When the Internet was invented in 1989; the vision for it was a free and open platform where people would be able to share and learn whatever they like. However, today the Internet is very much regulated and is manipulated by big multinational corporations and search engine giants.

A Hungarian developer who has a similar vision with the developers of the Internet has created an Internet-like decentralized network called ZeroNet. ZeroNet, which uses Bitcoin and BitTorrent technology, was launched in January 2015.

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The application is based in Budapest, Hungary and acts as a web host for a network of peer-to-peer pages. Users worldwide can use the open source ZeroNet protocol and begin surfing distributed websites.

The creator of the ZeroNet, Tamas Kocsis, 32, said that he wants that the power of privacy and freedom of information to be returned to the people.

"The internet is getting more and more centralized, which allows easier surveillance and censorship. So we have to come up with ideas that do the opposite of this," Kocsis told IBTimes UK. "The main goal is to remove as many middlemen as possible. It's independent of big companies. One result of this could be less censorship. I think ZeroNet could be interesting for any people who want to exercise their right to freedom of speech."

ZeroNet works based on the same technology used in the cryptography as Bitcoin. As a result, every site address also becomes a Bitcoin address and users are identified by the same way, so that one can send bitcoin directly to them.

It uses the BitTorrent network to find other peers for the sites. The file transfer protocol is different from it because BitTorrent does not allow dynamic, real-time updated sites which are a key feature of ZeroNet.

According to Kocsis, about 1000 people are currently using this service and some people use the Tor anonymity network to hide their IP and protect their identity. ZeroNet's data indicates a geographical diversity with people from China, Malaysia, India, Europe, Indonesia, Australia, and North America.