Magnet links

From ActiveArchives

magnet:?xt=urn:sha1:HZD3BDDCGFT7AE46CSFOYMSWOC255JJC&
xt=urn:kzhash:254b016e9d22bf371236ecaf15644c8aa2368c4882d882d1e43136584505606b6459fe3d&
xt=urn:ed2k:5441fd781b91e17216ae55f15b722557&
xt=urn:bitprint:HZD3BDDCGFT7AE46CSFOYMSWOC255JJC.HORF22DH4V3BPGJI5BEFRHSAYXTVE6PCDAXHTZQ&
xs=http://www.gutenberg.org/files/12005/12005-8.txt&dn=Les+Chants+de+Maldoror+by+comte+de+Lautr%C3%A9amont.txt

Taken from the Les chants de Maldoror project gutenberg page.

The link above refers not to a particular server location, but rather contains a "hash" or a kind of unique electronic fingerprint (bitprint) of the linked content, in this case the text of Les chants de Maldoror as distributed by Project Gutenberg. "Following" the link is thus performed by initiating a search for this material in a peer-to-peer network. Torrents use hashes extensively to identify and verify the contents of a distributed package.

By adding a custom firefox protocol, Firefox can be configured to handle these links.