Under the hood of I2P, the Tor alternative that reloaded Silk Road. Note: The above linked article compares I2P vs Tor pros and cons from a technical point-of-view. -- Tom
Nice read. I have never used I2P but it sounds like its coming along. Scalability in the short run is my biggest concern. Every project starts and grows from smaller to larger. I hope this one does continue to grow. I am watching it!!
My issue with mostly P2P networks is that local observers can see what peers you connect to. If everyone were in the swarm, that wouldn't be an issue. But I2P is far too small. If you run an I2P node, you stand out from your neighbors, even more than running a Tor client (maybe about the same as running a Tor router). There aren't many I2P exit nodes, it's true. I2P nodes can exit to the Internet by peering to Tor. Also, useful I2P nodes must be discoverable by other nodes. That is, they must be listening on some public port, forwarded through your router, or through any VPN service that you're using. And so you must use VPN services that allow port forwarding. However, if you use nested VPN chains, only the innermost/final VPN needs an open port.
I understand that, but my point was that "crowding" is where security comes from. e.g. if every single user was on TOR the anonymity would be much better in a sense. In the same way when I select a vpn in my chain I try to look for servers with at least 125 users and 150 is better. I2P may get the size needed over time and create a "swarm" (your word).
