Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is Peernet?

Peernet is a new peer-to-peer network without intermediaries. The network is fully controlled and owned by its users. Individuals are no longer subject to censorship or restrictions imposed by companies or governments.

Peernet has its own Peernet Browser featuring a decentralized search engine for finding and sharing content.

What fundamental problem does it solve?

2 major problems that are currently unsolved:

  1. Publish data without a 3rd party (YouTubers can sing a song of getting demonetized and banned) and
  2. Getting paid directly (Twitch takes a 50% cut).

Peernet shall be a new way of sharing data and getting paid for it. Just like content creators have profiles on multiple platforms (YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, ...) they shall use Peernet as a new platform to directly share their content with their fans and get paid directly.

Long-term development phases

Peernet is developed in 3 phases:

  1. Phase 1: MVP / Bootstrapping
    • The current phase. Establishing the basic network and providing the basic functionality.
  2. Phase 2: Social Features - upcoming in 2022
    • Add social features such as following other peers, rating content. 
  3. Phase 3: Payment Network - earliest 2023
    • Users will be able to monetize their content at their own discretion by accepting any major cryptocurrency. The browser will support a payment network that under the hood uses the Peernet Token.


What are Peernet's Unique Selling Points / Unfair Advantages?

Here are tech points for nerds and everyone else who is interested:

  • The Protocol uses UDP only. This helps for establishing direct connections in challenging environments (firewalls, NATs). Using a single transport mechanism streamlines development.
  • Everything is fully encrypted and the packet structure was designed to prevent fingerprinting (to make it harder for example for ISPs to deep-packet-inspect or downgrade the traffic).
  • 1 packet = establishes a connection.
  • Each user has their own blockchain, which is shared within the network. The blockchain stores metadata of files and social interactions.
  • Blockchains are versioned. Users can delete files and the blockchain version number is increased and the blockchain refactored.
  • Use of public/private key encryption (same algorithm as Bitcoin).
  • Embedded decentralized search engine (via DHT) for content discovery! This is a huge differentiator.
  • The Peernet Browser, which makes it easy to use for humans.
  • The backend is 100% native Go code that can be compiled by using just "go build". No C code or need of any other build tools. Works on Windows/Linux/Mac/Android.


But there is already [insert existing decentralized network]!

Yes there is. More options are better for the consumer. The market is big enough for more than a single protocol. Peernet is more focused on the end-user (both content creator, and content consumer).

Previous (and current) decentralized networks face a variety of challenges that Peernet is trying to solve: Poor user experience, content quality problems (spam, too many leechers), and legal challenges (Napster, LimeWire, ...).

Some of Peernet's competitors cover different use cases - for example some are better as content delivery network (CDNs) and replace existing layers such as HTTP.


Getting Started

How do I get started with Peernet?

The quickest way to get Peernet running on your machine is by installing the Peernet Browser.

For installing and using the command line client check out the guides in the Command-line Client subforum.

Anyone is welcome to write custom clients for Peernet. Check out the Core library (written in Go) on GitHub. It also provides an easy to use REST API.


Contributing to Peernet

How do I contribute to Peernet?

The best place is to start asking questions in this forum and check out the GitHub repository at https://github.com/PeernetOfficial. Any help is appreciated.

Read the original Whitepaper defining the protocol here: https://peernet.org/dl/Peernet%20Whitepaper.pdf

The Peernet Organization

The mission of the Peernet organization is to develop the Peernet Protocol and the Peernet Browser.

Is Peernet open source?

The core library is open source published under the MIT license.


Legal

For any details please refer to the disclaimer at https://peernet.org/disclaimer.html.

Peernet is 100% decentralized. Each user is responsible for the content they share and consume. Please contact the operator of a peer directly for any legal claims.


Don't see your question?

We are working on expanding the FAQ with more content. If you have any question, please post it in the right sub-forum.

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