Web2Web Distributes the Net With BitTorrent and Bitcoin

A new project called Web2Web takes centralized servers out of the internet equation. The platform, using WebTorrent and Bitcoin, allows anyone on the net to create editable websites.

Also Read: Three Years After Ulbricht’s Arrest, Judges Re-Examine Silk Road Case

Decentralizing the Internet With Bitcoin and the Swarm

WebTorrent gains more users every day. The platform is a streaming torrent client that uses WebRTC for peer-to-peer transport. Essentially, users can create a more decentralized web and sites can use a BitTorrent swarm to host content. This means sites such as YouTube or Facebook could operate without centralized servers.

Stanford graduate Feross Aboukhadijeh designed WebTorrent’s protocol. Then, Czech developer Michal Spicka built the Web2Web project that pushed the software further. As a result, a peer-to-peer community can share entire websites using the torrent technology. The sites hosted on the platform are censorship-resistant and impossible to remove from the internet.

According to TorrentFreak, Spicka said he was mesmerized by current technologies. After some time passed, the developer aimed to create an anonymous and serverless application that no one could shut down. Spicka explained his mission with the Web2Web project, stating:

In the past, we’ve seen powerful interest groups shut down legitimate websites. I wondered if I could come up with something that can’t be taken down that easily and also protects the site operator’s identity.— To run a Web2Web website neither the server nor the domain is required. All you need is a bootstrap page that loads your website from the torrent network and displays it in the browser.      

Web2Web: No Specific Software Necessary

Web2Web bootstrap competitors include Maidsafe, ZeroNet, and IPFS. However with Spicka’s application, users just use their traditional browser. Users don’t need to download or install specific software, since they can emulate content through an HTML file. The Bitcoin network allows the operator to update the HTML file and publicize the new content.

“If the website operator wants to publish new content on his previously created website, he creates a torrent of the new content first and then inserts the torrent infohash into a bitcoin transaction sent from his bitcoin address,” Spicka explained to TorrentFreak.

He said the website monitors the web address for the new transaction while extracting the infohash, and downloads new content from the swarm. Furthermore, the developer told the publication the project is merely an experiment, and he aims to show the world websites can work without centralized servers.

Creator of Serverless, Censorship-free Environment Hopes People Refrain From Illicit Activities   

The traditional Internet has significant centralizing issues and noone does anything to protect content creators’ privacy. In contrast, Web2Web will enable users to create a page with anonymity and decentralized attributes.

Spicka says he has no idea how the public will use this platform, but he hopes people will refrain from illegal activities. However, he knows there’s nothing he can do to stop that type of behavior. In conclusion, he shared his opinion in the TorrentFreak interview, “the moment will come when this project gets abused and only then we will see if it’s really that resilient.”

What do you think about the Web2Web and WebTorrent applications? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: TorrentFreak, and Github

Images via Shutterstock, and Pixabay.

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