Freenet

For other uses, see Freenet (disambiguation).

Freenet

Logo of Freenet
Screenshot of Freenet 0.7 FProxy index page (Freenet 0.7)
Developer(s)	The Freenet Project
Initial release	March, 2000
Written in	Java
Operating system	Cross-platform
Platform	Java
Available in	English, French, German, Italian, Swedish
Type	Anonymity, Peer to peer, Friend to friend
License	GNU General Public License
Website	http://freenetproject.org/

Freenet is a decentralized, censorship-resistant distributed data store originally designed by Ian Clarke. According to Clarke, Freenet aims to provide freedom of speech through a peer-to-peer network with strong protection of anonymity; as part of supporting its users' freedom, Freenet is free and open source software. Freenet works by pooling the contributed bandwidth and storage space of member computers to allow users to anonymously publish or retrieve various kinds of information. Freenet has been under continuous development since 2000.

Features and user interface

Freenet is different from most other peer-to-peer applications, both in how users interact with it and in the security it offers. It separates the underlying network structure and protocol from how users interact with the network; as a result, there are a variety of ways to access content on the Freenet network. The simplest is via FProxy, which is integrated with the node software and provides a web interface to content on the network. Using FProxy, a user can browse freesites (web sites that use normal HTML and related tools, but whose content is stored within Freenet rather than on a traditional web server). The web interface is also used for most configuration and node management tasks. Through the use of separate applications or plugins loaded into the node software, users can interact with the network in other ways, such as forums similar to web forums or Usenet or interfaces more similar to traditional p2p "filesharing" interfaces.

While Freenet provides an HTTP interface for browsing freesites, it is not a proxy for the World Wide Web; Freenet can only be used to access content that has been previously inserted into the Freenet network. In this way, it is more similar to filesharing applications than to proxy software like Tor.

Many of the differences in how Freenet behaves at a user level are direct or indirect consequences of its strong focus on free speech and anonymity. Freenet attempts to protect the anonymity of both people inserting data into the network (uploading) and those retrieving data from the network (downloading). Unlike file sharing systems, there is no need for the uploader to remain on the network after uploading a file or group of files. Instead, during the upload process, the files are broken into chunks and stored on a variety of other computers on the network. When downloading, those chunks are found and reassembled. Every node on the Freenet network contributes storage space to hold files, and bandwidth that it uses to route requests from its peers.

As a direct result of the anonymity requirements, the node requesting a piece of data does not normally connect directly to the node that has it; instead, the data is routed across several intermediaries, none of which know which node requested the data or which one had it. As a result, the total bandwidth required by the network to transfer a file is higher than in other systems, which can result in slower transfers, especially for unpopular content.

Content

Freenet's founders argue that only with true anonymity comes true freedom of speech, and that what they view as the beneficial uses of Freenet outweigh its negative uses. Their view is that free speech, in itself, is not in contradiction with any other consideration — the information is not the crime. Freenet attempts to remove the possibility of any group imposing their beliefs or values on any data. Although many states censor communications to different extents, they all share one commonality in that a body must decide what information to censor and what information to allow. What may be acceptable to one group of people may be considered offensive or even dangerous to another. In essence, the purpose of Freenet is that nobody is allowed to decide what is acceptable.

Due to the nature of Freenet, a typical node may store content which the user disapproves of or which their government wishes to censor. This may make them subject to civil and criminal penalties. Freenet attempts to prevent this through plausible deniability and safe harbor protection. Cryptographic systems are used that make it very difficult for a user to determine what information is stored on their node; a user who does not know that their node held banned content is less likely to be prosecuted for it. Similarly, because each node treats all content similarly, and merely handles requests from other nodes, safe harbor provisions should apply equally to Freenet node operators as they do to operators of ISPs and Web forums. The network protocol makes it very difficult to determine which node originally requested any individual data, which makes it difficult to prosecute any individual for that data. No court cases have directly tested this.

