Brave Browser keeps blowing my mind. They are not stopping at delivering updates to the world that we don't deserve. This time around they now support Peer to Peer (P2P) IPFS protocol. To understand what IPFS is you need to understand what protocols we use right now.
HTTP:
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
I am sure you are all aware that we use HTTP because it is usually before any website address. Even if you don't see it, it is there.
Here is what Brave Browser shows as my URL right now:
However when I go up to the Address bar and copy the URL and paste it here this is what shows up: https://www.publish0x.com/newpost
That is because you need a protocol to access websites. The way the internet works is that there are big freaking centralized datacenters around the world that "store the internet" so when you go to http://publish0x.com your ISP goes out to one of these DC's and gets the website and then gives it to you. (That is a very shortened version).
HTTPS:
Hypertext Transfer Protocol
Think of HTTPS as HTTP Secure. It is a more secure way to access HTTP content. HTTPS is now the default way to access most websites because it adds an extra layer of security. It basically encrypts the traffic you are sending and receiving via HTTP.
IPFS:
InterPlanetary File System
The best way I can describe IPFS is to think of websites in the same sense of the Theta Network. It's is completely peer to peer. So there are more smaller nodes across the world that cache's web content. So when you access a website via IPFS it goes out to a node to retrieve the website and delivers it to you. You can also think of how BitTorrent works. People across the world cache documents and you as an end user can go out to the quickest version and download it.
There are many pro's to this protocol. It would greatly reduce server hosting costs. It would make it so much harder for governments to censor the internet. For example let's say China wants to censor www.publish0x.com. They would need to only contact the few server hosting datacenters and block the traffic to www.publish0x.com . But with IPFS it would be like China trying to block traffic from thousands of little nodes across the country. It is still doable but so much harder and a constant battle.
“Today, Web users across the world are unable to access restricted content, including, for example, parts of Wikipedia in Thailand, over 100,000 blocked websites in Turkey and critical access to COVID-19 information in China... Now anyone with an internet connection can access this critical information through IPFS on the Brave browser.” said Molly Mackinlay, IPFS project lead.
So how do you get this cool fancy IPFS protocol. Make sure you are using version 1.19 of Brave. I just checked mine and I am not on the latest version. So just because Brave doesn't have that annoying red arrow in the top right doesn't mean you are on the latest and greatest. Click on the 3 line hamburger menu in the top right of the browser. Go down to "About Brave" then the new page will tell you what version you are on and if you can update.
