Freenet: A New Approach to File-Sharing

Tuesday, Apr. 4 2006 | Author: J. Angelo Racoma

Freenet, a technology touted to be a whole new approach to online file sharing and online privacy, has recently released its first alpha version for public testing.

Freenet is a decentralised “peer-to-peer” system designed to allow the anonymous sharing of information on the Internet … [a] free software which lets you publish and obtain information on the Internet without fear of censorship. To achieve this freedom, the network is entirely decentralized and publishers and consumers of information are anonymous. Without anonymity there can never be true freedom of speech, and without decentralization the network will be vulnerable to attack.

Akin to being an “internet within the internet,” Freenet can be used for purposes other than file sharing, where a user’s privacy might be of essence, such as web publishing, message boards, and content distribution.

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4 Responses for "Freenet: A New Approach to File-Sharing"

Brad

April 4th, 2006 at 10:57 am
1

finally hitting the public in an alpha, wicked, maybe i’ll try it out again, i used freenet for a while in the last couple years, but it was buggy, and slow, and no one used it, and generally it was just crap. but the concept is great, so hopefully it builds up a bit.
Matt Hoffman

April 4th, 2006 at 11:24 am
2

Won’t that go against copywrite laws, you know the sharing of information.
jangelo

April 4th, 2006 at 11:30 am
3

That’s why most people would want their transactions kept private and secure, I guess.
Spuds

April 4th, 2006 at 11:52 am
4

I used Freenet a couple of years ago. It’s a fantastic idea, but the problem is that the network is SO slow, it makes it nearly unusable. The rewrite is supposed to help that, and also decentralize a bit more, add encryption and tags for certain kinds of traffic so that you don’t end up storing kiddie porn on your machine.

Some people believe that Freenet was created for the express purpose of delivering kiddie porn more or less anonymously. The only problem is, you usually end up with kiddie porn on YOUR node, whether you like it or not.

There are some problems to be worked out (just like ANY freedom) so it’ll likely work out in the end.