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!
@urbrien really impressive i want ask that its paid or any trial?
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.
@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.
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
@urbrien already in the Discord! Have a buddy in there as well, pretty excited to see how @URnetwork evolves.
@gabe Excellent! As we scale we're going to learn a lot together.
Took me a little while to understand how it fully works. But understood once I installed the app. Quite an impressive idea. So are you only supposed to share the network with people you know and trust? Also, how does the rewards work? Is part of the earnings of the premium plan used to pay for the participants?
@jsteneros The network uses a security model to make it safe to provide. Basically we turn off protocols that can cause issues, and make sure all the traffic is encrypted. Making it safe to provide and use were key design concerns because there is a tension between what a user can do an how safe it is to provide. There's more info at https://docs.ur.io/provider
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.
Hi, nice product spiking my curiosity. I might sound like an old git but when I use a vpn I mostly use it on a desktop. Any plan for Linux OSs? Cheers.
@david_edwards4 We're focused on building full native clients. Tracking Ubuntu here https://feedback.ur.io/6 . It's not on the active roadmap yet.
Showing support @urbrien !
@jason_ng8 Thank you Jason! 👊