Daily Beast reports 8Chan refugees are leaving DARPANet, commonly known as “the Web”, for a new home on ZeroNet and doxxing their IPs in the process.
Getting on the ZeroNet can be done more discretely, however, and it’s not hard if you’re running Linux – even if running Linux on a MacBook Pro:
I kindly doubt former 8chan users accessing 08chan are doxxing themselves as Sr. National Security Correspondent Kevin Poulsen suggests on Daily Beast, however.
More likely the data being reported is a whole new sect of people curious to know what kind of content would draw the attention of what the press is calling an “anti-immigrant manifesto” from the recent and tragic deaths in El Paso.
It’s worth noting ZeroNet is not a Dark Web in the traditional sense as it does not require use of heavy encryption technologies such as Tor or I2P. As a result it’s not surprising some users choose to reveal their IP addresses when connecting. ZeroNet, like the traditional Web, is clear by default. Unlike DARPANet, however, ZeroNet cannot be easily censored like 8Chan was thanks to its use of Bitcoin encryption and the BitTorrent protocol.
Here’re some facts you should know about ZeroNet:
- ZeroNet was started in 2013 by Hungarian developer Tamas Kocsis.
- Tamas gave a short TED talk on ZeroNet posted Nov 2018.
- ZeroNet source code is hosted on GitHub.
- ZeroNet is copyleft software licensed under the GPL.
- Its source is currently being ported from Python 2 to 3.
- ZeroNet sites are called “Zites” and each has its own private key.
- Zites can use a Namecoin (
.bit) address and receive Bitcoin payments. - ZeroNet has a public updates channel on Telegram. View it here.
Once you access ZeroNet you can get on 08chan and millchan straight away. Instructions for using them have been left in a follow-up post on Reddit.
Finally, here’s what ZeroNet will look like when you’re connected securely:
