staticbits.thefnf.org/archive/latex-docs/definition.tex

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\documentclass[11pt]{article}
\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage{geometry}
\title{\huge \bf Free Network Definition}
\date{}
\newcommand{\statement}[1]{\textbf{#1} \medskip}
\begin{document}
\begin{figure}[t]
\centering
\includegraphics[scale=0.4]{thefnf-logo.png}
\end{figure}
\maketitle
\thispagestyle{empty}
\pagestyle{empty}
\statement{The fundamental dialectic of our struggle is this: will we be
enslaved by our technology, or liberated by it? It was in cognizance of this
notion, and in service to our collective freedom that the Free Software
Movement was born. It is in this spirit that we aim here to define exactly
what it means to say that a network is free. We hope that the existence of
this definition will help illuminate the path to a more just world.}
\\
\\
Our intention is to build communications systems that are owned by the people
that use them, that allow participants to own their own data, and that use
end-to-end encryption and cryptographic trust mechanisms to assure privacy. We
call such systems `free networks' and they are characterized by the following
five freedoms:
\begin{itemize}
\item \textbf{Freedom 0) \\
The freedom to participate in the network.}
Freedom 0 regards your right to organize cooperative networks. Conventional
networks are characterized by a distinction between provider and user. This
mode of organization encourages network operation in the service of
self-interest. The provider builds and owns the infrastructure, and the user
pays for access. In a free network, however, nodes connect to one another,
rather than to a single, monolithic provider. By nature of its design, a free
network is owned by those that make use of it. Participants act as providers
and users as the same time, and growth is auto-distributed by treating any
profits as investment. In this way, those that join the network are able to
become owners. This mode of organization encourages network operation in the
service of the common good.
\newpage
\item \textbf{Freedom 1) \\
The freedom to determine where one's bits are stored.}
Freedom 1 regards your right to own the material stores of your data.
Conventional networks encourage (if not force) their participants to store
their data in machines which are under the administrative auspices of an
external service provider or host. Most folks are not able to serve data from
their homes. Participants ought to be free to store their own data (so that
it is under their care) without sacrificing their ability to publish it.
\item \textbf{Freedom 2) \\
The freedom to determine the parties with whom one's bits are shared.}
Freedom 2 regards your right to control access to your data. Data mining and
the monetization of sharing has become common practice. Participants should
be free to choose those with whom they would like to share a given piece of
information. Only someone who owns their own data can fully exercise this
freedom, but it is an issue regardless of where the relevant bits are stored.
\item \textbf{Freedom 3) \\
The freedom to transmit bits to one's peers without the prospect of
interference, interception or censorship.}
Freedom 3 regards the right to speak freely with your peers. Information
flows in conventional networks are routinely and intentionally intercepted,
obstructed, and censored. This is done at the behest of corporate and state
actors around the world. In a free network, private communications should
remain unexamined from the time they enter the network until the time they
reach their destination.
\item \textbf{Freedom 4) \\
The freedom to maintain anonymity, or to present a unique, trusted
identity.}
Freedom 4 regards your right to construct your own identity There is
increasing pressure to forbid anonymity, and yet trustworthy communications
remain rare. While it is essential to liberty that individuals be able to
remain anonymous in the online public sphere, it is also essential that they
be able to construct and maintain persistent, verifiable identities. Such
identities might bear a legal name, a common name, or an avatar that masks
one's corporeal self -- individuals could have many such identities, and
switch between them at will. Clear delineation between anonymous,
pseudonymous, and onymous actors would enable all of us to better asses the
trustworthiness of others on the network.
\end{itemize}
\end{document}