ZeroNet
Sign in to saveAlso known as Zeonet
ZeroNet is a decentralized web-like network of peer-to-peer users, created by Tamas Kocsis in 2015. The programming for the network was based in Budapest, Hungary. It is built in Python and fully open source. Instead of having an IP address, sites are identified by a public key (specifically a bitcoin address). The private key allows the owner of a site to sign and publish changes, which propagate through the network. Sites can be accessed through an ordinary web browser when using the ZeroNet application, which acts as a local webhost for such pages. In addition to using bitcoin cryptography,
Key facts
- Software.name
- ZeroNet
- Software.logo
- ZeroNet vector logo.svg
- Software.logo size
- 150px
- Software.caption
- ZeroNet landing page
- Software.author
- Tamas Kocsis
- Software.developer
- Tamas Kocsis and other contributors
- Software.released
- 2015
- Software.discontinued
- yes
- Software.programming language
- Python, JavaScript, CoffeeScript
- Software.operating system
- Windows, Linux, OS X, FreeBSD, Android
- Software.language
- Danish, German, English, Spanish, French, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Chinese, Persian.
- Software.genre
- Peer-to-peer web hosting
- Software.license
- GPLv3
via Wikipedia infobox
Source code
After starting zeronet.py you will be able to visit zeronet sites using (eg. When you visit a new zeronet site, it tries to find peers using the BitTorrent network so it can download the site files (html, css, js...) from them. Each visited site is also served by you. Every site contains a content.json file which holds all other files in a sha512 hash and a signature generated using the site's private key. If the site owner (who has the private key for the site address) modifies the site, then he/she signs the new content.json and publishes it to the peers. Afterwards, the peers verify the content.json integrity (using the signature), they download the modified files and publish the new content to other peers.
Excerpt from the source-code README · 6,554 chars · not written by Vinony
Wikidata facts
- Official website
- zeronet.io
Show 3 more facts
- source code repository URL
- github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
- software version identifier
- 0.6.5
- inception
- 2015-01-12
Sources (9)
via Wikidata · CC0
~3 min read
Article
5 sectionsContents
- Hiatus and forks
- Development of the network
- See also
- References
- External links
ZeroNet is a decentralized web-like network of peer-to-peer users, created by Tamas Kocsis in 2015. The programming for the network was based in Budapest, Hungary. It is built in Python and fully open source. Instead of having an IP address, sites are identified by a public key (specifically a bitcoin address). The private key allows the owner of a site to sign and publish changes, which propagate through the network. Sites can be accessed through an ordinary web browser when using the ZeroNet application, which acts as a local webhost for such pages. In addition to using bitcoin cryptography, ZeroNet uses trackers from the BitTorrent network to negotiate connections between peers. ZeroNet is not anonymous by default, but it supports routing traffic through the Tor network.
The ZeroNet website and bittorrent tracker are blocked in mainland China. Despite the censorship, however, it is still possible to access ZeroNet from behind the Great Firewall of China, even over Tor, by bootstrapping over Meek, and connecting to peers directly.