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_%25E3%2582%25A2%25E3%2582%25A4%25E3%2582%25B3%25E3%2583%25B3.png) | |
 Screenshot of Perfect Dark (2008) | |
| Original author | Anonymous |
| Developers | Kaichō (会長; "The Chairman") |
| Initial release | 2006[1] |
| Stable release | 1.29  / 2 October 2024 |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | Windows Linux:Wine supported[2] |
| Size | less than 2 MB |
| Available in | English, Japanese, Spanish (unofficial)[3] |
| Type | File sharing |
| License | Closed source |
| Website | https://perfectdark.benri-tool.net/ |
| As of | March 2014 |
Perfect Dark (パーフェクトダーク) is apeer-to-peerfile-sharing (P2P) application from Japan designed for use withMicrosoft Windows. It was launched in 2006. Itsauthor is known by thepseudonymKaichō (会長; "TheChairman"). Perfect Dark was developed with the intention for it to be the successor to bothWinny andShare software.[4] While Japan's Association for Copyright of Computer Software reported that in January 2014, the number of nodes connected on Perfect Dark (24000) was less than onShare (44000), but more than onWinny (12000),[5] Netagent in 2018 reportedWinny being the largest with 50 000 nodes followed by Perfect Dark with 30 000 nodes followed by Share with 10 000.[6] Netagent asserts that the number of nodes on Perfect Dark have fallen since 2015 while the numbers ofWinny hold steady. Netagent reports that users of Perfect Dark are most likely to share books/manga.
As of version 1.02 (2008), code-named "Stand Alone Complex", there is support for the program to run in English, an option that can be selected when the program is installed.
Perfect Dark is still being actively developed. The author does not ask that the program's users at this point become dedicated "users" of the software. Instead, the author asks them to participate in thetest phase. Through this test phase, the author hopes forbug reports and discussion that will help shape Perfect Dark into a better program.
The author implements an architecture calledDKT+DHT+DU in the design of the network. These three parts compose the entire network.
"DKT" is mainly for providing effective file searching while "DHT" and "DU" is used for effective file sharing and enhancing anonymity.
Perfect Dark has higherbandwidth andhard drive space requirements than its predecessorsWinny andShare. The minimumupload speed is 100 kbit/s.
Perfect Dark requires more networkbandwidth and hard disk space than Winny or Share, forcing a fairer load on all users. If a user does not have Perfect Dark configured with the proper settings or if the user is unable to support the settings, download rates will be restricted and priority will be given to other users. This is intended to increase the retention rate of the Perfect Dark network.
It requires to share at minimum 40 GB of hard drive space, for its "Unity" folder (a hugedistributed hash table used as adistributed data store).
Perfect Dark requiresNTFS file system instead ofFAT32, because FAT32 is limited to a file size of 4 GB, while Perfect Dark can download files up to the size of 32 GB.
Like other Japanese sharing software, Perfect Dark has its own proprietary P2P network called "Unity".
One of the biggest characteristics of Perfect Dark is its powerful search capability. By usingdistributed hash tables, search performance is greatly improved compared toWinny orShare, making it unnecessary to rely on the construction ofnode clusters. This frees users from inputting or switching cluster keywords and also enables users to search for files of different genres at the same time. This is in contrast to Winny and Share, where cluster keywords, such as "DVDISO" or "アニメ"/"anime" are used to specify what types of files the user is searching for. These keywords segregate the network and introduce delays when the user changes to them.
The concept of "tree search" brings about strong search ability. In addition, the flexible use of AND, OR and NOTboolean operators helps filtering out undesirable results.
Perfect Dark includes an original feature named "flow": a window where text lines written by usersscroll vertically. Each user can write one little message (few lines and columns), and it will be displayed to the other peers using the flow feature.
Since version 1.02 Perfect Dark has an option to automatically update itself through its own (Unity) network.
Perfect dark has a simplemessage board feature. The boards are distributed into Unity network. The design is rudimentary.To get boards, these must be searched with the file search feature, with (for example) the Japanese keywordボード (board).
The overall structure of the Perfect Dark network broadly resembles recent versions ofHyphaNet, only with a heavier use ofdistributed hash tables.
The anonymity relies on amixnet where traffic is forwarded according to certain probability, as well as the deniability of thedistributed data storage ("Unity") which is stored and transferred in encrypted blocks while thekeys are distributed separately.
Perfect Dark usesRSA (2048-bit) andAES (128-bit) toencrypt data transmitted between peers. Exchanged keys are cached for efficiency.
Published files and boards (including automatic updates from the author, where enabled) are usually signed with 160-bitECDSA signatures. Automatic updates of the software are additionally protected with a 2048-bit RSA signature.
The author believes that initially, a layer of obscurity due to the closed-source nature of the program will frustrate attempted attacks on its anonymity, as well as deter "free riders" and junk files degrading the network. However, the author has stated that it may become open-source in the future should an acceptable solution to these problems be found.
The Japanese security firm NetAgent is claiming (2010) that they have created software capable of deciphering encrypted information such as theIP address of the original computer uploading a file as well as the file name and other details of Perfect Dark.[7][8]
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