Imagine a lockbox with six other lockboxes inside. I2P encrypts messages in multiple layers. Wait a second, can't one of the neighbors just open the letter and read it on the way through? The answer to this is no. This also adds to security and anonymity because it makes it difficult for attackers to know whether you're handing someone a letter that you wrote yourself, or if you're just passing someone else's letter through a tunnel. When you send a letter to a neighbor and that neighbor passes it off to another neighbor, on I2P she's also handing hundreds of other letters at the same time. Furthermore, with I2P there are thousands of letters being all passed around at the same time, and for Eve to be able to distinguish one letter from another is, for all intents and purposes, impossible. By sending it through multiple people we create a large degree of anonymity.īut wait, can't Eve still watch the letter as it is passed from one hand to another? Realistically no, there are too many hops for Eve to actually watch it. The first obvious question is why don't you just give the letter to Johnny directly? The answer is that if the letter was sent to Johnny directly and Eve was watching, she'd see it. This example is extremely simplified, so I'll try to expand on it now that the basic fundamental idea is down. If Johnny want's to send a letter back this process happens in reverse (but with a different set of people handling the messages). So it goes to one person, who hands it to another, who hands it to another, etc., until it reaches Johnny. These people are analogous to what we call a 'tunnel' in I2P.Īfter the letter reaches the end of this tunnel, it goes to Johnny's tunnel. Then three neighbors pass the letter off to each-other, with each neighbor not knowing who the letter came from before the person that handed it to them. The way I2P works is that if you want to send a message to Johnny you place the letter in your outgoing mailbox addressed to him. Imagine also that your friend Johnny had the same thing, as well as everyone else in your neighborhood. Imagine that you had two mailboxes: one that you receive mail in, and one that you send mail through. If you want a technical explanation rather than a simplified analogy go ahead and give the I2P Technical Documentation a visit, otherwise keep reading. I2P is a complex beast with a lot going on under the hood, so this explanation will be a vast, yet useful, oversimplification. In fact, because most I2P users also route other people's traffic, it's difficult to tell if you're saying anything at all. I2P also bypasses many censorship efforts and prevents adversaries from determining what you're saying, and who you are saying things to. By doing this I2P creates a distributed, dynamic, and decentralized network that allows secure and anonymous communications between individuals. With that software installed, however, your computer can join I2P and begin routing traffic, just like a Tor middle relay. The result of I2P's focus on creating its own internal internet is that the network isn't accessible from a regular computer, as special software is needed to communicate with other I2P users. Unfortunately this debate regularly takes place. In this light, we can already see that these two services are apples and oranges, thus there is no reason to say that one is better than another. In other words, we can think of Tor as being a path to the regular internet, while I2P seeks to create its own internet. Tor, on the other hand, largely focuses on allowing users to reach the regular internet anonymously (called the clearnet). I2P, short for the Invisible Internet Project, spawned in 2003, and is an anonymizing network that focuses on secure internal connections between users. This tutorial will help remove the confusion surrounding darknets, and will show you exactly how you can get onto one of the best networks out there. I2P is another large anonymizing network that is similar to Tor, but also has some distinct differences. A lot of this attention has been focused on Tor and hidden services such as the Silk Road, though Tor is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to 'darknets'. It seems to be a buzzword that either invokes fear or a sense of l33t h4ck3r skills. You've probably heard the term 'Darknet' thrown around a lot. How To Use I2P | I2P Tutorial & Setup Guide Category: darknets
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