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−=head1 AnoNet2 Introduction
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−
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−(Note: There's now L<a page explaining a bit about anonymity in general and its place in AnoNet in particular|http://www.anonet2.org/anonymity>.)
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−
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−(Note: There's now L<a darknet comparison page, where you can compare and contrast the various darknet options|http://www.anonet2.org/darknet_comparison>).)
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−
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−(Note: There's now L<a separate page, to answer all your AnoNet-related questions|http://www.anonet2.org/faq>).)
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−
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−So, you came across anoNet and thought it sounded great, so you decided
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−to join in order to check it out.
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−
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−...and found the (only) client port doesn't work half the time,
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−
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−...and the (only) official wiki doesn't work the other half of the time,
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−
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−...and most of the advertised services no longer exist,
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−
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−...and most of the people have left,
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−
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−...and those who are left can hardly be classified as friendly,
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−
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−...and so you left, and perhaps found another darknet instead.
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−
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−Well, you're not the only one who's been turned off, and a few of us
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−have decided to take action and fix AnoNet.  Some of us are relatively
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−new, while others joined AnoNet1 years ago, and left out of disgust.
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−A number of features set version 2 apart from the original:
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−
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−=over
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−
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−=item No false advertising
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−
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−If you see something advertised here, it exists.  You won't see stuff
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−that hasn't been up in years here.  (This page is easy to update from
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−within AnoNet2 by anybody who has an update/correction to make, and
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−changes normally propagate within no more than a few days.)
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−
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−=item No centralized network control
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−
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−You don't have to worry about Kaos waking up one morning and blocking
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−your access to the whole network by deciding to filter private ASNs.
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−You also don't have to worry about a couple of powerful guys getting
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−together and "blacklisting" you from the network for some unspecified
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−reason with an inquisition against your peers.
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−
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−=item No centralized IRC control
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−
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−You don't have to worry about risc g-lining you from the "official" IRC
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−network for no apparent reason, and refusing to even admit to having
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−g-lined you.  Since the whole purpose behind AnoNet was to create a
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−censorship-resistant alternative to the government-censored "public"
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−Internet, arbitrary censorship on the "official" AnoNet1 IRC network by
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−anonymous government members is particularly troubling.  AnoNet2 has
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−no "official" IRC network, and the servers most commonly used have
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−interesting channels bridged with a relay bot, so even if you manage to
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−annoy an IRC server operator to the point where he decides to g-line you
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−from his whole "network," that doesn't automatically prevent you from
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−connecting to another server and accessing one of the bridged channels.
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−(Obviously, if you manage to annoy the operators of all the linked servers
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−to the point where all of them g-line you from their respective "networks"
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−and nobody wants to let you relay your own server in, then you're probably
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−out of luck.  Of course, that doesn't prevent you from running your own
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−IRC server, and those who want to hear you can still join it.)
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−
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−=item No centralized wiki control
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−
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−AnoNet2 doesn't have an official wiki, and two (L<this one|http://www.anonet2.org/> and L<some random wiki|http://www.somerandomwiki.ano/>) out of the three well-known wikis on AnoNet2 use git for their underlying storage, and are therefore very easy for anybody to proxy, mirror, fork, etc.  (The last one is L<UFO's wiki|http://wiki.ucis.ano/>, and UFO is addicted to MediaWiki.)  (BTW, we now have a fourth "well-known" wiki, L<our AnoNet1 Wiki Mirror|Http://1.82.98.27/mediawiki/>: Since AnoNet1's official wiki seems to have more downtime than uptime, we figured we might as well donate a mirror to the cause.)
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−
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−=item No resource mess
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−
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−We have one mechanism for resource management, a decentralized (not just
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−distributed, but truly decentralized) resource database. You don't have
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−to deal with half a zillion incompatible (and in the case of the wiki,
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−down) services, run by guys who may not even be on the AnoNet tomorrow.
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−Managing your resources is as simple as taking a VI to the appropriate
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−files, doing a "git commit," and then just waiting for everybody else to
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−pull your changes (either directly from you, or indirectly from others
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−who pull from you).
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−
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−=item No arbitrary rules
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−
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−If you read the advertising for AnoNet, you probably think it's whatever
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−you make of it. Sadly, there's a tiny handful of people who have control
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−over most of the network, and make new (unwritten) rules whenever the
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−mood strikes them. The sum of those rules is that AnoNet is whatever
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−I<they> make of it. In version 2, we've undertaken to fix that, by both
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−technical and administrative means.  AnoNet2 not only has no arbitrary
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−rules - it has no rules whatsoever.
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−
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−=back