Project "SmallNet": A Digital Time Capsule
SmallNet is a ghost in the machine, a completely static, time-locked clone of the public internet as it existed on December 31, 1999. It's not an archive; it's an emulation. The entire network stack, from DNS resolution to data transfer protocols, is meticulously recreated to function exactly as it did back then. It operates on its own set of servers, a black site server farm running custom-compiled versions of Apache 1.3 and BIND 8.2.3. The entire network is a darknet, completely isolated from the public internet.

The project's name is a double entendre: it's a network small enough to be contained on a private server, and it's a return to the digital "neighborhood" feel of the early internet before search engines and social media created a centralized, corporate web. Every website, every dead link, every IRC channel, and every bulletin board message from that era is accessible because the data is hosted locally. Dead links aren't dead; they're archived, and the network resolves them as if the original servers were still online.

Accessing SmallNet is the core of its operational security. You don't just type in a URL. The network can only be accessed through a heavily modified version of Netscape Navigator, known as the Navi-Mod. This isn't just a reskin; it's a deeply re-engineered browser .

Custom TLD: The Navi-Mod is hard-coded to resolve all traffic to .snet domains, its own top-level domain. Any request for a .com or .net domain is rejected or rerouted through a local DNS cache that only knows about SmallNet's archived sites.

Encrypted Tunneling: The Navi-Mod bypasses modern security protocols like HTTPS and SSL, replacing them with a custom, proprietary encryption layer. It routes all traffic through a secure, anonymized tunnel to the SmallNet server farm, making it impossible to trace connections from the outside.

Custom Emulators: The browser has built-in emulators for obsolete protocols. Clicking a link to an old IRC channel or a bulletin board doesn't just display a static page; it launches a simulated client that lets you browse the archived messages and chat logs as if you were live on the network in 1999.

Using SmallNet is a trip back in time. The Navi-Mod simulates a 56k modem connection, so pages load with the familiar, excruciating slowness of the era. The web is a tapestry of blinking GIFs, low-quality JPEGs, and raw, hand-coded HTML. There are no algorithms, no pop-up ads, and no social media feeds. It's a quiet, academic space for digital archaeologists, former sysadmins, and cyber veterans.

The Navi-Mod isn't found on a public torrent site. It's a "zero-day drop" distributed only to a select list of trusted individuals. Getting your hands on it requires a personal introduction, a PGP key exchange, and a handshake that confirms you're worthy of the connection. This isn't elitism. It's security. Every key is linked to a user handle, identifying the connection only to the highest level sysadmins. This system ensures that SmallNet operates with something that ClearNet has always lacked. Accountability.

Project SmallNet is the ultimate act of digital defiance: building a better, private version of what we lost, and keeping it safe from the chaos of the modern web.