I2P


The Invisible Internet Project is an anonymous network layer that allows for censorship-resistant, peer to peer communication. Anonymous connections are achieved by encrypting the user's traffic, and sending it through a volunteer-run network of roughly 55,000 computers distributed around the world. Given the high number of possible paths the traffic can transit, a third party watching a full connection is unlikely. The software that implements this layer is called an "I2P router", and a computer running I2P is called an "I2P node". I2P is free and open source, and is published under multiple licenses.

Software

Since I2P is an anonymous network layer, it is designed so other software can use it for anonymous communication. As such, there are a variety of tools currently available for I2P or in development.
The I2P router is controlled through the router console, which is a web frontend accessed through a web browser.
Currently, Vuze and BiglyBT are the only torrent clients that makes clearnet torrents available on I2P and vice versa, by using a plugin that connects them to the I2P network. Depending on the client settings, torrents from the internet can be made available on I2P and torrents from I2P can be made available to the internet. For this reason, torrents previously published only on I2P can be made available to the entire Internet, and users of I2P can often download popular content from the Internet while maintaining the anonymity of I2P.

Cultural references

In House of Cards Season 2 Episode 2, I2P is referenced.

Software