The Legend of I2P

This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to actual events is pure coincidence.

Towards the end of the last century a good number of my gigs were appliances.  Everything was standardized.  You signed a contract you had to be familiar with 4-10 kg of paperwork.  I know that is daunting but everything read like children's book so you did not need lawyers.  Everything was done in good faith with people that wanted you to succeed.  The beneficiaries provided samples and guidance in case of a misunderstanding.  You really fucked up because of yourself or bad luck.  The penalties were stiff:  escrow, bond, insurance were the most common.  Most of my gigs were between 3 to 9 month.

I had about 2.5 month off between gigs and my personal plans did not fit the time constraints, when I got the call.  A short gig with no contract at half pay that worked only on satisfaction guaranteed.  Basically you got paid only if they liked the work and at half price the going rate.  After a 48 hours investigation to assure myself that the company is sound and the gig is needed, I accepted.  Why? Because it was for a good environmental cause and everybody worked for half price. Well...well...well.

 About 3 days in I understood that only in theory people were paid half. They had all kinds of side deals going on using the company's resources and time.  There was nothing sinister about the side gigs.  For example:  some guy that was doing remodeling was passing the materials through the company so he did not pay taxes.

  The IT guy was my only problem.  He monetized everything he could:  pyracy, tech support, website hosting and even SETI credits.  My gigs are always separated from IT but in this case I was obligated to go through the dude.  He was not some dumb funk either but a former C programmer turned Java.  Because of his activities he liked everything "dirty" for reasonable doubt.  Reasonable doubt is called plausible deniability these days.  How can Mr Clean (myself) make peace with Mr Dirty?

  I started cleaning up the machines in the company only to find out that IT is getting them dirty again.  At the 2 weeks mark I went postal in a scene that resembled Unforgiven.  "Anybody that does not want to get hurt, get the fuck out now!"  I smashed keyboards, through heavy monitors around and pull out cables.  After 2-3 minutes of rampage I left the building for a brisk hour long walk.  Nobody said shit or called in anybody for help, they just waited outside for my return.  When I returned, I gave the OK to return back into the building.  Even today I can't believe that it happen.

  The IT guy greeted me with a smile:  "Let me help you fix YOUR PROBLEMS".  I was thinking more of doing some reconstructive surgery with a tire iron on him.

  Anyway he kept his word and help me clean up the place except for 2 machines under his direct supevision.  After 2 days he came up with i2p.  It was not called i2p.  It took about 6 hours to understand the software and I monitored it for the reminder of the time. (2 month while the rest of the computers were brought to reasonable doubt again)

  At the time I had access to better networks used by taxes paid exchanges so I was not impressed with i2p.  Eventualy everything else died and I had no choice.

I did recognized the algorithm immediately from the 4 color map theory.  I used to be a Math Wizard.  I don't think much about Random and ZZZ as programmers but to claim invention of a supercomputer algorithm and application in distributed computing is an insult.  My guess is they did not hear about Fermat's Last Theorem either which is the simplest problem but the hardest to solve.  Bottom line is that the current maintainers can only screw things up.  Somebody might be called Ted but he ain't no Harvard Math Chair.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_color_theorem
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermat%27s_Last_Theorem

Anyway I did some digging up and it turns up that the software was developed to secure communication between remote corporate locations and the last pitch was to SETI for securing payment of the distributed computer credits.

If you don't understand the concept of taxes paid here it goes.  It is similar in scope with the 3 cups and 1 ball carnival game.  If the government has a suspicion they can de-anonymize a transaction.  When they are correct there is no penalty and they got their guy.  When they are wrong they have to pay at least the taxes back (used to be around 30%).  Sometimes they might uncover crap that may lead to the investigator's demise.  z-cash crypto crap has the de-anonymizing feature.

If you don't understand the concept of i2p here it goes.  It works on the reminder of 4.  So lets say if my router has a 2 and trw's router has a 1 a possible path is 2 3 1 0 - 0 3 2 1.  0 is the common point and we each have 3 hops between us.

--
Posted on RetroBBS

...lay off whatever it is you're taking...then post again in 3...4 months...or maybe I have to take more of your stuff to understand...

--
Posted on Rocksolid Light

That isn't how garlic routing works or jrandom operates, try again. You nailed zzz.

--
Posted on Rocksolid Light

So basically you think that 2-4 million routers were spun by Random.  NATLAS tells the truth but my routers are even hidden from NATLAS.

--
Posted on RetroBBS

No, try again you were so close

--
Posted on Rocksolid Light