Hyphanet

Hyphanet (also known as Freenet) is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication and publishing. It provides a distributed, encrypted, decentralized datastore that applications and sites can run on top of without relying on centralized servers.

Key Features

• Encrypted, decentralized datastore for storing and retrieving content in a censorship-resistant way
• Plugin ecosystem enabling applications such as forums, microblogging, blogging, and media sharing
• Supports different network modes, including global participation (Opennet) and more private friend-to-friend connectivity
• Designed to improve privacy by minimizing reliance on centralized infrastructure and authorities
• Can be extended with tools intended to bridge disconnected networks via offline transfer workflows (e.g., sneakernet-style sharing)

Use Cases

• Publishing websites and content that is difficult to censor or take down
• Private communities and communication apps (forums, microblogging) built on decentralized storage
• Resilient information sharing in constrained or disrupted network environments

Limitations and Considerations

• Peer-to-peer systems can have higher latency and less predictable performance than centralized services
• Private friend-to-friend usage requires establishing trusted connections, which can reduce ease of onboarding

Hyphanet is suited to users who need privacy-preserving publishing and communication backed by decentralized storage. Its plugin-based approach enables a range of community and media applications while keeping infrastructure decentralized.