ZeroNet for Uncensorable Websites

Consonant with the theme of decentralisation via P2P and BitTorrent is ZeroNet which claims to offer "open, free and uncensorable websites, using Bitcoin cryptography and BitTorrent network".

I was first alerted to this idea via a Corbett Report video on YouTube that was uploaded on the 12th January 2017 but is dated March 28th 2014. The MeowBit.com website mentioned in this video hasn't been updated since that time and any YouTube videos also date to 2014. ZeroNet seems to have now taken over as the driving force behind the popularisation of this technology. 

AceLewis has a YouTube channel with many instructional videos, the most recent of which was posted only a month ago. I've linked to the website above. Here is the first in his series of instructional videos, titled Introduction to ZeroNet and posted 11 months ago:

However, after downloading ZeroNet to my Mac, it doesn't open even after I watched his instructional video and followed all the steps. I need to investigate further but I've made a start at least.

Bitchute: YouTube Alternative?

While I was watching the latest episode of mediamonarchy.com, mention was made of a new startup called bitchute as an alternative to YouTube. It is powered by WebTorrent and relies on P2P sharing on data instead of vast numbers of centralised servers. Here is what the site's founders have to say about how the idea came about:

Throughout 2015 and 2016 several prominent YouTubers reported a loss of video monetization when covering certain topics or for having particular opinions. YouTube claimed this was due to tighter enforcement of existing rules, even if true this will restrict the type of content that gets made and is a form of censorship. 

Here we believe people should be able to express their opinions and choose their topics. If existing services cannot allow that, then let's make some that will. The question is, how to disrupt a platform as well established as YouTube? It cannot be on their terms; we think we might have an answer, decentralization by torrents and tailored matchups for monetization. *More on the monetization to come soon. 

Rather than needing massive data centers with humongous bandwidth costs, torrents depend on many people sharing videos from their home computers. While this has been possible for many years through bit torrent, bit torrent applications have steep learning curves; this site aims to make the torrent experience seamless by working entirely in the web browser.

On the WebTorrent site, things are explained by its creator, Feross Aboukhadijeh, as follows:

What is WebTorrent? 

WebTorrent is the first torrent client that works in the browser. YEP, THAT'S RIGHT. THE BROWSER. 

It's written completely in JavaScript – the language of the web – and uses WebRTC for true peer-to-peer transport. No browser plugin, extension, or installation is required. 

Using open web standards, WebTorrent connects website users together to form a distributed, decentralized browser-to-browser network for efficient file transfer. 

Why is this cool? 

Imagine a video site like YouTube, where visitors help to host the site's content. The more people that use a WebTorrent-powered website, the faster and more resilient it becomes. 

Browser-to-browser communication cuts out the middle-man and lets people communicate on their own terms. No more client/server – just a network of peers, all equal. WebTorrent is the first step in the journey to redecentralize the Web. 

In the following video, Feross explains how WebTorrent will work:

Finally, here's a Speaker Deck slide presentation about WebRTC from Feross:

Understanding our Past

This is an excellent video in which Graham Hancock expatiates on a number of different topics. I've only come to learn about him recently. The notes to the YouTube video describe him as follows:

Graham Hancock (born 2 August 1950) is a British writer and journalist. Hancock specialises in unconventional theories involving ancient civilisations, stone monuments or megaliths, altered states of consciousness, ancient myths and astronomical/astrological data from the past. One of the main themes running through many of his books is a posited global connection with a "mother culture" from which he believes all ancient historical civilisations sprang.

One crucial point he makes is the importance of thinking for yourself. Don't accept what so-called authorities say about something. Years ago, he began to question the accepted narrative about ancient civilisations and has spent his subsequent years trying to find out the truth about the pyramids, the sphinx and other Egyptian structures. Mainstream historians, in his opinion, misrepresent the ancient past just as they misrepresent the recent past.

Here is the video: