content and download. Those. your limited friend will not be able to reliably know whether he is downloading the file from you or you are only a middleman.

Subscribe to Community Server

The OneSwarm developers also created a simple Java server for mass key exchange. Such a server can very easily raise anyone. Of course, the solution is also cross-platform. A single server (or community server) is essentially a base of users' public keys. Those. Your client occasionally polls the server for new users and adds them to you, and you to everyone else. At first glance, this may seem terribly unsecured, but here everything is done brilliantly and simply - all friends added through a single server are limited by default, and they are unlikely to be able to learn something about you.

Let's try. We click on the link “Add server” in the menu on the left and write the address of interest, for example, http://community.oneswarm.ru/community . After a couple of moments, your friends list will be replenished.



You can add an unlimited number of single servers. Today there is an official developer server ( https://community.oneswarm.org ), as well as popular French ( http://forum.oneswarm-fr.net:8081/community ).
It is worth noting the fact that a single server is needed only for the convenience of key exchange. He no longer plays any role, and in theory you can completely remove it. So there is no talk of centralization.

Application

In addition to file sharing with Anonymus from around the world, using OneSwarm is very convenient to share files with friends (actually, for its intended purpose :)). For example, you went to the kebabs, and the digital camera and, accordingly, all the photos were with Petit. Petya, of course, can pour all of this onto the dropbox and give links to all participants of the party, or can simply share the folder with photos to all her friends in OneSwarm. Who will need to download. And the download will go on the same principle as the distribution in the torrent - optimally and quickly. It is also worth noting that the visibility of one or another distribution can be configured very subtly.

By the way, OneSwarm has an integrated omnivorous media player. Those. You can watch the shared video directly in the browser. And also there is a disconnected chat with other members. Well, do not forget that OneSwarm is Azureus, and it can be used simply as a torrent client. Of course, privacy in this case will not have to wait.

Work on OneSwarm is being done quite intensively, and each new release is significantly different from the previous one by adding new features, therefore, if you decide to use it, it is advisable not to turn off the auto-update program and follow the news. At the moment, the current version is 0.6.9. In 0.7 promise a lot of goodies.

PS If someone is interested, you can read my blog about OneSwarm - it's easy to google it.