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I always wonder why P2P applications don't just use Tor hidden services to communicate: - NAT hole-punching for free - end-to-end encrypted for free - peers
by jstanley 6y ago
I always wonder why P2P applications don't just use Tor hidden services to communicate:
- NAT hole-punching for free
- end-to-end encrypted for free
- peers identified by a hash of their public key, so no CA or similar required
- no metadata leakage
It seems like the perfect solution, but hardly anyone does it.
https://ricochet.im/ https://ricochet.im/ is a chat program that works this way, but the client is pretty minimal.
- p_l 6y agoYou forgot "slow as molasses". That said, it made the tor-specific sites simple not just because JS was banned, but that's not video chat, isn't it?
- als0 6y agoAs the sibling comment mentioned, it's a very slow network and known Tor entry nodes are blocked in certain countries. The network could become faster if more people around the world ran relays, but it's becoming more difficult to even run a simple bridge due to hostile ISP and website activity.
- swiley 6y agoSo I used to live in the woods where not a single ISP would give you a public address and used TOR to ssh back into the house. You might be able to play freeciv or text chat this way but it’s just way too slow and jittery for video. This is part of the design of the thing and will probably get worse over time as security improves.