MAX POWERS LLC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: J201-CSO1

Description

Blockchain Router protects users from censorship and provides tools for anonymous communications and data publishing. Present internet infrastructure is based on the host concept, where information is stored on hosts (servers) which can be accessed using their IP addresses or domain names. With higher presence of the Internet in the economies, politics, and everyday life, people also tend to use it in disruptive ways and for harmful purposes; thereby, authorities worldwide have turned to follow Internet access restriction policies. These policies include measures that can hamper Internet access, such as identification of resources accessed by user, and, if required by political or legislative actions, access restriction to certain information by imposing IP address blocks, DNS name substitution, or complete block of the internet traffic using DPI-systems and firewalls on the network provider’s side. Attempts to carry out stricter control policies over Internet users and their access to digital resources end up in a breach of one of the basic human rights, which is the right to equal access to the information. People do not have a technical opportunity to access topical information quickly and timely, such as news, historical and statistical data, chronicles. At the time of this writing (January 2020), the most well known and comprehensive system for blocking and controlling access to network resources is the Great Firewall of China (GFC). It is a combination of legislative actions and technologies enforced by the People's Republic of China to regulate its Internet domestically. GFC was formed in China as an Internet censorship body which blocks access to selected foreign websites and slows down cross-border Internet traffic. Besides censorship, the GFW has also influenced development of China's internal internet economy by nurturing domestic ineffective companies and worsening the quality of digital services offered by foreign Internet companies to Chinese citizens. In order to provide Internet users with the essential right of free access to the information, we are presenting a project called "Blockchain router". Router's software gives users functionality to browse various types of websites - regular resources which have their top-level domains registered with ICANN (".com", ".net", etc.), blockchain websites which have their domains registered with their corresponding blockchains (".eth" for Ethereum), and resources hosted with multiple peers using p2p networking technologies (distributed hosting).