An anonymous P2P communication system is a peer-to-peer

distributed application A distributed system is a system whose components are located on different networked computers, which communicate and coordinate their actions by passing messages to one another from any system. Distributed computing is a field of computer sci ...

in which the nodes, which are used to share resources, or participants are anonymous or

pseudonymous A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name ( orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individu ...

. Anonymity of participants is usually achieved by special routing

overlay network An overlay network is a computer network that is layered on top of another network. Structure Nodes in the overlay network can be thought of as being connected by virtual or logical links, each of which corresponds to a path, perhaps through ...

s that hide the physical location of each node from other participants. Interest in anonymous P2P systems has increased in recent years for many reasons, ranging from the desire to share files without revealing one's network identity and risking litigationElectronic Frontier Foundation (2005)
RIAA v. The People: Five Years Later
. Retrieved March 5, 2008. to distrust in governments, concerns over mass surveillance and

data retention Data retention defines the policies of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. Although sometimes interchangeable, it is not to be confused with the Data Protection Act 1998. The different ...

, and lawsuits against

blog A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order s ...

gers.

Motivation for anonymity

There are many reasons to use anonymous P2P technology; most of them are generic to all forms of online anonymity. P2P users who desire anonymity usually do so as they do not wish to be identified as a publisher (sender), or reader (receiver), of information. Common reasons include: *

Censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

at the local, organizational, or national level * Personal privacy preferences such as preventing tracking or data mining activities * The material or its distribution is considered illegal or incriminating by possible

eavesdropper Eavesdropping is the act of secretly or stealthily listening to the private conversation or communications of others without their consent in order to gather information. Etymology The verb ''eavesdrop'' is a back-formation from the noun ''eaves ...

s * Material is legal but socially deplored, embarrassing or problematic in the individual's social world * Fear of retribution (against

whistleblower A whistleblower (also written as whistle-blower or whistle blower) is a person, often an employee, who reveals information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe or fraudulent. Whi ...

s, unofficial leaks, and activists who do not believe in restrictions on information nor

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as Descriptive knowledge, awareness of facts or as Procedural knowledge, practical skills, and may also refer to Knowledge by acquaintance, familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called pro ...

) A particularly open view on legal and illegal content is given i
The Philosophy Behind Freenet
Governments are also interested in anonymous P2P technology. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

funded the original

onion routing Onion routing is a technique for anonymous communication over a computer network. In an onion network, messages are encapsulated in layers of encryption, analogous to layers of an onion. The encrypted data is transmitted through a series of net ...

research that led to the development of the Tor network, which was later funded by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and is now developed by the non-profit organization The Tor Project, Inc.

Arguments for and against anonymous P2P communication

General

While anonymous P2P systems may support the protection of unpopular speech, they may also protect illegal activities, such as fraud, libel, the exchange of illegal pornography, the unauthorized copying of

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

ed works, or the planning of criminal activities. Critics of anonymous P2P systems hold that these disadvantages outweigh the advantages offered by such systems, and that other communication channels are already sufficient for unpopular speech. Proponents of anonymous P2P systems believe that all restrictions on free speech serve authoritarian interests, information itself is ethically neutral, and that it is the people acting upon the information that can be good or evil. Perceptions of good and evil can also change (see moral panic); for example, if anonymous peer-to-peer networks had existed in the 1950s or 1960s, they might have been targeted for carrying information about

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

or anarchism. Easily accessible anonymous P2P networks are seen by some as a democratization of

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can de ...

technology, giving the general populace access to secure communications channels already used by governments. Supporters of this view, such as Phil Zimmermann, argue that anti-surveillance technologies help to equalize power between governments and their people,Russell D. Hoffmann (1996)
Interview with author of PGP (Pretty Good Privacy)
. Transcript of a radio interview, retrieved 2008-01-21. which is the actual reason for banning them.