Reports of Freenet's use in authoritarian nations is difficult to track due to the very nature of Freenet's goals. One group, Freenet-China, has translated the Freenet software to Chinese and is distributing it within China on CD and floppy disk.

Technical design

See also: Cryptography

The Freenet file sharing network stores documents and allows them to be retrieved later by an associated key, as is now possible with protocols such as HTTP. The network is designed to be highly survivable, with all internal processes completely anonymized and decentralized across the network. The system has no central servers and is not subject to the control of any one individual or organization, including the designers of Freenet. Information stored on Freenet is distributed around the network and stored on several different nodes. Encryption of data and relaying of requests makes it difficult to determine who inserted content into Freenet, who requested that content, or where the content was stored. This protects the anonymity of participants, and also makes it very difficult to censor specific content. Content is stored encrypted, making it difficult for even the operator of a node to determine what is stored on that node. This provides plausible deniability, and in combination with the request relaying means that safe harbor laws that protect service providers also protect Freenet node operators.

Distributed storage and caching of data

Unlike other p2p networks, Freenet not only transmits data between nodes but actually stores them, working as a huge distributed cache. To achieve this, each node allocates some amount of disk space to store data; this is configurable by the node operator, but is typically several GiB (or more).

Files on Freenet are typically split into multiple small blocks, with additional blocks added to provide redundancy. Each block is handled independently, meaning that a single file may have parts stored on many different nodes.

Information flow in Freenet is different from networks like eMule or BitTorrent:

1. A user wishing to share a file or update a freesite "inserts" the file "to the network"
2. After "insertion" is finished, the publisher is free to shut down his node, since the file is stored in the network. It will remain available for other users whether the original publishing node is online or not. No one node is responsible for the content; instead, it is replicated to several different nodes.

Two advantages of this design are high reliability and anonymity. Information remains available even if the publisher node goes offline, and is anonymously spread over many hosting nodes as encrypted blocks, not entire files. Freenet is also not affected by the typical BitTorrent problem, a lack of "seeds", or full copies of a file or torrent.

Network

The network consists of a number of nodes that pass messages among themselves. Typically, a host computer on the network runs the software that acts as a node, and it connects to other hosts running that same software to form a large distributed network of peer nodes. Some nodes are end user nodes, from which documents are requested and presented to human users. Other nodes serve only to route data. All nodes communicate with each other identically — there are no dedicated "clients" or "servers". It is not possible for a node to rate another node except by its capacity to insert and fetch data associated with a key. This is unlike most other P2P networks where node administrators can employ a ratio system, where users have to share a certain amount of content before they can download.

Freenet may also be considered a small world network.

The Freenet protocol is intended to be used on a network of complex topology, such as the Internet (Internet Protocol). Each node knows only about some number of other nodes that it can reach directly (its conceptual "neighbors"), but any node can be a neighbor to any other; no hierarchy or other structure is intended. Each message is routed through the network by passing from neighbor to neighbor until it reaches its destination. As each node passes a message to a neighbor, it does not know or care whether the neighbor will forward the message to another node, or is the final destination or original source of the message. This is intended to protect the anonymity of users and publishers.

Each node maintains a data store containing documents associated with keys, and a routing table associating nodes with records of their performance in retrieving different keys.

Protocol

File:Freenet Request Sequence ZP.svg

A typical request sequence. The request moves through the network from node to node, backing out of a dead-end (step 3) and a loop (step 7) before locating the desired file.

The Freenet protocol uses a key-based routing protocol, similar to distributed hash tables. The routing algorithm changed significantly in version 0.7. Prior to version 0.7, Freenet used a heuristic routing algorithm where each node had no fixed location, and routing was based on which node had served a key closest to the key being fetched (in version 0.3) or which we estimate would serve it faster (in version 0.5). In either case, new connections were sometimes added to downstream nodes (i.e. the node that answered the request) when requests succeeded, and old nodes were discarded in least recently used order (or something close to it). Oskar Sandberg's research (during the development of version 0.7) shows that this "path folding" is critical, and that a very simple routing algorithm will suffice provided there is path folding.

