Introduction to unyt.org's democratic Supranet
Our audacious plan to make today's internet a safe, democratic and fair space for everyone.
Privacy is dead!
In today’s digital age, secure and discreet communication has become a paramount concern. As privacy breaches and data leaks continue to plague traditional platforms, the need for a democratic network that prioritizes individual participation, data ownership and ensures confidential communication has never been more vital.
Preface
Data Leak - again - personal data of hundreds of people are published, emails, birth dates, sexual preferences, all of that in the hands of a few criminals and available for a few bucks on the darknet. All because some silly web portal leaves their database unprotected on the net? The government tries to counteract: some annoying cookie banners, long legal texts - who can guarantee that this will work? There has to be a better way!
Information Exchange - Imagine the following scenario: You want to send some private data to a colleague. Okay, that sounds easy - but how do you do it?
Probably the most common way is via email - but wait, the most widespread communication medium in the world is not encrypted by default.
So, what about Telegram Messenger? - same here, chats are not encrypted by default and can be read in plain text without any problems.
All right, then a small technical step back and send the data by mail? - Well, actually not a bad idea, but where the hell does your colleague live?
Introduction
Every person, every institution, everybody owns data. Imagine a personal vault that contains all your private programs and data. You are per default the only one who can unlock the vault, can mutate, delete or add the data in the vault. You are able to authorize other people to open certain compartments for accessing specific parts of your data that you want to share with them. The same vault does now exists across all computers around the globe for as long as you want it to. You can freely communicate with any participant in the network, but no one except you and the other party can tell what you are talking about or which information you are exchanging.
All of the above is an extreme over-simplification of what we are doing at unyt.org, but it is true for a reason - we are indeed creating a platform where anyone can exchange information stored in their personal digital vault with the whole world in a secure and private manner: We are introducing …
The Supranet
In the digital age, the internet is indeed the global communication medium, that’s great - but something is missing here: Focus on essential design paradigms including privacy, standardization, data ownership, total equality and complete freedom.
The internet as we know it today was designed as a data exchange facility between institutions, not to become a global network that serves as the primary communication medium providing essential services for a digitalized society.
This is why we as unyt.org are working on the Supranet - an innovative decentralized peer-to-peer network that empowers individuals to engage in secure, discreet conversations and closes the gap betweem systems. With Supranet we want to allow participants total privacy and availability over their personal data and communication. We aim to eliminate the existing opaque chaos of personal data usage collected by providers on the internet. We plan to break down communication barriers between platforms and applications due to the lack of standardization. We proposes to establish a comprehensive environment for a decentralized communication network, where participants enjoys the benefits of total privacy and data ownership, sharing the same absolute rights due to fair distribution of power.
The Supranet is a next generation network that closes the gap between the physical and digital space and essentially acts as a globally distributed super-computer.
The Supranet is built with the lessons learned from the last decades. Fundamental web protocols like HTTP, TCP/IP and DNS still form the base for Supranet information exchange, but are more or less redundant due to our DATEX protocol that serves as the backbone and universal language of the whole network.
Today vs Future
Today
The current state of the internet is plagued by issues related to privacy and security, systems vulnerable to attacks, data breaches, and censorship.
It is important to acknowledge that the centralization of the internet is a significant factor in these problems. Centralized systems, by their very nature, are subject to the control of a single entity or group, who may use their power to censor information, monitor user activity, or manipulate data.
This has been seen in numerous political situations, where governments have misused their power to censor and control the flow of information online. Companies that control large portions of the internet, such as ISP, major tech gigants or political parties, may use their power to manipulate public opinion, stifle free speech, collect personal data on an enormously large scale, or promote their own interests.
- Censorship: Centralized systems can be used to censor information that is deemed to be politically or socially sensitive. This can limit the free flow of information, restricting access to news and viewpoints that may be critical of the government or other powerful entities.
- Surveillance: Centralized systems can be used by institutions to monitor the activities of individuals and collect data on personal online behavior. This can lead to a chilling effect on free speech and undermine privacy rights.
