NAT

The ‘Security Feature’ That Quietly Killed the Decentralized Internet

The internet you were promised—where you could share, host, and connect directly—was quietly taken away by a 1990s port-mapping hack called NAT. Sold as a necessary security feature, NAT actually turned every user into a read-only client, structurally guaranteeing our permanent dependence on centralized cloud platforms and Big Tech gatekeepers.