The disadvantage of this is that it is very easy for an attacker to find Freenet nodes, and connect to them, because every node is continually attempting to find new connections. In version 0.7, Freenet supports both 'Opennet' (similar to the old algorithms, but simpler), and 'Darknet' (all node connections are setup manually, so only your friends know your node's IP address). Darknet is less convenient, but much more secure against a distant attacker.

This change required major changes in the routing algorithm. Every node has a location, which is a number between 0 and 1. When a key is requested, first the node checks the local data store. If it's not found, the key's hash is turned into another number in the same range, and the request is routed to the node whose location is closest to the key. This goes on until some number of hops is exceeded, there are no more nodes to search, or the data is found. If the data is found, it is cached on each node along the path. So there is no one source node for a key, and attempting to find where it is currently stored will result in it being cached more widely. Essentially the same process is used to insert a document into the network: the data is routed according to the key until it runs out of hops, and if no existing document is found with the same key, it is stored on each node. If older data is found, the older data is propagated and returned to the originator, and the insert "collides".

But this only works if the locations are clustered in the right way. Freenet assumes that the Darknet (a subset of the global social network) is a small-world network, and nodes constantly attempt to swap locations (using the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm) in order to minimize their distance to their neighbors. If the network actually is a small-world network, Freenet should find data reasonably quickly; it's to be hopped on the order of <math>O\left\{\left[log\left(n\right)\right]^2\right\}</math> hops. However, it does not guarantee that data will be found at all.

Eventually, either the document is found or the hop limit is exceeded. The terminal node sends a reply that makes its way back to the originator along the route specified by the intermediate nodes' records of pending requests. The intermediate nodes may choose to cache the document along the way. Besides saving bandwidth, this also makes documents harder to censor as there is no one "source node."

Effect

Initially, the locations are distributed randomly (whether on Opennet or Darknet). This means that routing of requests is essentially random. But since different nodes have different randomness, they will disagree about where to send a request, given a key. So the data in a newly-started Freenet will be distributed somewhat randomly.

As location swapping (on Darknet) and path folding (on Opennet) progress, nodes which are close to one another will increasingly have close locations, and nodes which are far away will have distant locations. Data with similar keys will be stored on the same node.

The result is that the network will self-organize into a distributed, clustered structure where nodes tend to hold data items that are close together in key space. There will probably be multiple such clusters throughout the network, any given document being replicated numerous times, depending on how much it is used. This is a kind of "spontaneous symmetry breaking", in which an initially symmetric state (all nodes being the same, with random initial keys for each other) leads to a highly asymmetric situation, with nodes coming to specialize in data that has closely related keys.

There are forces which tend to cause clustering (shared closeness data spreads throughout the network), and forces that tend to break up clusters (local caching of commonly used data). These forces will be different depending on how often data is used, so that seldom-used data will tend to be on just a few nodes which specialize in providing that data, and frequently used items will be spread widely throughout the network. This automatic mirroring counteracts the times when web traffic becomes overloaded, and due to a mature network's intelligent routing, a network of size n should only require log(n) time to retrieve a document on average.

Keys

Keys are hashes: there is no notion of semantic closeness when speaking of key closeness. Therefore there will be no correlation between key closeness and similar popularity of data as there might be if keys did exhibit some semantic meaning, thus avoiding bottlenecks caused by popular subjects.

There are two main varieties of keys in use on Freenet, the Content Hash Key (CHK) and the Signed Subspace Key (SSK).

A CHK is a SHA-256 hash of a document (after encryption, which itself depends on the hash of the plaintext) and thus a node can check that the document returned is correct by hashing it and checking the digest against the key. This key contains the meat of the data on Freenet. It carries all the binary data building blocks for the content to be delivered to the client for reassembly and decryption. The CHK is unique by nature and provides tamperproof content. A hostile node altering the data under a CHK will immediately be detected by the next node or the client. CHKs also reduce the redundancy of data since the same data will have the same CHK.

