V0.1 Beta - Selfishnet

Unlike polished commercial software or open-source utilities with friendly interfaces, SelfishNet v0.1 Beta was an agent of chaos. Its purpose, as stated by its anonymous developers, was simple: to take control of a shared Local Area Network (LAN) and grab the maximum possible bandwidth for the user running it, starving every other device on the network.

Simultaneously, wired networking gave way to Wi-Fi. Suddenly, neighbors could see each other’s unsecured networks. The concept of "network neutrality" was still a fringe academic debate; on the ground, it was anarchy. SelfishNet v0.1 Beta appeared on underground forums like Hackforums.net and RaGEZONE. The developer(s) never claimed credit. The readme file (written in broken English, likely translated from Italian or Spanish) read: "Why share when you can dominate? This tool use ARP spoofing to tell the router you are the most important guy. Others can wait." selfishnet v0.1 beta

For a brief window between 2006 and 2008, it was a legend. It empowered the tech-savvy, enraged the unsuspecting, and taught a generation of young network enthusiasts exactly how fragile the ARP protocol truly is. The developer(s) never claimed credit