Hash-n-Slash

Hash-n-Slash is a proof-of-concept Chrome extension that allows any text to be used as a domain name. By turning domain names into hashes, we allow for a greater flexibility of exactly what can be used to point to an online resource.

Install

Available in the Chrome Web Store here, or as the .crx file here

How

Hash-n-Slash currently does 3 things:

• Any url, typed in the url bar, that starts with #<tab> will be intercepted and SHA-1 hashed to a .com address.
• Web pages are scanned for links that start with #://, which are then SHA-1 hashed to a .com address.
• If a link's href contains just #://, the link's textContent will be SHA-1 hashed to a .com address.

But why?

Good domain names are pretty scarce. It's a source of frustration for anyone who has ever tried to buy a domain. I thought it might be fun if there was a hashing scheme that allowed more flexibility in mapping resources to locations on the web. Under a domain hashing scheme, the following might be possible:

• Documents could have unique resources on the web. A document's sha1sum could be a valid domain name to find the document itself, or other related resources about the doc. eg sha1sum ForestFire.pdf => 5fd035907cf17542631feb891babe3235e56c198.com
• More expressive domain names. Quotes or phrases could point somewhere. eg "For sale: baby shoes, never worn" => 3f7bc217f621dfd7ce371ca2450c99787a11ce5b.com
• Bind searches to domain names, eg "food in chicago" => f02970848a63988965aa40cd368ffcf9046209ca.com

Why this is a bad idea that will never work™

This is just for fun! A proof of concept.