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"I worry about my child and the Internet all the time, even though she's too young to have logged on yet. Here's what I worry about. I worry that 10 or 15 years from now, she will come to me and say 'Daddy, where were you when they took freedom of the press away from the Internet?'"
--Mike Godwin, Electronic Frontier Foundation

Get Freenet

Click here to download the latest 0.4 release for Windows, Linux, and the Apple Macintosh.

News

1st March 2002, IEEE article describing Freenet

IEEE Internet Computing has an article(pdf) entitled "Protecting Free Expression Online with Freenet". It provides an excellent technical introduction to the core ideas behind Freenet.

28th February 2002, Freenet trivia

I am often asked about the origins of the idea which became Freenet. Strangely, with all that has happened since, it is rather difficult to remember, so I was rather pleased to find this incomplete 1997 webpage which is the first mention I can find of what became Freenet (and yes, I get the irony of the large copyright notice ;-).
-Ian


Background

Freenet is free software designed to ensure true freedom of communication over the Internet. It allows anybody to publish and read information with complete anonymity. Nobody controls Freenet, not even its creators, meaning that the system is not vulnerable to manipulation or shutdown.

Freenet is also efficient in how it deals with information, adaptively replicating content in response to demand. We have and continue to pioneer innovative new ideas such as the application of emergent behavior to computer communication, and public-key cryptography to creating secure namespaces. For more information please read this paper on the Freenet architecture.


Media enquiries

Any press enquiries about Freenet should be directed to Ian Clarke.