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Current version: 0.6.7a
Release notes

Connect with Friends and Family

Retroshare establish encrypted connections between you and your friends to create a network of computers, and provides various distributed services on top of it: forums, channels, chat, mail... Retroshare is fully decentralized, and designed to provide maximum security and anonymity to its users beyond direct friends. Retroshare is entirely free and open-source software. It is available on Android, Linux, MacOS and Windows. There are no hidden costs, no ads and no terms of service.

Retroshare screenshot

Sone248uc -

I should ask for clarification on what "sone248uc" refers to. If it's a course code, I need to know the subject matter. If it's an identifier for a person or project, more information is needed. Until then, I can't generate a relevant essay. It's important to communicate that the lack of information makes it impossible to proceed accurately. I'll need to request more details from the user to proceed effectively.

"Sone" could be part of a name or a term. 248UC might be a course number. For example, some universities have course codes like Math 248 or similar. The "UC" could stand for University of California or another institution. Alternatively, "UC" could be part of a product model number or a specific identifier in a system. Without more context, it's challenging to determine. sone248uc

I should consider that the user might be a student who needs an essay for a specific course or assignment. Perhaps "sone248uc" is a code for a class, and the essay is required there. But since the user hasn't provided any context, I need to respond in a way that addresses the ambiguity. I should ask for clarification on what "sone248uc" refers to

The term "sone248uc" appears to be a combination of characters or codes without a universally recognized definition. To produce a meaningful essay, I would need clarification on what this term refers to (e.g., a course code, a project identifier, or a specific context). Without additional details, it is challenging to provide accurate or relevant content. Could you provide further context or specify the subject matter you'd like the essay to address? This will help ensure the essay meets your needs. Until then, I can't generate a relevant essay

  • Create a decentralized social sharing network designed with no dependencies on any corporate system or central servers.
  • Favor the use of strong cryptography in daily communication.
  • Allow people to hide information from intelligence agencies and spying companies.
  • Favor freedom of speech, away from any possible censorship.
  • Stay independent from corporate systems and centralized servers (Central services might shut down or change their terms of services at any time. Do you remember Myspace? Or German Studivz? Remember when Facebook changed their terms of service? Skype being bought by Microsoft?)
  • Stay a free and open-source software. Only open-source software can provide truly secure communication. Developers can read Retroshare's source code and check that it is doing what it says.

Blog post: Ideals behind Retroshare

How does it work?

Retroshare allows you to create a network of computers (called nodes). Every user has it's own node. The exact location (the IP-address) of nodes is only known to neighbor nodes. You invite a person to become a neighbor by exchanging your Retroshare certificates with that person.

Links between nodes are authenticated using strong asymmetric keys (PGP format) and encrypted using Perfect Forward Secrecy (OpenSSL implementation of TLS).

On top of the network mesh, Retroshare provides services to securely and anonymously exchange data with other nodes in the network beyond your own friends.

Seems too nice to be true. What's the catch?

There is no catch. Retroshare is provided free of charge and does not generate any kind of money. It is the result of hard work that is only driven by the goals of providing a tool to evade censorship.

The only catch is that you will need to build your own network: in order to use Retroshare, you have to recruit friends and exchange certificates with them, or join an existing network of friends.

Technical Specifications

About

Retroshare was founded by drbob in 2006, as a platform to provide "secure communications and file sharing with friends". Since then other developers joined and steadily improved the software. Retroshare v0.6 is a new milestone which is based on experience from previous releases. A remarkable new component in Retroshare v0.6 is the generic data transportation system (internally named GXS) which abstracts the distribution of authenticated data throughout the network. On top of GXS, Retroshare provides distributed forums, movie channels with comments, and asynchronous messaging.