SSKs are based on public-key cryptography. Currently Freenet uses the DSA algorithm. Documents inserted under SSKs are signed by the inserter, and this signature can be verified by every node to ensure that the data is not tampered with. SSKs can be used to establish a verifiable pseudonymous identity on Freenet, and allow for documents to be updated securely by the person who inserted them. A subtype of the SSK is the Keyword Signed Key, or KSK, in which the key pair is generated in a standard way from a simple human-readable string. Inserting a document using a KSK allows the document to be retrieved and decrypted if and only if the requester knows the human-readable string; this allows for more convenient (but less secure) URIs for users to refer to.

Scalability

A network is said to be scalable if its performance does not deteriorate even if the network is very large. The scalability of Freenet is being evaluated, but similar architectures have been shown to scale logarithmically. This work indicates that Freenet can find data in <math>O(log^2 n)</math> hops on a small-world network (which includes both opennet and darknet style Freenet networks). However, this scalability is difficult to test without a very large network. Furthermore, the security features inherent to Freenet make detailed performance analysis (including things as simple as determining the size of the network) difficult to do accurately. As a result, the real-world scalability of Freenet has not been thoroughly tested.

Darknet versus Opennet

As of version 0.7, Freenet supports both "darknet" and "opennet" connections. Opennet connections are made automatically by nodes with opennet enabled, while darknet connections are manually established between users that know and trust each other. Opennet connections are easy to use, but darknet connections are more secure against attackers on the network, and can make it difficult for an attacker (such as an oppressive government) to even determine that a user is running Freenet in the first place. For users in such places, the darknet option may be a requirement in order to avoid prosecution by such a government.

The core innovation in Freenet 0.7 is to allow a globally scalable darknet, capable (at least in theory) of supporting millions of users. Previous darknets, such as WASTE, have been limited to relatively small disconnected networks. This scalability is made possible by the fact that human relationships tend to form small-world networks, a property that can be exploited to find short paths between any two people. The work is based on a speech given at DEF CON 13 by Ian Clarke and Swedish mathematician Oskar Sandberg. Furthermore, the routing algorithm is capable of routing over a mixture of opennet and darknet connections, allowing people who have only a few friends using the network to get the performance from having sufficient connections while still receiving some of the security benefits of darknet connections. This also means that small darknets where some users also have opennet connections are fully integrated into the whole Freenet network, allowing all users access to all content, whether they run opennet, darknet, or a hybrid of the two.

Current development

File:Freenet darknet.png

The Freenet 0.7 darknet peers list.

Freenet 0.7, released on the 8th of May 2008, is a major re-write incorporating a number of fundamental changes. The most fundamental change is support for darknet operation, described above. Other modifications include switching from TCP to UDP, which allows UDP hole punching along with faster transmission of messages between peers in the network.

Freenet 0.7.5, released on June 12, 2009, offers a variety of improvements over 0.7. These include reduced memory usage, faster insert and retrieval of content, significant improvements to the FProxy web interface used for browsing freesites, and a large number of smaller bugfixes, performance enhancements, and usability improvements. Version 0.7.5 also shipped with a new version of the Windows installer.

As of build 1226, released on July 30, 2009, features that have been written and will be included in version 0.8 include significant security improvements against both attackers acting on the network and physical seizure of the computer running the node. Like version 0.7.5, version 0.8 will be based on the 0.7 code. Other features likely to be included in version 0.8 are continued improvements to both performance and security, as well as usability enhancements and bug fixes.

