Motherboard

I am ‘computer inept.’ In college, I thought I had lost a 14 page paper because I had accidentally logged onto my computer as a different user (I don’t know how I managed that one), and couldn’t find it. When someone asks me to go on the internet and find something, the only two resources I know are Google and Wikipedia. So if somebody asked me where people were getting their kiddie pr0n or learning how to make bombs, I would just automatically assume that they were photographs developed in a basement somewhere in the midwest and then passed around between pedophiles like a Playboy to a bunch of 13 year old boys. I always assumed that the moment you started typing the words ‘how to build a bomb’ into your computer, the FBI would be banging down your door ready to arrest you.

Well, as the Guardian informs me, I don’t have to worry so much anymore, thanks to Freenet.

Available to the public since 2000, Freenet is a free (duh), quick to download (it has been downloaded over 2 million times), and easy to use software that allows you to access other users Freenet websites undetected, and to write things that are not traceable. Freenet does not have a central server to store information. Instead information is distributed around the network and stored on other users computers. These shared nodes are based on invitation only. This protects the anonymity of the users, while also making it nearly impossible to censor. This was the basic point though when the system was created; free communication. No censorship and complete anonymity of the user.

While this can be a great source for people living under oppressive governments as a way to communicate (China, Iran), here in the US everyone but the creator of Freenet pretty much assumes that it is used mostly for kiddie porn, forms of terrorism, and pirating music, movies, and software.

By so-called ‘Internet Experts,’ the estimated size of this ‘DarkNet’ exceeds 400 times the size of the commonly defined world wide web. They also estimate that when searching the web, we are only accessing 0.03% of the web pages out there. While these numbers are great as scare tactics, according to Wikipedia (told you), the ‘DarkNet’ includes any general file sharing network, or any closed network that is not available to the general public (anything that requires a password, basically), in addition to these untraceable web communication channels. The DarkNet also includes any domain name that is not being used, and any defunct websites according to those same Internet Experts.

The creator of Freenet, Ian Clarke, claims that unless someone accidentally discloses his or her identity, there is no way to actually identify a user without expending impractical amounts of resources.

In other words, if you want to read the real version of this article and its accompanying photos I think you know where to look.

(Or actually, you don’t.)