BitTorrent Sync Apps Offer Escape From Big Brother

08-14-2014 • http://www.wired.com, By Ryan Tate

But a small cadre of developers is building decentralized, privacy-conscious apps on the fast-growing BitTorrent Sync platform, creating everything from a more resilient version of the web to a peer-to-peer version of Facebook. They're betting people are tired of seeing private information Hoovered up by the likes of the National Security Agency, online advertisers, or rogue hackers.

These developers are riding the same wave that carried BitTorrent Sync, a file-syncing system similar to Dropbox but heavily encrypted and without a central server. Sync now counts more than 2 million users only 16 months after launching.

The growth of Sync apps is in the early, fragile stages. None of the software is even at the so-called "beta" stage of development, where wider testing can begin. And all of the apps could be scuttled by one false move at BitTorrent Inc., the file-sharing company that developed Sync and controls the platform interfaces on which Sync developers build.