- Centralized Datastores: Service providers often store personal data of a large number of their users. A leak in a single vulnerable data store will expose the data of all users.
- Communication Barriers: Applications do not speak with other applications outside of their own encapsulated ecosystem. This limits compatiblity and requires custom translations for any inter-app communication.
- Unsynchronized Information: Copies of the same data are often stored at multiple locations. The mechanism to keep data up-to-date after change is pretty tedious.
- Difficult Identification: Users own countless accounts for all their applications or rely on a big cooperation to get identified.
Future
The unyt.org project aims to address these issues by establishing the Supranet as a decentralized and privacy-focused alternative to the conventional internet.
The privacy of users is a central concern in the design of the Supranet. All communication between users (endpoints) is end-to-end encrypted per default, ensuring that only the intended recipients have access to the data. Endpoints are authenticated through the HELIX blockchain, allowing them to interact with the ecosystem in a secure and private manner. This privacy-by-design approach ensures that endpoints can interact without fear of their data being intercepted or misused by third parties.
The internet consists of a colorful patchwork of design aspects, communication protocols and ideas from totally different decades. In the origins of the internet, the possibility to have encrypted communication was never considered. Various protocols that build on and complement each other thus form the basis of the state of the art internet. A decentralized architecture has turned into a centralized network governed by a few large players, where all services have to implement fundamental logic, such as data exchange, login logic or data storage, from scratch, each for itself, without having common standards.
With the Supranet, unyt.org introduces a revolutionary approach: A fully decentralized network secured by blockchain technologies, that builds on the existing web infrastructure, but is also fully self-sufficient..
How We Shape The Democratic Web
Centralized platforms often suffer from issues of censorship and control. We recognize the importance of decentralization in fostering Supranet as truly democratic network.
For a democratic network, the following conditions must be met:
- Everybody can join (no fee / no exclusion)
- Everybody shares the same rights (fair power distribution)
- All communication is encrypted, secure and unlinkable (No surveillance)
- Censorship is impossible (Freedom of speech)
- Anonymous, unlinkable usage is possible
With the Supranet, all of those conditions are covered:
- The Supranet is open source and free to use. One of our core tenets is our commitment to open source development. By embracing the principles of transparency and collaboration, unyt.org invites developers, enthusiasts, and the wider community to contribute to the project’s growth and improvement. Unlike closed-off networks that restrict entry or stifle diverse perspectives, the Supranet welcomes everybody. With open source code, we benefit from the scrutiny and contributions of a diverse community of developers. This collective effort helps to identify and address security vulnerabilities promptly, ensuring a robust and resilient platform. By harnessing the power of many, the prokect stands strong against potential threats and evolves to meet the ever-changing landscape of digital security.
- The Supranet is built on a decentralized infrastructure, ensuring that power is distributed among participants rather than concentrated in the hands of a select few. This approach cultivates an inclusive and diverse ecosystem where every voice has the opportunity to be heard.
- The Supranet uses the DATEX protocol and HELIX chain to establish connection to other endpoints. All communication is end-to-end encrypted and includes digital signatures by default between all parties. Traffic is unlinkable when using anonymous endpoints.
- The Supranet’s decentralized network storage and the HELIX chain act as distributed unmutable ledgers. All data that was sent can be retrieved by the receiver at any time from the ledgers without giving a single authority the possibility to censor or block this distributed data.
- Per default, all endpoints in the Supranet are completely anonymous. The traffic and communication can not be linked to the real human entity that controls this exact same endpoint.
Conclusion
Our open source and free-to-use approach revolutionizes the way we perceive secure and discreet communication. By embracing transparency, collaboration, and accessibility, the Supranet network empowers individuals and communities worldwide. We foster an environment where everyone can engage in private, secure, and democratic communication. Together, we can build a future where open source principles and free access lay the foundation for a safer and more inclusive digital world.
