yes it was
https://github.com/HelloZeroNet
https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
perhaps it was too good?
In Porn censorship is going to destroy the internetHelloZeroNet
ZeroNet
JavaScript2015–2025
HelloZeroNet / ZeroNet
ZeroNet
ZeroNet - Decentralized websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent network
17Distinct people
22Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
18.8KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
ZeroNet - Decentralized websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent network
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
- oduwsdl/ipwb · linked in 2 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:03:16 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year22 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2015-01-13 00:58:43 UTC to 2025-08-19 18:35:23 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 3 | 3 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 0 | 1 |
From the project README
An excerpt from the repository, fetched Nov 13, 2026.
Read the project’s introduction
ZeroNet
Decentralized websites using Bitcoin crypto and the BitTorrent network - https://zeronet.io / onion
Why?
We believe in open, free, and uncensored network and communication.
No single point of failure: Site remains online so long as at least 1 peer is
serving it.
No hosting costs: Sites are served by visitors.
Impossible to shut down: It's nowhere because it's everywhere.
Fast and works offline: You can access the site even if Internet is
unavailable.
Features
Real-time updated sites
Namecoin .bit domains support
Easy to setup: unpack & run
Clone websites in one click
Password-less BIP32
based authorization: Your account is protected by the same cryptography as your Bitcoin wallet
Built-in SQL server with P2P data synchronization: Allows easier site development and faster page load times
Anonymity: Full Tor network support with .onion hidden services instead of IPv4 addresses
TLS encrypted connections
Automatic uPnP port opening
Plugin for multiuser (openproxy) support
Works with any browser/OS
How does it work?
After starting zeronet.py you will be able to visit zeronet sites using
http://127.0.0.1:43110/{zeronet_address} (eg.
http://127.0.0.1:43110/1HeLLo4uzjaLetFx6NH3PMwFP3qbRbTf3D).
When you visit a new zeronet site, it tries to find peers using the BitTorrent
network so it can download the site files (html, css, js...) from them.
Each visited site is also served by you.
Every site contains a content.json file which holds all other files in a sha512 hash
and a signature generated using the site's private key.
If the site owner (who has the private key for the site address) modifies the
site, then he/she signs the new content.json and publishes it to the peers.
Afterwards, the peers verify the content.json integrity (using the
signature), they download the modified files and publish the new content to
other peers.
Slideshow about ZeroNet cryptography, site updates, multi-user sites »
Frequently asked questions »
ZeroNet Developer Documentation »
Screenshots
More screenshots in ZeroNet docs »
How to join
Windows
Download ZeroNet-py3-win64.zip (18MB)
Unpack anywhere
Run ZeroNet.exe
macOS
Download ZeroNet-dist-mac.zip (13.2MB)
Unpack anywhere
Run ZeroNet.app
Linux (x86-64bit)
wget https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet-linux/archive/dist-linux64/ZeroNet-py3-linux64.tar.gz
tar xvpfz ZeroNet-py3-linux64.tar.gz
cd ZeroNet-linux-dist-linux64/
Start with: ./ZeroNet.sh
Open the ZeroHello landing page in your browser by navigating to: http://127.0.0.1:43110/
Tip: Start with ./ZeroNet.sh --ui_ip '*' --ui_restrict your.ip.address to allow remote connections on the web interface.
Android (arm, arm64, x86)
minimum Android version supported 16 (JellyBean)
APK download: https://github.com/canewsin/zeronet_mobile/releases
XDA Labs: https://labs.xda-developers.com/store/app/in.canews.zeronet
Docker
There is an official image, built from source at: https://hub.docker.com/r/nofish/zeronet/
Install from source
wget https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/archive/py3/ZeroNet-py3.tar.gz
tar xvpfz ZeroNet-py3.tar.gz
cd ZeroNet-py3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
sudo python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt
Start with: python3 zeronet.py
Open the ZeroHello landing page in your browser by navigating to: http://127.0.0.1:43110/
Current limitations
No torrent-like file splitting for big file support (big file support added)
No more anonymous than Bittorrent (built-in full Tor support added)
File transactions are not compressed or encrypted yet (TLS encryption added)
No private sites
How can I create a ZeroNet site?
Click on ⋮ > "Create new, empty site" menu item on the site ZeroHello.
You will be redirected to a completely new site that is only modifiable by you!
You can find and modify your site's content in data/[yoursiteaddress] directory
After the modifications open your site, drag the topright "0" button to left, then press sign and publish buttons on the bottom
Next steps: ZeroNet Developer Documentation
Help keep this project alive
Bitcoin: 1QDhxQ6PraUZa21ET5fYUCPgdrwBomnFgX
Paypal: https://zeronet.io/docs/help_zeronet/donate/
Sponsors
Better macOS/Safari compatibility made possible by BrowserStack.com
Thank you!
More info, help, changelog, zeronet sites: https://www.reddit.com/r/zeronet/
Come, chat with us: #zeronet @ FreeNode or on gitter
Email: hello@zeronet.io (PGP: 960F FF2D 6C14 5AA6 13E8 491B 5B63 BAE6 CB96 13AE)
Read the full README on GitHubWhat Hacker News says
22 sourcesSee ZeroNet, which uses bittorrent to sync websites, including support for dynamic content and accounts. (Accounts are somewhat centralized last i checked) https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
The main/original author disappeared but there are somewhat maintained community forks.
In Rarbg Is No MoreWhere did the ZeroNet creator go?
5 points · Open discussionWhoa this seems like a pretty well established and (dare I say) popular project! 13,742 stars as of this writing: https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
In ZeroNet: Decentralized websites using Bitcoin cryptography, BitTorrent networkI arrived a little late here, but for anyone just getting into web archiving, it's a fascinating space!
