Freenet

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chris
  • Start date Start date
Chris said:
Any opinions or comments about Freenet?

http://www.freenetproject.org/

It looks to have quite a bit of potential.
Click to expand...

<Quote>

What is Freenet?

Freenet is 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.

Communications by Freenet nodes are encrypted and are "routed-through"
other nodes to make it extremely difficult to determine who is requesting
the information and what its content is.

Users contribute to the network by giving bandwidth and a portion of
their hard drive (called the "data store") for storing files. Unlike
other peer-to-peer file sharing networks, Freenet does not let the user
control what is stored in the data store. Instead, files are kept or
deleted depending on how popular they are, with the least popular being
discarded to make way for newer or more popular content. Files in the
data store are encrypted to reduce the likelihood of prosecution by
persons wishing to censor Freenet content.

The network can be used in a number of different ways and isn't
restricted to just sharing files like other peer-to-peer networks. It
acts more like an Internet within an Internet. For example Freenet can be
used for:

Publishing websites or 'freesites'
Communicating via message boards
Content distribution
</Quote>

"Freenet does not let the user control what is stored in the data store."

What???!!!
 
Chris said:

"Freenet does not let the user control what is stored in
the data store."

What???!!!
Click to expand...

I read the FAQ page and it sounds like "file sharing" but with
a different techniqe and concept.

http://freenetproject.org/index.php?page=faq

Here is just my interpretation: User can contribute space to
the net, but then, you have very little say on what the node
would be holding and not holding. The only way you can
control the content is by contributing your own piece
(publishing) - it is in a way like usenet (usenet have pretty
much everything and anything). After downloading the software
and gain access to Freenet, one will be using the brower to
surf the content. Its selling point, as claimed, is total
"anonymity" of the publisher. In addition, all information
stored on the net is suposed to be retrivable, but not
locatable.





It is a nice concept, but getting a big Java download just to
install this prog could make it less popular than it intends
to be.
 
I did try this out because I curious about it.
I did not like the fact that "anything" could be stored on my hard drive.

It was real slow. (the docs do say it gets faster over time).
(my system is a AMD 1400 w/256 ram)

After waiting a long time for each link to load I still could not
find useful links/pages.
 
burnr said:
...no idea what's being stored there...
Click to expand...

Well, think of the most popular content on the web today, take it to its
extreme, and that's what you'll have on your HDD. Yes you guessed it. Porn,
and in its hard core form, bestiality, rape & child porn.

Yes, definitely give this one a pass.
 
Publishing websites or 'freesites'
Communicating via message boards
Content distribution
</Quote>

"Freenet does not let the user control what is stored in the data store."
Click to expand...
I love that term "content distribution" ... it translates to "stuff" and
we can guess what kind of 'stuff' folks will want to publish
anonymously...
....I suppose porn and MP3s will always find a channel....
 
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