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Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

freenetproject.org

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Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#171

Post by cgtzczykldpq »

Yuioup wrote: post #9

I stay away from it because chunks of the data is hosted on your local machine, and it could potentially contain very unsavory data. Sure it's encrypted but try to explain that to your local law enforcement.

Freenet does not give you the decryption keys to the data you host, you don't know what you're hosting, hence you're not responsible for what it could be decrypted to.

And even if law enforcement could successfully convince a court that you're doing something illegal by hosting data which you cannot look into:

They couldn't first acquire the necessary search warrant because they couldn't prove that you are the one who is hosting the particular piece of illegal data: Freenet's routing algorithm is anonymized, both the people who retrieve data and the people who store it are anonymous. (Disclaimer: The security of the anonymization depends on how you've configured Freenet. In the less secure modes a well-funded attacker can de-anonymize you.)

So if law enforcement knows a certain file is evil then they cannot easily find out the IP addresses of the people who store it, and the people who store it don't know that they are doing so.

Hence it is censorship-resistant :)

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#172

Post by hinkley »

ddtaylor wrote: post #68

Some HN users are stuck in an interesting privacy paradox. Most of the time when a company or government tries to undermine privacy or encryption they jump at the throat and point out the need for both. However, it seems when we actually accomplish those goals and create systems that are truly anonymous, private and/or encrypted they basically say it's only for criminals and child abuse.

That’s what happens when a problem isn’t black and white.

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#173

Post by Nursie »

ndiddy wrote: post #131
cgtzczykldpq wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using Freenet for 12 years and have not run into CSAM involuntarily, and of course also not voluntarily! So I don't know how you get the impression that "public servers are off limits"? It is possible that CSAM exists in certain forums on Freenet which might indicate the specific goal of sharing CSAM by their name. But if it were to be posted into non-CSAM forums then the community's web of trust would flag…

I downloaded Freenet during the post-Snowden privacy craze since the concept of a decentralized anonymous network interested me. Here’s my experience circa ~2014: 1. Installed Freenet 2. Clicked on the site directory from the Freenet home page to see what sites are out there 3. Saw links to child pornography sites on the site directory 4. Uninstalled Freenet I hope this has been addressed, it’s sickening how the netw…

I had the very same experience. It made me realise I couldn’t run a node in good faith because I did not want my computer distributing such stuff or aiding people that want to do that.

It’s a shame but it’s a pattern - if you make untraceable communication platforms, people will use them for that.

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#174

Post by snvzz »

__MatrixMan__ wrote: post #67
fsflover wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sure it's encrypted but try to explain that to your local law enforcement. But how will they read it if even you can't?

They might've purchased a decryption key from some dark corner of the internet and after failing to trace the money to the bad-guy they're now hoping to track him down by IP address. Probably it would surface in court that you're not the bad guy they're after, but who knows what kind of bad things they'll do to you in the meantime.

They might own the legendary key that turns your seemingly random data into very illegal data.

plot twist: It's an one-time pad to xor your data against.

(and of course, they wouldn't generate it from XORing your data against illegal data...)

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#175

Post by ogurechny »

singh_ wrote: post #150
noxer wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone moved to telegram. They host your "offensive" memes and chats, they dont care. Right-wing, left-wing whatever you can post it there. You cant call for violence or show violence, like gore content and terrorist videos do get removed. Everything else is fine (for now). Download the app from the website not form the stores to avoid googles censorship.

How long would telegram keep that reputation? They will succumb to pressure one day.

Telegram has been succumbing to the pressure left and right for years now, from US and EU to Iran and Russia. Don't worry, it will always manage and find the compromise between its PR bullshit and corporate and state level requirements.

I can't even imagine how many secret services monitor what's going on right on Telegram servers.

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#176

Post by arminiusreturns »

bitwize wrote: post #55
h_anna_h wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ECHR contains the freedom of speech as a human right and so do most EU countries in their own constitutions. "Countless people have been successfully prosecuted for what would be covered under the 1st amendment" (and the ECHR) in the US too. The constitution only has value as long as it's enforced.

[flagged]

I love how obvious the narrative on this angle now is, and how even on a very normie place like hn you are seen right through. Blaming individualism is a favorite past time of oligarchs and totalitarians.

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#177

Post by genewitch »

ogurechny wrote: post #146
ndiddy wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I downloaded Freenet during the post-Snowden privacy craze since the concept of a decentralized anonymous network interested me. Here’s my experience circa ~2014: 1. Installed Freenet 2. Clicked on the site directory from the Freenet home page to see what sites are out there 3. Saw links to child pornography sites on the site directory 4. Uninstalled Freenet I hope this has been addressed, it’s sickening how the netw…

> the network seemed to be mainly used by pedophiles It is not clear how that statement can emerge from the mere observations above it. Are you telling the full story?

About a quarter of all the comments above yours, other threads, etc, mention the same thing, this smells like astroturfing, but it is unclear by who.

You can send illegal stuff by post, FedEx, BitTorrent, pgp encryption, etc. Who cares?

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#179

Post by adamrezich »

ogurechny wrote: post #144
ta988 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am glad it evolved a bit, it used to host a lot of child porn, nazi/fascist material etc And clearly you would be exposed to it through messages or not well annotated index.

This is interesting, I don't remember seeing more than trace amounts of “nazi/fascist material” there at all. Sure, someone has probably thought that the world needs another copy of Mein Kampf, or has had a real important story of how Jews did 9/11, and maybe these freesites are still (partially) available after a decade or so (I am not at all bothered to check, to be honest), but general amount of such loonies has d…

if people get exposed to bad ideas, they can't be trusted to use their own logic and moral faculties to determine right from wrong, which is why free speech is more than unnecessary, it's downright evil. no, instead, we need governments and corporations to regulate speech, for the good of mankind.

...or so the thinking goes

Re: Freenet is a peer-to-peer platform for censorship-resistant communication

#180

Post by kafkaIncarnate »

ogurechny wrote: post #163
kafkaIncarnate wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More like pictures of modern child abuse, child slavery (IE: ownership, sale, etc), and brutal torturous murder. Basically anything you've thought of the NSA or other intelligence agencies intercepting, it was wide out in the open there. The types of things you'd see kids telling themselves about urban legends of the "darkweb", well, it was extremely real and in the open on Freenet...

You forgot UFO parts for sale, bulk jenkem supply in railroad tank cars, and LSD application over screen oscillation, because you certainly was on something when you've seen those urban legends of the “darkweb” . By the way, I really hate meaningless spooky terms like “dark web” and “dark net”. I can still remember the time before journalists invented them.

No I did not mean that. I meant what I said, not whatever you read. Which one of us is on drugs is up for debate. I do not believe the NSA is sitting around studying X-Files. They largely are analyzing and investigating large quantities of child porn and exploitation from southeast asia, rape and abuse in the middle east, cartel executions and kidnappings, war crimes and African slave trade, organ harvesting in China, among other things.

Given the other responses, I wasn't the only one who was aware of the content on Freenet 20 years ago.

And the quotes around "darkweb" were largely to abstract it as a concept of urban legend itself, so I guess we can agree on that.

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