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilge ...

opines that monitoring of the populace helps to contain threats to the "consensual view of established authority"John Pilger (2002)
Impartiality of British Journalism
ZNet article, retrieved 2008-02-11. or threats to the continuity of power structures and privilege.

Freedom of speech

Some claim that true freedom of speech, especially on controversial subjects, is difficult or impossible unless individuals can speak anonymously. If anonymity is not possible, one could be subjected to threats or reprisals for voicing an unpopular view. This is one reason why voting is done by secret

ballot A ballot is a device used to cast votes in an election and may be found as a piece of paper or a small ball used in secret voting. It was originally a small ball (see blackballing) used to record decisions made by voters in Italy around the 16 ...

in many democracies. Controversial information which a party wants to keep hidden, such as details about corruption issues, is often published or leaked anonymously.

Anonymous blogging

Anonymous blogging is one widespread use of anonymous networks. While anonymous blogging is possible on the non-anonymous internet to some degree too, a provider hosting the blog in question might be forced to disclose the blogger's IP address (as when Google revealed an anonymous blogger's identity). Anonymous networks provide a better degree of anonymity. Flogs (anonymous blogs) in Freenet,

Syndie Syndie is an open-source cross-platform computer application to syndicate (re-publish) data (mainly forums) over a variety of anonymous and non-anonymous computer networks. Syndie is capable of reaching archives situated in the following anony ...

and other blogging tools in I2P and Osiris sps are some examples of anonymous blogging technologies. One argument for anonymous blogging is a delicate nature of work situation. Sometimes a blogger writing under their real name faces a choice between either staying silent or causing a harm to themselves, their colleagues or the company they work for. Another reason is risk of lawsuits. Some bloggers have faced multimillion-dollar lawsuits (although they were later dropped completely); anonymous blogging provides protection against such risks.

Censorship via Internet domain names

On the non-anonymous Internet, a

domain name A domain name is a string that identifies a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet. Domain names are often used to identify services provided through the Internet, such as websites, email services and more. As ...

like " example.com" is a key to accessing information. The censorship of the Wikileaks website shows that domain names are extremely vulnerable to censorship. Some domain registrars have suspended customers' domain names even in the absence of a court order. For the affected customer, blocking of a domain name is a far bigger problem than a registrar refusing to provide a service; typically, the registrar keeps full control of the domain names in question. In the case of a European travel agency, more than 80 .com websites were shut down without any court process and held by the registrar since then. The travel agency had to rebuild the sites under the .net top-level domain instead. On the other hand, anonymous networks do not rely on domain name registrars. For example, Freenet, I2P and Tor hidden services implement censorship-resistant URLs based on

public-key cryptography Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is the field of cryptographic systems that use pairs of related keys. Each key pair consists of a public key and a corresponding private key. Key pairs are generated with cryptographic alg ...

: only a person having the correct private key can update the URL or take it down.

Control over online tracking

Anonymous P2P also has value in normal daily communication. When communication is anonymous, the decision to reveal the identities of the communicating parties is left up to the parties involved and is not available to a third party. Often there is no need or desire by the communicating parties to reveal their identities. As a matter of personal freedom, many people do not want processes in place by default which supply unnecessary data. In some cases, such data could be compiled into histories of their activities. For example, most current phone systems transmit caller ID information by default to the called party (although this can be disabled either for a single call or for all calls). If a person calls to make an inquiry about a product or the time of a movie, the party called has a record of the calling phone number, and may be able to obtain the name, address and other information about the caller. This information is not available about someone who walks into a store and makes a similar inquiry.

Effects of surveillance on lawful activity

Online surveillance, such as recording and retaining details of web and e-mail traffic, may have effects on lawful activities.Dawinder S. Sidhu (2007)
The chilling effect of government surveillance programs on the use of the internet by Muslim-Americans
. University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class. People may be deterred from accessing or communicating legal information because they know of possible surveillance and believe that such communication may be seen as suspicious. According to law professor

Daniel J. Solove Daniel J. Solove (; born 1972) is a professor of law at the George Washington University Law School.Daniel J. Solove (2006)
"I've got nothing to hide" and other misunderstandings of privacy
. San Diego Law Review, Vol. 44.

