I2P: The Invisible Internet Project

I2P or the “Invisible Internet Project” is an ambitious project to create an anonymous internet. It is designed to allow anonymous web browsing, instant messaging, blogging and file transfers. I2P works by sending your data through multiple computers running I2P before it reaches its final destination. Because the information is encrypted from end to end, no one will be able to see what you are sending, nor will they be able to tell what the source of the data or the destination. This means that neither servers, nor users within the I2P network can be tied to an IP address.

Everyone who runs an I2P router becomes a node in the network — making I2P different from other anonymous networks, like Tor. Tor has been around longer, and is much easier to install (we suggest using the Tor Browser Bundle). For a highly technical comparison or I2P and Tor, see this page.

I2P already has a small but active torrent scene. The I2P torrents downloads are much slower than regular torrents (about 17KBps). However, the torrenting is anonymous, and speed should increase as more people join the network.

You can download I2P here. The I2P software is free and open source, and it published under multiple licenses. The I2P software considered to be beta code, meaning it still under active development and users will encounter bugs occasionally.

There is a tutorial that explains how to install I2P here, and there are some video tutorials here.

Here are some I2P links from Reddit — these links will only work once you’ve installed the I2P software: