Freenet Ghost Key

Donate to Get Your Ghost Key

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You can also read an introductory article about Ghost Keys, or watch a discussion about it.

What is a Ghost Key?

Ghost keys address a crucial challenge on the Internet: establishing trust without sacrificing privacy. With personal data commoditized by big tech, ghost keys are a way to maintain anonymity while tackling serious problems like bots and spam.

Here’s how it works: when you make a donation to Freenet, your web browser generates a public-private key pair. The public key is then encrypted, or blinded, and sent to our server. The server signs this blinded key and sends it back to your browser, which decrypts the signature, creating a cryptographic certificate that is signed by the server without the server ever seeing it. This process ensures that your identity is not linked to your donation, providing a unique certificate that proves you’ve invested value.

By linking trust to anonymity, ghost keys eliminate the need for cumbersome captchas. They block spam, prevent bots, and secure your interactions, making them a powerful tool for those who value privacy, security, and control over their digital presence.

How Do Ghost Keys Work?

  1. After a donation is completed the browser generates an elliptic curve key pair.
  2. The public key is blinded and sent to the server.
  3. The server verifies the donation and signs the blinded public key with its RSA key.
  4. The server then sends the blinded signature back to the browser, which unblinds it.
  5. The browser combines the unblinded signature with a certificate that authenticates the server’s signing key (the notary key), the donation amount, and the date the notary key was created.
  6. Finally, the browser presents this certificate to the user along with a corresponding signing key, proving the donation was made without revealing the user’s identity.
  7. The user stores this certificate and signing key safely

How much should I donate?

The minimum donation is just $1, but you can donate however much you can afford. The donation amount will be securely recorded in your Ghost Key certificate, and in the future it’s possible that access and perks on the network will be reserved for those who donate more or who donated earlier. Think of it like a “founding member” club.

How do I store my Ghost Key?

If you have a Freenet peer running on your computer, click “Import to Freenet” on the success page after purchasing. This imports your Ghost Key into a delegate on your node – a secure local agent that stores your signing key and handles identity operations on your behalf. Your signing key never leaves your node.

We also recommend downloading your Ghost Key as a backup in case you need to set up a new node.

How do I use my Ghost Key?

Once imported, applications can request to use your Ghost Key for identity verification through the delegate. You’ll be prompted for permission each time.

If you’re a developer building on Freenet and want to integrate ghost key verification into your app, see the ghostkeys delegate repository for the full API, integration guide, and source code.

A command line tool is also available for verifying ghost keys and signing messages outside of Freenet.