Access to censored and copyrighted material

Most countries ban or censor the publication of certain books and movies, and certain types of content. Other material is legal to possess but not to distribute; for example, copyright and

software patent A software patent is a patent on a piece of software, such as a computer program, libraries, user interface, or algorithm. Background A patent is a set of exclusionary rights granted by a state to a patent holder for a limited period of time, u ...

laws may forbid its distribution. These laws are difficult or impossible to enforce in anonymous P2P networks.

Anonymous online money

With anonymous money, it becomes possible to arrange anonymous markets where one can buy and sell just about anything anonymously. Anonymous money could be used to avoid

tax A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...

collection. However, any transfer of physical goods between two parties could compromise anonymity.Rob Thomas, Jerry Martin (2006)
The underground economy: priceless
. Retrieved 2008-01-20. Proponents argue that conventional cash provides a similar kind of anonymity, and that existing laws are adequate to combat crimes like tax evasion that might result from the use of anonymous cash, whether online or offline.

Functioning of anonymous P2P

Anonymity and pseudonymity

Some of the networks commonly referred to as "anonymous P2P" are truly anonymous, in the sense that network nodes carry no identifiers. Others are actually pseudonymous: instead of being identified by their IP addresses, nodes are identified by pseudonyms such as cryptographic keys. For example, each node in the MUTE network has an overlay address that is derived from its public key. This overlay address functions as a pseudonym for the node, allowing messages to be addressed to it. In Freenet, on the other hand, messages are routed using keys that identify specific pieces of data rather than specific nodes; the nodes themselves are anonymous. The term ''anonymous'' is used to describe both kinds of network because it is difficult—if not impossible—to determine whether a node that sends a message originated the message or is simply forwarding it on behalf of another node. Every node in an anonymous P2P network acts as a universal sender and universal receiver to maintain anonymity. If a node was only a receiver and did not send, then neighbouring nodes would know that the information it was requesting was for itself only, removing any plausible deniability that it was the recipient (and consumer) of the information. Thus, in order to remain anonymous, nodes must ferry information for others on the network.

Spam and DoS attacks in anonymous networks

Originally, anonymous networks were operated by small and friendly communities of developers. As interest in anonymous P2P increased and the user base grew, malicious users inevitably appeared and tried different attacks. This is similar to the Internet, where widespread use has been followed by waves of spam and distributed DoS ( Denial of Service) attacks. Such attacks may require different solutions in anonymous networks. For example, blacklisting of originator network addresses does not work because anonymous networks conceal this information. These networks are more vulnerable to DoS attacks as well due to the smaller bandwidth, as has been shown in examples on the Tor network. A conspiracy to attack an anonymous network could be considered criminal computer hacking, though the nature of the network makes this impossible to prosecute without compromising the anonymity of data in the network.

Opennet and darknet network types

Like conventional P2P networks, anonymous P2P networks can implement either opennet or

darknet A dark net or darknet is an overlay network within the Internet that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, and often uses a unique customized communication protocol. Two typical darknet types are social ne ...

(often named friend-to-friend) network type. This describes how a node on the network selects peer nodes: * In opennet network, peer nodes are discovered automatically. There is no configuration required but little control available over which nodes become peers. * In a darknet network, users manually establish connections with nodes run by people they know. Darknet typically needs more effort to set up but a node only has trusted nodes as peers. Some networks like Freenet support both network types simultaneously (a node can have some manually added darknet peer nodes and some automatically selected opennet peers) . In a friend-to-friend (or F2F) network, users only make direct connections with people they know. Many F2F networks support indirect anonymous or pseudonymous communication between users who do not know or trust one another. For example, a node in a friend-to-friend overlay can automatically forward a file (or a request for a file) anonymously between two "friends", without telling either of them the other's name or IP address. These "friends" can in turn forward the same file (or request) to their own "friends", and so on. Users in a friend-to-friend network cannot find out who else is participating beyond their own circle of friends, so F2F networks can grow in size without compromising their users' anonymity. Some friend-to-friend networks allow the user to control what kind of files can be exchanged with "friends" within the node, in order to stop them from exchanging files that user disapproves of. Advantages and disadvantages of opennet compared to darknet are disputed, see friend-to-friend article for summary.

