Force Network — SUB comparison
The community vote for the subject of our next blog article is in, and the community chose Substratum as the next project to compare the Force Network with. Both projects are creating a decentralized network of computers to host information and share it with other network nodes. The main difference is that the Force Network also has a unique focus on censorship-resistance and anonymity for all — it seeks to create the decentralized internet in a way that keeps both content hosts and consumers completely anonymous. This article will dive deeper into this and other differences between these projects.
Substratum is focusing on ease of use, allowing users to use any traditional web browser to access their network. The downside to this is Substratum must rely on existing technologies such as DNS and SSL that were never designed to be decentralized. The Force Network goes in a different direction in order to maintain the complete anonymity of both users and content hosts. To do this, content and services on the Force Network are accessible directly from a browser built into the Force wallet. For the slight increase in complexity (one software wallet download), users of the Force Network participate on their own network layer, protected from the spying tools ISPs and governments use. This approach provides complete anonymity for users and hosts, and in conjunction with various techniques outlined in the whitepaper, extremely strong censorship-resistance.
Both projects allow access to their own collection of information as well as the traditional internet. The difference here is that Force Network traffic is anonymized first by routing it through multiple nodes, even when accessing the traditional internet. Both projects also allow the use of geolocation to reduce latency, however with Force, geolocation data is optional for ultimate privacy.
The billing mechanisms are different too. With Substratum, the user requests data, pays that source with a microtransaction, and then receives data from that host directly. This slows down the browsing experience as each data request must be coupled with a completed cryptocurrency transaction. The ‘point to point’ network also does nothing to anonymize traffic or protect the identities of the host or requestor. The Force Network, by contrast, bills and sets up network access chains in advance and uses the same chain for as long as the user desires. Content on the Force Network is paid for in bulk by utilizing Payment Nodes that each allow access to a plethora of related content with a single contract.
Substratum routes network traffic automatically and has no way to protect the IP address of the content host nor the person accessing it. This means that information on the Substratum network can be censored, enabling authorities to punish individuals for accessing content that the authorities might deem “illicit”. With the Force Network, the user can choose the exact path the data takes, through multiple nodes if desired. The Force Network also offers flexible network protocol technologies, so that independent developers can change how a user’s data is sent/received at the network protocol layer. This enables many features, however the primary reason is that an external observer (like an ISP or government) will be unable to tell that the user is using the Force Network at all, as a network protocol can be chosen that hides their network data inside a completely different looking protocol. For example, a request to access an internal copy of Wikipedia’s database on the Force Network could be hidden inside what looks like Skype video data from the outside. This feature is unique to the Force Network, but one we see as mandatory in order to allow freedom of information in heavily censored regions such as China.
Substratum does use encryption so that a user’s data cannot be directly read by outside sources, but that does not stop outside observers from mapping their traffic and tracing it back to the source, or correlating the type of information a node hosts with all of the users requesting it. Force Network utilizes a multi-encryption scheme, so the data going out of each node looks different from the data going in, which means traffic cannot be mapped back to the user. The multi-hop capability of Force also keeps even malicious nodes away from a user’s real-world information.
In conclusion, while both projects are creating a decentralized internet, the main focus of each project are very different. Substratum is focusing on removing centralization from the internet and lowering hosting costs. The Force Network is focused on allowing the anonymous transfer of information and use of network services in even the most heavily regulated parts of the world.
We hope this comparison was enlightening, stay tuned for more.
Please stay tuned for upcoming articles comparing Force to distributed internet and VPN cryptocurrency projects.
Comparison articles summary:
Force Network vs TOR
Force Network vs Substratum
Note: The information on Substratum in this article was obtained from their documentation.