Related tools and Freenet applications

Unlike many other P2P applications, Freenet does not have a single application which provides all functionality. Instead, Freenet has a modular structure: the core application focuses on connecting to the network, and acts as a "proxy", providing an open application interface named FCP (Freenet Client Protocol) for other programs to use. Those additional applications use the API to implement services like message boards, file sharing, or online chat. Additional functionality can also be added with plugins; several plugins are distributed with Freenet to handle tasks such as UPnP support and IP address detection.

Distributed forums in Freenet

Message boards (forums) are particularly popular among Freenet users: slow speed is not a problem, content is generated by users themselves so there's no lack of content, and the wish to stay anonymous is natural among forum users. Message boards also provide a convenient way to announce new freesites and file uploads.

File:Frost screenshot.png

Screenshot of Frost running on Windows.

Frost is a well-maintained and popular message board system for Freenet. It is very popular in the area of file sharing and is the most widely used Freenet messaging application. Frost is written in Java. Frost is not currently bundled with Freenet and can be downloaded from Frost home page on Sourceforge, or from Template:Freenet. The design of the Frost protocol allows posting by any user, whether pseudonymous or anonymous, and is inherently vulnerable to spam and DoS attacks. Despite these attacks, it remains reasonably popular.

Freenet Messaging System (FMS) is an application brought to solve limitations and issues with current messaging protocol of Frost (in particular the denial of service attacks and spam). It uses published lists of trusted users with outbox polling: each user only downloads messages from identities they trust, or identities trusted by identities they trust, avoiding the need to download probably spam messages before determining whether they are in fact spam. FMS is anonymously developed and can be downloaded from Template:Freenet. There is ongoing debate as to whether the FMS trust system makes it too easy to censor people who post content that is merely objectionable, rather than simply spam.

File sharing tools

Thaw is a file sharing application which is primarily a download manager and tool for browsing and creating file indexes. File indexes can link to one another and thus form a kind of web of download channels.

Frost is popular for file sharing as well as forums.

Freesite tools

The simplest way to handle freesite uploading is with jsite. A web page is first created in a standard html editor, and then jSite handles management of keys and uploading of all component files.

Development libraries

FCPLib (Freenet Client Protocol Library) aims to be a cross-platform but natively compiled set of C-based functions for storing and retrieving information to and from Freenet. There are routines for storing documents to Freenet from the local disk, and other routines for moving data in memory to and from Freenet. FCPLib is now routinely compiled on the following platforms: Microsoft Windows NT/2K/XP, Debian, BSD, Solaris, and Mac OS X. The FCPTools are command-line driven programs for inserting and retrieving files with Freenet. They are linked against FCPLib and serve as examples of library use.

The Freenet Tools perform roughly the same tasks as FCPTools, however it does not include a client library for use in other projects. The Freenet Tools are written in ANSI C, and runs on Unix-like OSs.

Publicity

According to CiteSeer, Ian Clarke's "Freenet: A Distributed Anonymous Information Storage and Retrieval System" was the most cited computer science paper of 2000. Freenet has also had significant publicity in the mainstream press, including articles in the New York Times, and coverage on CNN, 60 Minutes II, the BBC, and elsewhere. The mainstream press coverage has been primarily concerned with Freenet's impact on copyright enforcement, rather than Freenet's asserted goal of freedom of communication.

See also

• Anonymous P2P
• Crypto-anarchism
• Cypherpunk
• distributed file system
• Entropy (anonymous data store)
• Freedom of information
• Friend-to-friend
• GNUnet
• I2P
• Osiris sps
• JonDonym
• Tor (anonymity network)
• Share - the successor to Winny
• Perfect Dark - the successor to Share; it employs many of Freenet's principles.

External links

• The Freenet Project
• The Official Freenet Wiki
• 22C3: Lecture on Freenet's new algorithm (on Google Video) An explanation of the Freenet architecture and implementation (as of December 30, 2005) given by Ian Clarke and Oskar Sandberg
• DEF CON 13 darknet slides by Oskar Sandberg and Ian Clarke
• Freenet Minihowto
• The Guardian - The dark side of the internet