List of anonymous P2P networks and clients

Public P2P clients

* Classified-ads - an open source DHT-based decentralized messaging and voice app. Allows users to not expose any personal details but does not hide network addresses of nodes. * DarkMX - a file-sharing client modeled on

WinMX WinMX (Windows Music Exchange) is a freeware peer-to-peer file sharing program authored in 2000 by Kevin Hearn (president of Frontcode Technologies) in Windsor, Ontario (Canada). According to one study, it was the number one source for online mus ...

Tixati Tixati is a proprietary Linux and Windows BitTorrent client written in C++. It has standalone and portable versions with each new client version. Features In addition to standard BitTorrent client-sharing functions, Tixati provides integral ...

with a built-in implementation of Tor. * DigitalNote XDN - an open-source anonymous decentralized encrypted messaging system based on blockchain technology *

Freenet Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant, anonymous communication. It uses a decentralized distributed data store to keep and deliver information, and has a suite of free software for publishing and communicating on the Web ...

- a censorship-resistant

distributed file system A clustered file system is a file system which is shared by being simultaneously mounted on multiple servers. There are several approaches to clustering, most of which do not employ a clustered file system (only direct attached storage fo ...

for anonymous publishing (open source, written in Java) * GNUnet - a P2P framework, includes anonymous file sharing as its primary application ( GNU Project, written in C, alpha status) * MuWire - a filesharing software, with chat rooms. Even if running inside the I2P network, it is not called a 'I2P client' because it has a I2P router embedded, so this makes it a standalone software. *

Perfect Dark ''Perfect Dark'' is a first-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console in 2000. The first game of the '' Perfect Dark'' series, it follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute research ...

- a Japanese file-sharing client based on a distributed data store. One can see the IP address of connected nodes, but not what they are up or downloading. Amoeba is a similar client/network. *

Tribler Tribler is an open source decentralized BitTorrent client which allows anonymous peer-to-peer by default. Tribler is based on the BitTorrent protocol and uses an overlay network for content searching. Due to this overlay network, Tribler doe ...

- an open source BitTorrent

client Client(s) or The Client may refer to: * Client (business) * Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer * Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuabl ...

. It can be set to have neighboring nodes act as proxies between one's client and the torrent swarm. The proxy can see what file is being uploaded, but most nodes in the swarm only see the exit node. *

ZeroNet ZeroNet is a decentralized web-like network of peer-to-peer users, created by Tamas Kocsis in 2015, programming for the network was based in Budapest, Hungary; is built in Python; and is fully open source. Instead of having an IP address, site ...

- a decentralized

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

-like

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

of peer-to-peer users. Allows tunneling of HTTP-traffic through Tor.

I2P clients

* I2P - a fully decentralized overlay network for strong anonymity and

end-to-end encryption End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a system of communication where only the communicating users can read the messages. In principle, it prevents potential eavesdroppers – including telecommunications service providers, telecom providers, Internet ...

, with many applications (P2P, browsing, distributed anonymous e-mail,

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network. Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and trigge ...

IRC Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...

