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URnetwork — Say goodbye to your VPN and hello to a P2P powered web
We’re rebuilding the internet so that you can say goodbye to your VPN and never again make the tradeoff between the content you want and privacy.
Introducing URnetwork, a decentralized network powered by direct connections to people around you.
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Hi I'm Brien, the founder and one of the builders at URnetwork. I was one of first 20 engineers at Palantir and have been building global infrastructure for over a decade. I started working on URnetwork out of a WeWork in Palo Alto, exploring the idea that a massively distributed, four-nines reliable network can be built with commodity hardware to be the most private, available, and secure network for everyday people. Along the way we've questioned every assumption and developed key innovations that scale to millions of users. With URnetwork you don't need to trust some company with your data. Instead we use transparency and better protocols to prove it.
Why does it matter?
I believe we all deserve an Internet that is inclusive, expressive, and free.
The commercialization of people of the Internet has been increasing for decades, and people are now targeted for maximum value extraction in every interaction. The incentive of the internet is no longer to be of service to people. People simply haven't had the tools to make a different choice.
I believe an anonymous, unfiltered, secure network will lead to a better Internet for people.
The goal of URnetwork is to make this new network private, available, and secure for everyone, anywhere. We have the power in our devices to create a better internet, we just have to turn it on.
I hope you'll give URnetwork a try!
Product Hunt
I dig the branding and aesthetic.
I'm highly skeptical of most VPNs. You're trusting them with a ton of data and who knows what backdoors they might not even know about. But I don't think most consumers think about this.
@urbrien is this primarily targeted to the early adopter, tech crowd?
@rrhoover Agreed the sketch of most VPNs is exactly why I started the project. There's a more transparent way to have a good business in this space. Regarding audience, anyone who uses a VPN for content, availability, privacy, and/or security would find URnetwork a good alternative. We're trying to make it easy and understandable for normal people.
URnetwork
@rrhoover Thanks Ryan! One of the primary reasons for building URnetwork is to provide the best transparent, open-source alternative to some of these shady VPN companies. No user logs, simply private internet.
We're looking to onboard users who want an easy-to-use VPN, but don't want their internet data collected by sketchy VPN companies. Some of the most popular VPN apps can feel confusing and clunky. Easily accessing private internet with the click of a button is really important for us.
App Finder
So, how does it work?
@konrad_sx Just download the app and tap connect. For technical convo, we have HN post going at "Show HN", maybe we can discuss there?
Product Hunt
@konrad_sx @urbrien might make a good discussion on our forums!
Supademo
I really hope this gets super popular. Such a nice product!
@mehdi_hp Thank you Mehdi! We're just getting started.
I created a network but it says I'm not live. Is it because I'm using it on the desktop?
@thiagodecarvalho Currently you need to use the iOS or Android app to use it. Just log in on the app, you can have multiple devices on your network. Our macOS app is in review, but it's looking like another week to have it in the store.
Congrats on the launch! Have been thinking about this for a long time, glad to see someone take another stab at it
@eric_ries Thanks Eric! We've been learning what scales as we go by taking parts of other projects and rethinking the assumptions to find something more approachable by a normal person. We'll be publishing an updated whitepaper soon about the system design and the market for capacity that we're working on. I think building a market for private, available, secure internet that allows anyone to plug in will be our biggest accomplishment. I'd love to keep in touch as we go and get your feedback.
Congratulations on launching URnetwork! You're tackling a significant pain point in internet privacy by eliminating the performance-vs-security tradeoff that traditional VPNs impose on users.
How does your peer-to-peer network handle connection stability when the number of local nodes is limited in a user's geographic area?
@khukhus35 We're approaching this as a marketplace for capacity. We have an incentive for providers to add capacity (revenue share). We're looking at ways to automatically ramp up the incentive for areas where data is used. We're also looking at ways to incentivize idle capacity in every country. We're looking at deeper integration between our capacity market and web3.
Product Hunt
Love the site, vibe with the mission, and realllly want to love this. I was a bit sused when I had to download the app but went for it any way. Logged in, and was pleasantly surprised to see I can earn USDC for supporting.
Tried it out for a bit and noticed a couple of things:
Wasn't able to send photos or media via iMessage (on Mac)
The network did slow a bit sometimes (I'm on a network capable of 10GB...)
I wish I got more information about what was happening. How much data am I transferring/supporting, am I getting any packet loss? Why is my media getting caught up, etc.
I reallllyyy think this has legs and am happy to continue testing but as of now cannot have it on 24/7 as I'd wish :/
@gabe Thank you for this feedback. We realize we could do a better job at exposing the traffic on the network, and if any security rules were applied. We're actually working on a stats update now that puts a lot more information into the app. We also have a proper macOS app in submission that should be available soon. When the next release is ready to test, can we follow up? Would you want to join our Discord so we can keep chatting? https://discord.gg/urnetwork
This is a bold vision for the future of the internet. Removing the need for VPNs while ensuring privacy and security is a massive step forward. Excited to see where this goes.
@marianna_tymchuk Thank you! We have two big updates planned for H1 this year.
The commercialization of online interactions has become overwhelming. A network that puts users first instead of treating them like data sources is an exciting shift.
I've been using the android version for a few months. It's great.