Twister (software)
Twister is a micro-blogging software that works on the basis of peer-to -peer and is still in the experimental stage. Miguel Freitas has this developed as a Twitter alternative that is completely decentralized and thus no central server required. Together with the end - to-end encryption used, there is no easy point of attack as is the case with server -based programs. This is especially ( delete and edit) censorship of articles and block user accounts prevent.
Basic Concepts
Key concepts of the software and the Protocol were adopted by Bitcoin and BitTorrent. For the distribution of posts Twister uses distributed hash tables (DHT ) and network -based BitTorrent swarms, both of which are provided by libtorrent available. The included versions of Bitcoin and libtorrent are highly patched and deliberately not interoperable with the networks that already exist.
Twister is a peer -to-peer micro-blogging service in the alpha phase, introduced as a system to share data. Since it is a completely decentralized network and thus no single point of attack is on the system, it is not possible to put it aside. Twister using a Verschlüssellungssystem to protect the communications to its users. It is a decentralized network, which, theoretically, can be closed by anyone. In addition, Twister is designed for to prevent other users GPS coordinates, IP addresses, and the persons to whom a user follows can view. It is possible, contributions of posting as well as on Twitter. Once private messages are sent directly to other users, they will be protected by the same encryption scheme, which used Lavabit ( the e -mail provider of Edward Snowden ). Twister is seen basal, a connection between the social network, Twitter, and some efficient computer science projects, namely Bitcoin and BitTorrent, a protocol for data exchange. Both based on the P2P network.
When implementing particular emphasis on compliance with the main goals of the software. What noisy as follows:
- Free Speech: Freedom of expression
- No Spying: No monitoring
- No IP recording: No storage of IP addresses
These basic concepts are intended to create a micro- blogging platform, the anonymity of the participants as well as the privacy of the transmission guarantees in order to post messages anonymously and uncensored can.
History
The Brazilian engineer and programmer, Miguel Freitas, this new social network began to develop when he, thanks to the revelations of Edward Snowden ( 1), learned of the spy programs of the U.S. National Security Agency ( NSA). He was concerned that such an amount of information was available to a court order or monitoring of a single company. According to Freitas, Twitter was the social network, which served most to advance democratic issues and to organize protests, see the "Wired" magazine. However, it is dangerous due to massive surveillance, the existing social networks to provide personal information, which is why he decided to develop a different system based on secure schemes. "As much as I am also the use of Twitter pleased to read the news - the possibility that a single entity could control this important information flow showed no sense to me. " Freitas thought that social networking would work in the future on the basis of decentralized protocols and could no longer be controlled by a single central point. But as soon as he was about to realize that the social networks of pages of several state institutions were the target of a massive surveillance, he began to develop an alternative. After a development phase, were Freitas and his colleague, Lucas Leal, the alpha version of the page for complete, which is designed for Android, Linux and OS X. Versions for Windows and iPhone are not planned, but since it is an open coding, it is possible for anyone applying for other operating systems switch change.
Functionality
The first prototype of Twister aims to integrate all the basal characteristics of a micro-blogging platform. This includes the following aspects: - User search and navigation Profiles - Follow / Unfollow of users - Limited text messages ( 140 characters) - Forward and reply to messages - Along the message history, mentions, hashtags and private messages navigate To your private messages ship to can the receiver followers of the transmitter must be. With regard to the majority of existing platforms, this is an extremely common condition. Some other features are difficult to implement in a completely decentralized system, since they require more effort. This includes any collection of words in all posts, as well as the compilation of hashtags in order to assess significant trends can.