, ...) running on top of it (free/open source, platform-independent) * I2P-Bote an anonymous, secure (end-to-end encrypted), serverless mail application with remailer functionality for the I2P network * I2P-Messenger an anonymous, secure (end-to-end encrypted), serverless instant messenger for the I2P network * I2PSnark - an anonymous BitTorrent client for the I2P network * I2Phex - a

Gnutella Gnutella is a peer-to-peer network protocol. Founded in 2000, it was the first decentralized peer-to-peer network of its kind, leading to other, later networks adopting the model. In June 2005, Gnutella's population was 1.81 million compute ...

client which communicates anonymously through I2P * iMule - an aMule port running under I2P network * Robert (P2P Software) - another anonymous BitTorrent client for the I2P network * I2P-Tahoe-LAFS - a censorship-resistant

for anonymous publishing and file sharing (open source, written in Python, pre-alpha status) *

Vuze Vuze (previously Azureus) is a BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Vuze is written in Java, and uses the Azureus Engine. In addition to downloading data linked to .torrent files, Azureus allows users to view, p ...

(formerly Azureus) - a

BitTorrent client The following is a general comparison of BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. The BitTorrent protocol coordinates segmented file transfer among peers connected ...

with the option of using I2P or Tor (initially open source, written in Java) * BiglyBT - a successor to

. A

where downloads can be routed through I2P, and searches carried out through Tor (open source, written in Java)

Defunct (Public P2P clients) or no longer developed

* Bitblinder (2009-2010) - file sharing * Bitmessage - an anonymous decentralized messaging system serving as a secure replacement for email * Cashmere (2005) - resilient anonymous routing * Entropy (2003-2005) - Freenet compatible * EarthStation 5 (2003-2005) - anonymity controverted * Herbivore (2003-2005) - file sharing and messaging. Used the Dining cryptographers problem. * Marabunta (2005-2006) - distributed chat * MUTE (2003-2009) - file sharing * NeoLoader - a filesharing software compatible with bittorrent and

edonkey2000 eDonkey2000 (nicknamed "ed2k") was a peer-to-peer file sharing application developed by US company MetaMachine (Jed McCaleb and Sam Yagan), using the Multisource File Transfer Protocol. This client supports both the eDonkey2000 network and the ...

. Anonymous when used with the "NeoShare" feature (that use the proprietary "NeoKad" network) *

Netsukuku Netsukuku is an experimental peer-to-peer routing system, developed by thFreakNet MediaLabin 2005, created to build up a distributed network, anonymous and censorship-free, fully independent but not necessarily separated from the Internet, without ...

- a peer-to-peer routing system aiming to build a free and independent Internet * Nodezilla (2004-2010) - an anonymizing, closed source network layer upon which applications can be built *

Osiris Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...

(Serverless Portal System) - an anonymous and distributed

web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayi ...

s creator. * OFF System (2006-2010) - a P2P

through which all shared files are represented by randomized data blocks * RShare (2006-2007) - file sharing * Share - a Japanese filesharing client modeled on

Winny Winny (also known as WinNY) is a Japanese peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program developed by Isamu Kaneko, a research assistant at the University of Tokyo in 2002. Like Freenet, a user must add an encrypted node list in order to connect to oth ...

- a content (mainly forums) syndication program that operates over numerous anonymous and non-anonymous networks (open source, written in Java) *

StealthNet StealthNet is an anonymous P2P file sharing software based on the original RShare client, and has been enhanced. It was first named 'RShare CE' (RShare Community Edition). It use the same network and protocols as RShare. In 2011 a fork named ...

(2007-2011) - the successor to RShare *

- a Japanese filesharing program modeled on

which relies on a mixnet and distributed datastore to provide anonymity

Private P2P clients

Private P2P Private peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are peer-to-peer (P2P) systems that allow only mutually trusted peers to participate. This can be achieved by using a central server such as a Direct Connect hub to authenticate clients. Alternatively, users can ...

networks are P2P networks that only allow some mutually trusted computers to share files. This can be achieved by using a central server or hub to authenticate clients, in which case the functionality is similar to a private

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

server, but with files transferred directly between the clients. Alternatively, users can exchange passwords or keys with their friends to form a decentralized network. Examples include: * Syncthing - is a free, open-source peer-to-peer

file synchronization File synchronization (or syncing) in computing is the process of ensuring that computer files in two or more locations are updated via certain rules. In ''one-way file synchronization'', also called mirroring, updated files are copied from a sourc ...