We maintain a master community index with a list of all the major archiving organizations and open source tools here:
https://github.com/pirate/ArchiveBox/wiki/Web-Archiving-Comm...
Some of the cooler projects apart from ArchiveBox.io:
- https://github.com/webrecorder/pywb / webrecorder.io
- https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
- https://github.com/oduwsdl/ipwb
- https://getpolarized.io
- https://github.com/internetarchive/brozzler
And many more blog posts, articles, projects, and organizations on the wiki!
In Why there’s so little left of the early internetYup, that's the idea behind projects like https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet and https://github.com/oduwsdl/ipwb.
In Why there’s so little left of the early internetI'd encourage folks here to check out ZeroNet (https://zeronet.io). It's a cool little project I've been following for the past couple years that's attempting to decentralize the Internet. It's not very popular but surprisingly it has 11.5k stars on GitHub (https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet).
In Craigslist takes personals sections offline in response to FOSTAI think you could easily start with forks of
ZeroNet (distributed TOR hosting):
https://zeronet.io
https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
and either:
SecureDrop:
https://securedrop.org
https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop
or
NextCloud:
https://nextcloud.com
https://github.com/nextcloud
Though basically you're just routing .onion at a bucket.
Another thing to look at would be building on https://libcloud.apache.org/
https://libcloud.readthedocs.io/en/latest/supported_provider...
or
https://jclouds.apache.org/
https://jclouds.apache.org/reference/providers/
And providing a storage target. Though you have to consider the possibility of seizure of the host[s] by the service providers state.
See:
https://www.deepdotweb.com/2017/06/10/french-police-seized-t...
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/french-police...
In Ask HN: Would anyone be interested in a darknet dropbox type thing?It's a lot better. Steps in the right direction.
About 52% test coverage, and pip is in use for some things.
However, so long as the LIB[0] folder exists, these sorts of problems will recur.
Each of those libraries is an opportunity for problems to emerge.
However, as they're manually managed, you don't get the chance to test against future versions, to check for breakage or okays.
Out of date becomes inevitable.
[0] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/tree/master/src/lib
In ZeroNet – Uncensorable websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent network> Yeah, but you can deal with that, if you know what you're doing.
I think it's fairly clear at this point that ZeroNet isn't testing to make sure that this is the case.
Their TorManager [0] is basically a wrapper around the tor executable, and runs a fairly vanilla config.
So yes, leaks or attacks via bittorrent are actually an issue here.
[0] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/blob/master/src/Tor/...
In ZeroNet – Uncensorable websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent networkopenSSLVerify is up to date. That's one more dependency than was up to date a year ago.
My problem is conversations like this one: [0], where improvements are resisted against, for being too hard.
People have tried to help improve quality and testing rigour, but they get turned away.
[0] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/830
In ZeroNet – Uncensorable websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent networkUnless your site is too big: [0].
Then you can have users end up browsing stale versions of the site. Still an issue as of before Christmas last year.
[0] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/598
In ZeroNet – Uncensorable websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent networkHas the code quality improved since I was told to screw off for bringing up security?
* 2 years out of date gevent-websocket
* Year old Python-RSA, which included some worrying security bugs in that time. [0](Vulnerable to side-channel attacks on decryption and signing.)
* PyElliptic is both out of date, and actually an unmaintained library. But it's okay, it's just the OpenSSL library!
* 2 years out of date Pybitcointools, with just a few bug fixes around confirmation things are actually signed correctly.
* A year out of date pyasn1, which is the type library. Not as big a deal, but covers some constraint verification bugs. [1]
* opensslVerify is actually up to date! That's new! And exciting!
* CoffeeScript is a few versions out of date. 1.10 vs the current 1.12, which includes moving away from methods deprecated in NodeJS, problems with
Read the rest
managing paths under Windows and compiler enhancements. Not as big a deal, but something that shouldn't be happening.
Then of course, we have the open issues that should be high on the security scope, but don't get a lot of attention.
Like:
* Disable insecure SSL cryptos [3]
* Signing fail if Thumbs.db exist [4]
* ZeroNet fails to notice broken Tor hidden services connection [5]
* ZeroNet returns 500 server error when received truncated referrer [6] (XSS issues)
* port TorManager.py to python-stem [7] i.e. Stop using out of date, unsupported libraries.
I gave up investigating at this point. Doubtless there's more to find.
As long as:
a) The author/s continues to use out-dated, unsupported libraries by directly copying them into the git repository, rather than using any sort of package management.
b) The author/s continue to simply pass security problems on to the end user
... ZeroNet is unfit for use.
As simple as that.
People have tried to help. I tried to help before the project got as expansive as it is.
But then, and now, there is little or no interest in actually fixing the problems.
ZeroNet is an interesting idea, implemented poorly.
[0] https://github.com/sybrenstuvel/python-rsa/issues/19
[1] https://github.com/etingof/pyasn1/issues/20
[3] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/830
[4] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/796
[5] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/794
[6] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/777
[7] https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet/issues/758
ZeroNet is amazing. It's decentralized and distributed, and it has a builtin blog engine (ZeroBlog), discussion board (ZeroTalk), private messaging (ZeroMail) and a social network (ZeroMe), among other things. It runs on Python 2 almost out of the box (a few extra modules are required).
Official website: https://zeronet.io/
Github repository: https://github.com/HelloZeroNet/ZeroNet
In How to Have a Darknet Site GratisZeroNet – Decentralized websites using Bitcoin crypto and BitTorrent network
8 points · Open discussionShowing the 15 most recent of 22 sources. Enable JavaScript to search and browse every indexed mention.