Entropy (anonymous data store)
Encyclopedia
Entropy was a decentralized, peer-to-peer
communication network designed to be resistant to censorship
, much like Freenet
. Entropy was an anonymous data store written in the C programming language
. It pooled the contributed bandwidth
and storage space of member computers to allowed users to anonymously
publish or retrieve information of all kinds. The name "Entropy" was a backronym
for "Emerging Network To Reduce Orwellian
Potency Yield," referring to George Orwell's famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
and its totalitarian Thought Police
enslaving people by controlling their information.
Entropy was designed to be compatible with the similar Freenet system. As such, any Freenet client could be configured to run on the Entropy network. However, Entropy and Freenet data stores are not compatible with each other and therefore do not share data.
Entropy featured a news interface, for reading and posting on the latest frost message boards from within the client.
.
McEliece has been proven resistant to attack by Quantum Fourier Sampling as used by Shor's algorithm
.
Peer-to-peer
Peer-to-peer computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads among peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the application...
communication network designed to be resistant to censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
, much like Freenet
Freenet
Freenet is a decentralized, censorship-resistant distributed data store originally designed by Ian Clarke. According to Clarke, Freenet aims to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network with strong protection of anonymity; as part of supporting its users' freedom, Freenet is free and...
. Entropy was an anonymous data store written in the C programming language
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
. It pooled the contributed bandwidth
Bandwidth (computing)
In computer networking and computer science, bandwidth, network bandwidth, data bandwidth, or digital bandwidth is a measure of available or consumed data communication resources expressed in bits/second or multiples of it .Note that in textbooks on wireless communications, modem data transmission,...
and storage space of member computers to allowed users to anonymously
Anonymity
Anonymity is derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymity typically refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.There are many reasons why a...
publish or retrieve information of all kinds. The name "Entropy" was a backronym
Backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
for "Emerging Network To Reduce Orwellian
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
Potency Yield," referring to George Orwell's famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
and its totalitarian Thought Police
Thought Police
The Thought Police is the secret police of Oceania in George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.It is the job of the Thought Police to uncover and punish thoughtcrime and thought-criminals, using psychology and omnipresent surveillance from telescreens to monitor, search, find and kill...
enslaving people by controlling their information.
Entropy was designed to be compatible with the similar Freenet system. As such, any Freenet client could be configured to run on the Entropy network. However, Entropy and Freenet data stores are not compatible with each other and therefore do not share data.
Entropy featured a news interface, for reading and posting on the latest frost message boards from within the client.
Status
On July 9, 2004, the creator of Entropy announced that he had stopped work on the project amid uncertainty about the security of the included algorithms, namely the McEliece cryptosystemMcEliece cryptosystem
In cryptography, the McEliece cryptosystem is an asymmetric encryption algorithm developed in 1978 by Robert McEliece. It was the first such scheme to use randomization in the encryption process...
.
McEliece has been proven resistant to attack by Quantum Fourier Sampling as used by Shor's algorithm
Shor's algorithm
Shor's algorithm, named after mathematician Peter Shor, is a quantum algorithm for integer factorization formulated in 1994...
.