application. It can sync files between devices. Data security and data safety are built into the design of the software. * Resilio Sync - a proprietary alternative to Syncthing

Private F2F (friend-to-friend) clients

Friend-to-friend A friend-to-friend (or F2F) computer network is a type of peer-to-peer network in which users only make direct connections with people they know. Passwords or digital signatures can be used for authentication. Unlike other kinds of private P2P ...

networks are P2P networks that allows users only to make direct connections with people they know. Passwords or digital signatures can be used for authentication. Examples include : *

Filetopia Filetopia is a free, multi-platform peer-to-peer file sharing client, and networking tool that allows users to share files, use chat, and send instant messages. Users can share files in public chat rooms or privately with contacts (by searching or ...

- not anonymous but encrypted friend-to-friend. File sharing, chat, internal mail service * OneSwarm - a backwards compatible BitTorrent client with privacy-preserving sharing options, aims to create a large F2F network. *

Retroshare Retroshare is a free and open-source peer-to-peer communication and file sharing app based on a friend-to-friend network built by GNU Privacy Guard (GPG). Optionally, peers may exchange certificates and IP addresses to their friends and vice ...

- filesharing, serverless email, instant messaging, VoIP, chatrooms, and decentralized forums.

Hypothetical or defunct networks

Hypothetical

The following networks only exist as design or are in development * anoNet - extensible IP anonymizer with steganography support (in development) *

Crowds Generally speaking, a crowd is defined as a group of people that have gathered for a common purpose or intent such as at a demonstration, a sports event, or during looting (this is known as an acting crowd), or may simply be made up of many ...

- Reiter and Rubin's system for "blending into a crowd" has a known attack * P2PRIV - Peer-to-Peer diRect and anonymous dIstribution oVerlay - anonymity via virtual links parallelization - currently in development and has significant, unsolved problems in a real world environment * Phantom Anonymity Protocol - a fully decentralized high-throughput anonymization network (no longer in development) * Race ( Resilient Anonymous Communication for Everyone) - A project by DARPA to build an anonymous, attack-resilient mobile communication system that can reside completely within a network environment, capable of avoiding large-scale compromise by preventing compromised information from being useful for identifying any of the system nodes because all such information is encrypted on the nodes at all times, even during computation; and preventing communications compromise by virtue of obfuscating communication protocols.

Defunct or dormant

* Bitblinder - a decentralised P2P anonymity software program which included Tor but with increased speed. Website is down and clients are no longer functional. * Invisible IRC Project - anonymous

, inspired by

, which later became I2P (Invisible Internet Project). * Mnet (formerly MojoNation) - a

Anonymous P2P in a wireless mesh network

It is possible to implement anonymous P2P on a

wireless mesh network A wireless mesh network (WMN) is a communications network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. It can also be a form of wireless ad hoc network. Chai Keong Toh Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks, Prentice Hall Publishers, 2002. ...

; unlike fixed Internet connections, users don't need to sign up with an ISP to participate in such a network, and are only identifiable through their hardware. Protocols for

s are Optimized Link State Routing Protocol (OLSR) and the follow-up protocol B.A.T.M.A.N., which is designed for decentralized auto-IP assignment. See also

. Even if a government were to outlaw the use of wireless P2P software, it would be difficult to enforce such a ban without a considerable infringement of personal freedoms. Alternatively, the government could outlaw the purchase of the wireless hardware itself.

about various anonymous P2P applications
A survey of anonymous peer-to-peer file-sharing
(2005)
Anonymous, Decentralized and Uncensored File-Sharing is Booming
by

TorrentFreak __NOTOC__ TorrentFreak (TF) is a blog dedicated to reporting the latest news and trends on the BitTorrent protocol and file sharing, as well as on copyright infringement and digital rights. The website was started in November 2005 by a Dutchma ...

(2011) Anonymous file sharing networks Anonymity networks Internet privacy software Crypto-anarchism Peer-to-peer