It is simplest to think of The OFF System as a virtual web server inside the internet cloud itself.

• Specifically, there is one and only one OFF System. It is not a single physical device, but it is a single logical device-space containing resources. It’s not Chicago. It’s Nirvana. You don’t have to go there to be there.
• Each resource residing in the OFF System is accessed in situ at a single OFF address. Addresses in OFF space are analogous to those in the real world. “1060 West Addison” is not Wrigley Field nor does it deliver Wrigley field to you. But if you find your own way there, you can marvel in the spectacle that is Wrigley Field—so long as everyone leaves it where they found it.
• The OFF System is implemented using many OFF Nodes each independently following the OFF Core protocol. Any OFF Node can access any resource contained by The OFF System. However, OFF Nodes don’t physically contain these resources. OFF Nodes only contain arbitrarily chosen fixed-size data blocks.
• An OFF data block is not part of a resource. It transcends resources. Indeed every data block has infinite uses. As such, each block is used in accessing multiple resources.
• Some blocks are randomly generated, but most are arbitrarily chosen. There are precisely 256¹³¹⁰⁷² different OFF blocks to choose from. When storing each segment of a resource, multiple blocks are simultaneously selected as a single tuple. At each selection point, any tuple maybe chosen that adequately represents the segment being stored. There are always a minimum of 256¹³¹⁰⁷² adequate tuples. OFF Nodes may randomly or deterministically choose from this set of tuples in anyway they wish.

Browsing OFF

Users access content stored in The OFF System through their regular web browser. OFF access is indistinguishable from regular web browsing.

• OFF content may be linked to/from anywhere that traditional web content can be linked. This includes web pages, blogs and RSS feeds.
• Once a user clicks an OFF link, the content is accessed in-place and displayed in the browser or appropriate media player.
• OFF user’s do not need to make local copies of any content stored in the OFF System.

Personal Privacy

Unlike traditional web browsing however, OFF browsing remains a personal activity. OFF is not private because users fear breaking the law. On the contrary, OFF views privacy as fundamental. Your personal habits are nobody else’s concern unless you intentionally make them so.

In traditional web browsing, both web site operators and advertisers are notified each time you access a web page. By default they log who you are and where you linked from. This allows them to create a detailed profile of your behavior WITHOUT ASKING your permission.

The above entities are not entitled to profile your personal habits. There is no established legal need to do so. We would not stand for anyone covertly monitoring our habits and interactions with traditional media.

• Book and newspaper reading habits
• Library records
• Radio & CD listening
• TV & DVD watching

Indeed in the past, no one could even attempt to profile these. However, though an unintended consequence of the world-wide-web’s design, this is now standard practice in digital media. Many companies have made your personal habits “their business”—even when it is clearly none of their concern.

The OFF System is designed specifically to fix this design flaw, restoring the privacy that most consumers falsely presume that they already have.

• By default, OFF links point to “localhost” so the browser’s requests do not leave the local machine.
• OFF users can adjust these links in order to privately access content through any OFF node that they trust.
• Nodes only communicate meaningless data. This makes traditional monitoring futile.
• Communications stay local when possible to avoiding messaging over public networks when private ones will do.

OFF Benefits

• Stored resources remain uncensored and globally accessible.
• New resources may be stored anonymously.
• Personal behavior remains private.