diff --git a/src/dhtOnlineBase.ts b/src/dhtOnlineBase.ts
index a222ef7..332f369 100644
--- a/src/dhtOnlineBase.ts
+++ b/src/dhtOnlineBase.ts
@@ -15,7 +15,6 @@ export default class DHTOnlineBase extends EventEmitter {
   private bootstrapped: boolean;
   private graph: any;
   private connectedTo: Set<any>;
-  private data: {};
   private encoding: codecs.Codec<any>;
 
   constructor(id: Buffer, { encoding = DEFAULT_ENCODING } = {}) {
@@ -26,11 +25,17 @@ export default class DHTOnlineBase extends EventEmitter {
     this.bootstrapped = false;
     this.graph = new DiGraph();
     this.connectedTo = new Set();
-    this.data = {};
+    this._data = {};
     this.encoding = codecs(encoding || DEFAULT_ENCODING);
     this._online = [this._maybeHexify(this.id)];
   }
 
+  private _data: {};
+
+  get data(): {} {
+    return this._data;
+  }
+
   private _online: string[];
 
   get online(): string[] {
@@ -46,29 +51,13 @@ export default class DHTOnlineBase extends EventEmitter {
   }
 
   public setData(data: any) {
-    this.data = data;
+    this._data = data;
 
     this._setPeer(this.id, data);
 
     this._broadcastData();
   }
 
-  private _broadcastData() {
-    const rawData = this.data;
-    if (!Object.keys(rawData).length) {
-      return;
-    }
-    const data = this.encoding.encode(rawData);
-    this.broadcast(
-      Message.toBinary(
-        Message.create({
-          type: Type.STATE,
-          data,
-        })
-      )
-    );
-  }
-
   protected onAddPeer(id: Buffer) {
     const stringId = id.toString("hex");
     if (this.connectedTo.has(stringId)) {
@@ -168,6 +157,22 @@ export default class DHTOnlineBase extends EventEmitter {
     }
   }
 
+  private _broadcastData() {
+    const rawData = this._data;
+    if (!Object.keys(rawData).length) {
+      return;
+    }
+    const data = this.encoding.encode(rawData);
+    this.broadcast(
+      Message.toBinary(
+        Message.create({
+          type: Type.STATE,
+          data,
+        })
+      )
+    );
+  }
+
   private _hasSeenPeer(id: Buffer | string) {
     return this.graph.hasNode(this._maybeHexify(id));
   }