ZeroNet is a decentralized web-like network of peer-to-peer users, created by Tamas Kocsis in 2015. Programming for the network is based in Budapest, Hungary; is built in Python; and is fully open source. Instead of having an IP address, sites are identified by a public key. The private key allows the owner of a site to sign and publish change, which propagate through the network. Sites can be accessed through an ordinary web browser when using the ZeroNet application, which acts as a local webhost for such pages. In addition to using bitcoincryptography, ZeroNet uses trackers from the BitTorrent network to negotiate connections between peers. ZeroNet is not anonymous by default, but it supports routing traffic through the Tor network. The ZeroNet website and bittorrent tracker are blocked in mainland China. Despite the censorship, however, it's still possible to access ZeroNet from behind the Great Firewall of China, even over Tor, by connecting using a WireGuard tunnel. The feasibility of peer-to-peer online web-sites had been hypothesised for some time, with The Pirate Bay suggesting they would build a network, as well as BitTorrent Inc. which created the closed-source Project Maelstrom. Another application, Beaker Browser, uses the P2PDAT files protocol to allow the creation, hosting and serving of websites without need of a server. there was no way to take down a ZeroNet page which still had seeders, thus making such pages immune to third-party methods of taking them down, including DMCA takedownnotices. By default, sites have a size limit of 10 megabytes, but users may grant a site permission to use more storage space if they wish.
Development of sites
Sites on ZeroNet are known as "zites" by its users. ZeroNet supports HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Server-side languages like PHP are not supported, although ZeroNet can achieve user signup/login on MySQL databases, that are also distributed via P2P. With plugins and the ZeroFrame API, sites can communicate with ZeroNet calling Python by JavaScript.
